Finding the Historical Vergil
Vergil: The Poet’s Life By Sarah Ruden. Yale University Press, 2023. Hardcover, 200 pages, $26. Reviewed by Paul Krause. Vergil is the greatest Roman poet. We know him as the poet of the Aeneid, the Eclogues, and the Georgics. Vergil is also Dante’s guide through hell...
The Woman Who Loved Lord Byron
Lady Caroline Lamb: A Free Spirit By Antonia Fraser. Pegasus Books, 2023. Hardcover, 224 pages, $28.95. Reviewed by Paul Krause. “Lady Caroline Lamb broke the rules.” Who was Lady Caroline Lamb, the great rulebreaker, “free spirit,” and lady who nearly destroyed Lord...
Saint Una and the Women Who Made Saint Augustine
Queens of a Fallen World: The Lost Women of Augustine’s Confessions By Kate Cooper. Basic Books, 2023. Hardcover, 304 pages, $30. Reviewed by Paul Krause. Saint Augustine was a momma’s boy. He was also smitten by the beauty and charm of women, from the concubine with...
The Graces of Death and Nature
Three Roads Back: How Emerson, Thoreau, and William James Responded to the Greatest Losses of Their Lives By Robert D. Richardson. Princeton University Press, 2023. Hardcover, 128 pages, $22.95. Reviewed by Paul Krause. Death is a morbid topic, one that most people...
There are metaphorical hills on which I would be willing to die. The Oxford comma is one of them.
So easy to forget that the best way to educate yourself is to read great works of literature and philosophy, then talk about them. Bring back the salon!