Friends, Countrymen, Romans

Friends, Countrymen, Romans

Rome and America: Communities of Strangers, Spectacles of Belonging By Dean Hammer. Cambridge University Press, 2023.  Hardcover, 262 pages, $110.00. Reviewed by Jesse Russell. Since its inception, America has been many things, but, in a certain sense, it has always...
What Makes a Classic?

What Makes a Classic?

Wit’s Treasury: Renaissance England and the Classics  By Stephen Orgel. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021. Hardcover,  216 pages, $39.95. Reviewed by John Tuttle. What is a classic? It’s a provocative question for the literary-bent mind. Just what...
Shakespeare and the Real 

Shakespeare and the Real 

Shakespeare and the Idea of Western Civilization By R. V. Young.  Catholic University of America Press, 2022. Paperback, 280 pages, $34.95.  Reviewed by Michael Yost.  It would be almost a miracle if anyone who has read, understood, and formed opinions around the...
The Traditions That Gave Us Homer

The Traditions That Gave Us Homer

Hearing Homer’s Song: The Brief Life and Big Idea of Milman Parry By Robert Kanigel. Knopf, 2021. Hardcover, 336 pages, $28.95. Reviewed by J. L. Wall. It can be difficult to escape the image of Homer as blind bard and near-inventor of human literature. Just glance at...