Love, Sex and Tragedy: How the Ancient World Shapes Our Lives - Hardcover

'Goldhill writes with breezy wit in a style accessible to readers who did not grow up on Plato and Tacitus. This can disguise the fact that his intent is deadly serious ... As this brilliant book demonstrates, a familiarity with the ancient world is about much more than a life in ruins.' -- JOan Smith, The Independent 20040521 'It's great, and great fun ... the kind of book you find yourself reading out to your other half as you go along ... A sparkling, erudite and amusing remedy for our collective historical amnesia' -- Zadie Smith 20040521 'Wide-ranging and challenging ... varied and unpredictable ... enterprising ... There cannot be many people who will not acquire new knowledge and have their thoughts keenly provoked ... confident, intelligent and assertive' -- The Guardian 20040703 'Simon Goldhill reminds us in Love, Sex & Tragedy of how Greek representations of the body beautiful, architecture and ideas of philosophy and democracy still influence us today.' -- New Scientist 20040807 'In this accessible, non-academic yet highly informative work Goldhill weaves expertly through a whole host of contemporary phobias and nightmares, pleasures and dreams to demonstrate the social, political and personal debts we owe to the Greeks.' -- The Scotsman 20040515 'This book is thoroughly enjoyable and refreshing' -- History Today 20041201 'Love, Sex and Tragedy has the popular intellectual grace of de Botton's How Proust Can Change Your Life, but it is more than clever and everywhere avoids being tongue-in-cheek. ... I wish more classicists would write as invitingly and honestly as Goldhill does ... The world would be a better place.' -- Times Higher Education Supplement 20040924 'An informative, light-hearted yet challenging read ... ancient history with a glamorous twist.' -- Venue Magazine 20050218 'An informative, light-hearted yet challenging read ... ancient history with a glamorous twist.' -- Venue Magazine 20050218 'This book is a call-to-arms in the face of a rapidly disintegrating culture.' -- Good Book Guide 20050301 'This is a good book.' -- Focus 20050501 'It's great, and great fun ... a sparkling, erudite and amusing remedy for our collective historical amnesia' -- Zadie Smith, Author of White Teeth 'Passionate, witty and broad-ranging ... Goldhill skilfully overturns and amends our existing beliefs' -- The Observer 'Enjoyable and lively' -- Emily Wilson, Times Literary Supplement 20040625 'Confident, intelligent and assertive! he draws many telling lessons' -- Oliver Taplin, The Guardian Weekly 20040730 'As this brilliant book demonstrates, a familiarity with the ancient world is about much more than a life in ruins.' -- Joan Smith, Independent 20040521 'Goldhill is the kind of classics master whose lessons you wouldn't want to skip ... Goldhill is at his best when he reveals the past to be a foreign country that is as unfamiliar as it is familiar.' -- Mark Simpson, The Independent 20040530 'In a breezy, user-friendly tone Goldhill tells us why classics matter.' Iain Finlayson -- The Times 20050312 'An exhilaratingly intelligent exercise in evangelism' -- Guardian 20050219 '[A] wonderful biography' -- Spectator 20041113 'His sharp essays on significant sites (from the stage to the arena) excite, enlighten and temper "relavance" with "otherness"' -- Independent 20050218

We seem to be living through a Classical renaissance. Gladiator was a global phenomenon, and a clutch of classical films are now being made in Hollywood. Greek tragedies are staged the world over. Millions of primetime viewers watched Channel 4's 'The Spartans'. Valerio Massimo Manfredi's Alexander trilogy was a huge bestseller. But the Greeks and Romans do not just offer great entertainment. LOVE, SEX AND TRAGEDY reveals how the influence of the ancient world can be seen throughout the modern world. Democracy and spin, diets and the gym, marriage and sex all play their part. No other book brings together the ancient and modern so inspiringly and provocatively. Part Alain de Botton, part Will Hutton, LOVE, SEX AND TRAGEDY is an essential guide to our lives today.