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Brutus: The Noble Conspirator by Kathryn TempestYale University Press, 2017 To a considerable extent this book will examine how Brutus’ life has been recorded and transmitted from antiquity to today: a central contention is that, to appreciate Brutus the man, we must really probe the sources we use, to understand who is speaking and shy. […]
Nemesis: Alcibiades and the Fall of Ancient Athens by David StuttardHarvard University Press: April 2018Hardcover, 400 pages From the inside book flap: Alcibiades was one of the most dazzling figures of the Golden Age of Athens. A ward of Pericles and a friend of Socrates, he was spectacularly rich, bewitchingly handsome and charismatic, a skilled […]
On Grand Strategy by John Lewis GaddisNew York: Penguin Press, 2018 John Lewis Gaddis is the Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military & Naval History at Yale University. He is best known as an author specializing in the Cold War and grand strategy (six of the ten books shown at his faculty page have “Cold […]
A few years ago, the boys and I read Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth, a historical fiction book that looks at the “disappearance” of the Roman Ninth Legion (Legio IX Hispana) from Britain in the second century AD. While we enjoyed the book (and the 2011 movie version, The Eagle), we also looked […]
The Disappearance of Émile Zola: Love, Literature, and the Dreyfus Case by Michael RosenPegasus Books, 2017 I have to admit I’ve never really connected with Zola’s books. I find things I appreciate and like in his writing, but its more in fits and starts than for a sustained reading. What interested me in […]
The Avignon Papacy Contested: An Intellectual History from Dante to Catherine of Siena by Unn Falkeid Harvard University Press, 2017 Series: I Tatti Studies in Itallian Renaissance History The aim of this book has been to explore some of the most significant critics of the Avignon papacy, critics who in many ways came to prepare […]
I posted about this earlier this year, but I’m excited to say that The Landmark Julius Caesar: The Complete Works is now available and it is beautiful. While Robert Stassler is still the series editor, Kurt A. Raaflaub did the translation and editing. If you’re not familiar with the series, it presents classical historical works […]
I seem to be all over the place in reading lately, but with little time to post about it. I seem to focus on big-brush topics at times and while I always hope to post on them, it never seems to work. So I’m hoping with a little prodding on my own part, I’ll follow […]
I wanted to wait until I had a released copy of Be Like the Fox to quote anything from it. Here’s a lengthy excerpt about an episode late in Machiavelli’s life. The setting: the Medici successfully returned to Florence in 1512 and Machiavelli was removed from office. He remained in political exile until 1521 when […]
Be Like the Fox: Machiavelli in His World by Erica Benner W. W. Norton & Company, 2017 Erica Brenner’s study of “Machiavelli in his world” is being released today. I obtained an advance reading copy secondhand and wanted to pass on a few of my thoughts about the book since I found it helpful and […]
Shakespeare in Swahililand: Adventures with the Ever-Living Poet by Edward Wilson-Lee William Collins; London: 2016 One of the most striking things I found as I followed Shakespeare on his travels through East African history was the fact that the works were present at every stage of life in the region during the very period when […]
Victuals: An Appalachian Journey, with Recipes by Ronni Lundy Photography by Johnny Autry Penguin Random House, 2016 Hardcover, 320 pages 2016 seems to be be the year of the redneck, at least when it comes to books. Or is it the hillbilly? White trash? Given the news, literary and otherwise, it looks like I’m up […]
How to Catch a Russian Spy: The True Story of an American Civilian Turned Double Agent by Naveed Jamali and Ellis Henican Scribner, 2015 Hardcover, 304 pages I’m not sure where I heard about this book or what caused me to place a hold on it at the library, but it followed me home one […]
Catullus’ Bedspread: The Life of Rome’s Most Erotic Poet by Daisy DunnHarper, 2016Hardcover, 336 pages An attempt to get back in the swing of posting… Catullus’ Bedspread by Daisy Dunn, released to coincide with her translation titled The Poems of Catullus (also from Harper) looks at the life and work of the poet […]
Lost Children of the Empire by Philip Bean and Joy Melville The Untold Story of Britain’s Child Migrants Unwin Hyman Limited (London); 1989 ISBN: 0-04-440358-5 In 1618, a group of orphaned and destitute children left Britain for Richmond, Virginia in the United States. It was the start of an extraordinary era in British history, formally […]
The Aftermath of Battle: The Burial of the Civil War Dead by Meg Groeling Emerging Civil War Series Savas Beatie; Fall 2015 192 pp.; 211 images ISBN: 978-1-61121-189-4 I first became aware of this book when our local bookstore was touting an upcoming talk by its author, Meg Groeling. I wasn’t able to make that […]
The Aftermath of Battle: The Burial of the Civil War Dead by Meg GroelingEmerging Civil War SeriesSavas Beatie; Fall 2015192 pp.; 211 imagesISBN: 978-1-61121-189-4 “After the battle, what did they do with all the bodies?”— common question from U.S. Civil War battlefield visitors I recently stumbled across the Emerging Civil War Series, which […]
Killing Eratosthenes: A True Crime Story from Ancient Athens by Debra Hamel CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform: 2016 (978-1523995691) My first introduction to Debra Hamel was with Reading Herodotus: A Guided Tour through the Wild Boars, Dancing Suitors, and Crazy Tyrants of The History, a great introduction to one of my favorite books, The Histories (and […]
…and bid them that they shall make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: and it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, […]
Loch, J. N. K. (1968). A fringe of blue: An autobiography. New York: Morrow. Related posts A Fringe of Blue: A Fringe of Blue 1918 – 23 I’m hoping this marks the end of the blog’s hiatus. Things have been… challenging. But I’ve really missed posting here and being part of the online book community. […]