Summary

Herodotus is not only the father of the art and the science of historical writing but also one of the Western tradition’s most compelling storytellers. His Histories is regarded as one of the seminal works of history in Western literature. He wrote these accounts of the fifth-century-BC wars between the Greeks and Persians with a continuous awareness of the mythic and the wonderful, while laying bare the intricate human entanglements at their core. This volume is one of the first accounts of the rise of the Persian Empire and serves as a record of the ancient traditions and politics of the time.

In the instinctive empiricism that took him searching over much of the known world for information, in the care he took with sources and historical evidence, in his freedom from intolerance and prejudice, Herodotus virtually defined the rational, humane spirit that is the enduring legacy of Greek civilization.

Originally published in the fifth century BC

Review Quotes

“Herodotus gives more sheer pleasure than almost any other writer.”- New York Times Book Review

“Herodotus emerges in all his charm and complexity as a writer and the first historian in the Western tradition, perhaps unique in the way he has seen the interrelation of fact and fantasy…Herodotus crowds his fresco-like pages with all shades of humanity. Whether Herodotus’ view is ‘tragic,’ mythical, or merely common sense, it provided him with a moral salt with which the diversity of mankind could be savored.”- Christian Science Monitor

“Renowned in his own time for his humanity and wide-ranging curiosity, Herodotus shows an insatiable appetite for both useful information and a good yarn, and The History is a starting point for any student of the past.”- Amazon.com, editorial review

Summary

Aristotle’s influence on modern culture has become more and more important in recent years. His contribution to the sum of all wisdom dominates all our philosophy and even provides direction for much of our science. And all effective debaters, whether they know it or not, employ Aristotle’s three basic principles of effective argument, which form the spine of rhetoric: “ethos,” the impact of the speaker’s character upon the audience; “pathos,” the arousing of the emotions; and “logos,” the advancement of pertinent arguments. In his discussion, Aristotle observes several aspects of epic poetry, lyric poetry, and comedy. He maintains that poetry has greater philosophical value because it deals with universals, while history states particular facts.

Originally written in the fourth century BC

Summary

Xenophon, after being exiled from Athens, spent the last years of his life hunting, writing, and recalling in his books the great days of the Persian expedition. This record of one of the most famous marches in history contains an account of the day-to-day life of ordinary men and soldiers. It demonstrates how Greek theories of government and morality worked out in practice—for with his admiration for the great, Xenophon had a rare ability to understand and describe the outlook of lesser men. His own fortunes, too, are intensely moving. Cool, calculating, brilliant, and intensely pious, he is one of the most fascinating characters of history, and his account of his own doings is so far from being self-conscious that he seems to be one of the very few Greeks whose ways and manners have been accurately documented.

Originally published in Greek in the fourth century BC

Author Bio

Xenophon (c. 431–355 BC) served for some years as a mercenary in the Middle East and Asia Minor and later wrote pioneering works on history, politics, and philosophy, as well as a number of technical treatises.

DESCRIPTION:

Every biography is a story of adventure. The energetic personalities of the world represent an adventure in living. The philosophical personalities, on the other hand, represent an adventure in thinking. And when we examine the lives of the philosophers we find that the procession of a man’s thoughts can be exciting a spectacle as the pageantry of a man’s deeds.

The great thinkers introduced in this work include: Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Epicurus, Marcus Aurelius, Aquinas, Francis Bacon, Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Hume, Voltaire, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Emerson, Spencer, Nietzche, William James, Bergson, and Santayhana.

REVIEWS:

“A marvelous introduction for the layperson….Each biography is well written, and reveals a wry sense of humor and a sense of the ironic….[Lewis’s] delivery uses subtle inflection and varied pacing to make this journey into the history of ideas exciting.”—AudioFile

“This classic has lost none of its relevance….Today, the same great thinkers reign over Western thought….Reader Edward Lewis presents each philosopher as a unique individual passionately engaged in an adventure in thought. A basic work for every library.”—Library Journal

Index of Contents:

Plato (including Socrates) Aristotle Epicurus Marcus Aurelius Aquinas Francis Bacon Descartes Spinoza Locke Hume Voltaire Kant Hegel Schopenhauer Emerson Spencer Nietzsche William James Bergson Santayana