“In Stone Blind, classicist and comedian Natalie Haynes turns our understanding of this legendary myth on its head, bringing empathy and nuance to one of the earliest stories in which a woman—injured by a powerful man—is blamed, punished, and monstered for the assault. Delving into the origins of this mythic tale, Haynes revitalizes and reconstructs Medusa’s…
Books by Genre
Delphi: A Novel, Clare Pollard
“Delphi [by Clare Pollard] distills something elusive and upsetting about all the things we can’t quite see or understand about the present moment, even as all we ever do is look.” —Lynn Steger Strong, NYTBR “Covid-19 has arrived in London, and the entire world quickly succumbs to the surreal, chaotic mundanity of screens, isolation, and the disasters…
Journeys of the Mind: A Life in History, Peter Brown
The end of the ancient world was long regarded by historians as a time of decadence, decline, and fall. In his career-long engagement with this era, the widely acclaimed and pathbreaking historian Peter Brown has shown, however, that the “neglected half-millennium” now known as late antiquity was in fact crucial to the development of modern…
How to Flourish: An Ancient Guide to Living Well, Aristotle/Susan Sauvé Meyer (tr.)
“Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is one of the greatest guides to human flourishing ever written, but its length and style have left many readers languishing. How to Flourish is a carefully abridged version of the entire work in a highly readable and colloquial new translation by Susan Sauvé Meyer that makes Aristotle’s timeless insights about how to lead a good…
Gods and Mortals: Ancient Greek Myths for Modern Readers, Sarah Iles Johnston
“Move over, Edith Hamilton! Sarah Iles Johnston has hit the magical refresh button on Greek myths.”―Maria Tatar “Gripping tales that abound with fantastic characters and astonishing twists and turns, Greek myths confront what it means to be mortal in a world of powerful forces beyond human control. Little wonder that they continue to fascinate readers…
How to Be a Stoic, Massimo Pigliucci
A philosopher asks how ancient Stoicism can help us flourish today (publisher’s blurb) “This is a lucid, engaging, and persuasive book about what it means to pursue Stoic ideals in the here and now. Massimo Pigliucci’s imaginary conversations with Epictetus carry the reader effortlessly along while grounding the discussion firmly in the ancient Stoic tradition–and…
Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius
The remarkable story of Marcus Aurelius’ life and philosophical journey is brought to life by philosopher and psychotherapist Donald J. Robertson, in a sweeping historical epic of a graphic novel, based on a close study of the historical evidence, with the stunning full-color artwork of award-winning illustrator Zé Nuno Fraga. — Publisher’s blurb Verissimus is…
Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution, R. F. Kuang
“From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire. Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828.…
Ithaca and House of Odysseus, Claire North
Ithaca the first book in Claire North’s “Songs of Penelope” series “is the story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before. Beyond Ithaca’s shores, the whims of gods dictate the wars of men. But on the isle, it is the choices of the abandoned women—and their goddesses—that…
The Mad Emperor: Heliogabalus and the Decadence of Rome, Harry Sidebottom
“On 8 June 218 AD, a fourteen-year-old Syrian boy, egged on by his grandmother, led an army to battle in a Roman civil war. Against all expectations, he was victorious. Varius Avitus Bassianus, known to the modern world as Heliogabalus, was proclaimed emperor. The next four years were to be the strangest in the history…