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Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old
By Mary Beard
Hardcover
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$22.50
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Notes From Your Bookseller
Have you ever wondered what sparks the modern fascination with the ancient world? Mary Beard, author of The Fires of Vesuvius and SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, analyzes the obsession with art and ancient traditions from Greece and Rome and what it really means to be considered “classic.” Featuring her signature wit and thoughtful insight on ancient ideas, Beard illuminates the present with the wonder of the past in Talking Classics.
The incomparable Mary Beard is back, and she’s talking all things classics.
Why the ongoing fascination with the ancient world? This witty, approachable book asks whyfor better or (sometimes) worseantiquity continues to exert such a powerful hold on the contemporary imagination. Recalling a formative childhood encounter with a four-thousand-year-old piece of bread in a museum, Beard introduces the idea of thauma, or wonder, that kick-started a lifetime engaging with classics. It was not t...
Why the ongoing fascination with the ancient world? This witty, approachable book asks whyfor better or (sometimes) worseantiquity continues to exert such a powerful hold on the contemporary imagination. Recalling a formative childhood encounter with a four-thousand-year-old piece of bread in a museum, Beard introduces the idea of thauma, or wonder, that kick-started a lifetime engaging with classics. It was not t...
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