Twelve Greeks and Romans Who Changed the World - by Carl J Richard (Paperback)

About the Book

As Richard vibrantly describes the contributions of the individuals, he details the historical context in which each lived, showing how these men influenced their world and ours.

Book Synopsis

As Richard vibrantly describes the contributions of the individuals, he details the historical context in which each lived, showing how these men influenced their world and ours.

Review Quotes

A valuable overview of ancient history, politics, economics, science, literature, art, philosophy, and religion in Greece and Rome. Recommended.

By setting these biographical essays deeply within their subjects' historical contexts, Carl Richard has given us an accessible and concise guide not only to these twelve major figures of ancient literature, philosophy, and history, but to the principal events of the Greek and Roman world from the Mycenaean Bronze Age to the Christian world of Augustine. The prose is lively, the anecdotes are entertaining and apt, and the range is remarkable in a text of this size.

Carl Richard's book is easy to read and highly recommended for those waiting to take a course on Western Civilization or who are rediscovering classical Greek and Roman history.

Carl Richard's lively tour through the lives of twelve Greeks and Romans who created the Western world is a liberal education in itself, clearly telling us not just what we should know but why we should know it. For those tired of the melodrama of Western wickedness, Twelve Greeks and Romans will provide them with the necessary corrective: a clear overview of the unique virtues of the West and their origins among the Greeks and Romans.

Readers will enjoy learning about how the lives and works of such figures as Plato, Alexander the Great, Julius Ceaser, and Cicero became part of modern political debates, and about the debt that Western writers owe to Homer.

This book is a breathtaking accomplishment. There is a wealth here of information, wisdom, and wit. The author of The Founders and the Classics has written another classic.

About the Author

Carl J. Richard is associate professor of history at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and author of The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment.