Books, Books, Books

In preparing for classes, I've made use of a number of useful works on Ancient Greece. In the same way that I expect you to cite your sources in your essays, I want to share these books with you, so that you have some sense of where the information presented in class is coming from. And, on the off chance that you want to pursue this subject farther on your own, I want you to have some ideas...

The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome by Robin Lane Fox - This is, without question, the most useful single text I have found on the ancient world. It's stuffed - 600 pages total and very little of it unnecessary - but it also reads easily. Fox makes the material accessible and enjoyable, blending together a variety of sources and approaching the subject matter from a number of angles. I particularly like his frequent references to recent archaeological discoveries - and the ways those discoveries have changed the way we think about the past. In so doing, he emphasizes the sheer uncertainty that engulfs ancient history while also promoting a sense of optimism, that every single day we move closer to understanding what happened. If you want one book that spans Greece and Rome, this is it.

Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter by Thomas Cahill - I was really excited to find this book. It seemed like an ideal tool for the type of ancient history class I wanted to teach, as Cahill's professed goal was to explore the key lessons that can be learned from the ancient world by the present. With chapters devoted to key themes like "How to Rule," "How to Think," and "How to Fight," I anticipated excerpting chunks out of this book for class use. Unfortunately, Cahill doesn't deliver what he promises. For example, the chapter on Greek contributions to governance / political science focuses more on Greek theater than connections to the present. That said, the book is nonetheless interesting, providing an overview of a number of key aspects of Classical Greece. To put it another way, Cahill's thesis doesn't correspond to his body paragraphs, but the body paragraphs are still compelling work in their own right.

Ancient Greece: State and Society by Nicholas Jones - It's a useful text, certainly, for gaining an understanding of how the government functioned in Greek history, from the Minoan/Mycenaean period up through Hellinistic Greece. But, it's drier than a pack of Saltines and I wouldn't recommend it unless you were passionate about the subject matter or looking for a cure for insomnia.

Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski - I'm heavily biased in favor of Kapuscinski, my favorite travel writer and among my favorite writers of non-fiction in general. This was his last work, a career retrospective of sorts. Kapuscinski was a Polish journalist who seemed to be on site for every major revolution and coup in the developing world in the second half of the 20th century. On most of his trips, he took a copy of Herodotus's Histories with him, which we briefly discussed in class. This book is largely a rumination on Herodotus's work, providing extensive excerpts from the book and reflections on what the historian described - and above all else, the Persian Wars. We will read a short excerpt from this in class.

The Greek Way by Edith Hamilton - You already read Mythology by Hamilton, one of the more prolific early authors on the ancient world. This text, her definitive work on Ancient Greece, hits all of the highlights, including Greek art, religion, and the major intellectual figures. While Hamilton was among the great experts of her time, that was more than 60 years ago and thus her work neglects many recent research developments. That said, as a defining work in the field, this remains a mandatory read for those interested in the subject matter.