Full Circle: How the Classical World Came Back to Us
Ferdinand Mount
Full Circle: How the Classical World Came Back to Us
So much about the society that is now emerging in the twenty-first century bears an astonishing resemblance to the most prominent features of what we call the classical world - its institutions, its priorities, its entertainment, its physics, its sexual morality, its food, its politics, even its religion. The ways in which we live our rich and varied lives correspond - almost eerily so - to the ways in which the Greeks and Romans lived theirs. Whether we are eating and drinking, bathing or exercising or making love, pondering, admiring or enquiring, our habits of thought and action, our diversions and concentrations recreate theirs. It is as though the 1500 years after the fall of Rome had been time out from traditional ways of being human. Ferdinand Mount peels back 2000 years of history to show how much we are like the ancients, how in ways both trivial and crucial we are them and they are us.
3.0 out of 5 based on 7 reviews
|
Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Non-fiction |
| Genre |
History |
| Format |
Hardback |
| Pages |
256 |
| RRP |
£20.00 |
| Date of Publication |
May 2010 |
| ISBN |
978-1847377982 |
| Publisher |
Simon & Schuster |
| |
So much about the society that is now emerging in the twenty-first century bears an astonishing resemblance to the most prominent features of what we call the classical world - its institutions, its priorities, its entertainment, its physics, its sexual morality, its food, its politics, even its religion. The ways in which we live our rich and varied lives correspond - almost eerily so - to the ways in which the Greeks and Romans lived theirs. Whether we are eating and drinking, bathing or exercising or making love, pondering, admiring or enquiring, our habits of thought and action, our diversions and concentrations recreate theirs. It is as though the 1500 years after the fall of Rome had been time out from traditional ways of being human. Ferdinand Mount peels back 2000 years of history to show how much we are like the ancients, how in ways both trivial and crucial we are them and they are us.
Reviews
The Spectator
Philip Hensher
“Ferdinand Mount’s ingenious polemic skewers any number of modern-day vanities, and takes us with wit and charm through many absurdities of the remote past.”
29/05/2010
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The Times
Iain Finlayson
“Mount’s thesis, which is so lightly and humorously expressed, is that our modernity mirrors Classical culture.”
10/07/2010
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The Financial Times
Christian Tyler
“If the book does not manage quite to close the circle, no matter: we are taken on a delightful excursion along the cultural loop line, a journey of sudden views, jokes and surprises, conducted by a witty and knowledgeable guide. As you would expect of a prominent newspaper columnist and novelist, our cicerone is a crafty phrasemaker; but he shows passion in the prose and moral seriousness behind the irony. Here we have the triumph of the generalist, whose intellectual vigour trumps academic rigour. Take him with you on holiday: you won’t regret it.”
19/07/2010
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The Guardian
Ranjit Bolt
“How like the ancients are we? According to Ferdinand Mount, a good deal more than we might suppose. Given the idealised picture of the Greeks and Romans that many of us, in many respects, entertain, the initial response might well be one of scepticism. And, indeed, it is questionable whether Mount does much to change that during the course of this book.”
26/06/2010
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The Independent
Anthony Everitt
“Limping comparisons set on one side, this is an eminently readable entertainment. Full Circle's over-arching theme is, in effect, a chest of drawers in which Mount happens to keep a full ensemble of intellectual garments, elegant, interesting and funny. The reader is strongly advised to ignore the container and concentrate on the products of a well-stocked mind stored inside... Controversialists of the moment and ephemeral personalities crowd these pages and consequently this book, for all its charm, is likely to date quickly.”
30/07/2010
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The Literary Review
Peter Jones
“Mount's claim takes no account of mall matters of politics, law, empire, education, finance, war, work, families, slavery, moral and ethical values and welfare states... So forget Mount's thesis....You will find a readable, stylish, expansive (sometimes, perhaps, too expansive), occasionally sharp and stimulating series of reflections using the ancients as either a springboard or default position.”
01/07/2010
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The Sunday Times
James McConnachie
“Mount is an entertaining guide to ancient Rome, but his grip on the present feels less assured. He seems to be cherry-picking the most colourful of our cultural excesses and then taking them to represent reality. Is it true, for instance, that sex today is passionlessly gymnastic? Is all contemporary art empty? Mount is serving up a version of tabloid alarmism with an intellectual dressing.”
01/08/2010
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