From Publishers Weekly
For Goldhill, the classics are indispensable to an understanding of today’s Western culture. Without a knowledge of basic Greek and Roman texts and ideas, our "buried life" and "ancient grounding," the modern citizen is lost—a child forever. Goldhill, a professor of Greek culture and literature at Cambridge, organizes his thesis around five questions: Who do you think you are? Where do you think you are going? What do you think should happen? What do you want to do? Where do you think you came from? Time and again, Goldhill reminds us, the brightest thinkers through the ages have turned to the classics for inspiration. In the New World, the founding fathers were steeped in the intellectual material of Greece and Rome. George Washington found inspiration in the story of the Roman emperor Cincinnatus—a farmer who was called to service, defeated an enemy, then laid down his arms and returned to the farm. Goldhill views Victorian England as the high-water mark of classical influence; some 80% of school time in 19th-century Britain was devoted to the classics. On the dark side of classicism is National Socialism: there, Goldhill argues, the ideas of Plato’s Republic (with its emphasis on a perfect social order) played out to a calamitous end. With patient authority and a refreshingly light touch, Goldhill brilliantly illuminates the essential timeliness of these ancient ideas.
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--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Review
"Confident, intelligent and assertive; [Love, Sex & Tragedy] stands up for 'classics' without apology, without snobbishness and without conservatism." - Oliver Taplin, Guardian "Goldhill... takes us through the looking glass into antiquity and shows us some of the sights that he thinks most interesting and informative....Anyone who goes on the journey will be amused, surprised, and enlightened." - Mary K. Lefkowitz, New York Sun "A passionate, witty, and broad-ranging exploration of the ancient foundations of our world.... There is a widening gap between our perceptions and the ancient sources. Goldhill closes that gap with this lively and multi-layered challenge to assumptions embedded in modern life." - Lizzie Speller, Observer "Goldhill writes with breezy wit in a style accessible to readers who did not grow up on Plato and Tacitus. This can disguise the fact that his intent is deadly serious, comparing the modern world to teenagers who believe themselves the first to discover sex and swear-words. If you do not know your history, he insists, you cannot be self-aware. As this brilliant book demonstrates, a familiarity with the ancient world is about much more than a life in ruins." - Joan Smith, Independent (UK)"
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
by Paul Woodruff
by Plato
by J. A. S. Evans
by Donald A. Cress
