"The Great Sophists" by Jacqueline de Romilly is a thorough and first class book on an important but rarely studied aspect of ancient Greek thought: the Sophists.

Ms. de Romilly is a great French classicist with numerous thoughtful publications to her credit of which "The Great Sophists" is the most recent.

The Sophists have historically had an evil reputation as the first cultural and moral relativists; as corruptors of virtue; and for degrading philosophy.

Ms. de Romilly attempts to demonstrate that this view is due to a variety of factors (primarily Plato's laregly negative characterization of them and the dearth of Sophistic texts)which can and should be re-examined.

She attempts to lay out, to the best of the knowledge available to us, exactly what the Sophists teachings actually were; their similarities with many of Socrates views; and why Plato viewed them with hostile but at times ambivalent feelings.

In all of this Ms. de Romilly does a superb job of rooting out every reference to the Sophists in ancient literature as well as their own statements (often from hostile witnesses like Plato). With this awkward mass of material Ms. de Romilly has fashioned a very interesting and useful work that diserves a prominent place in the history of Greek thought. With the notable exception of Kerford's "The Sophistic Movement" it is difficult to recall any modern work other than Ms. de Romilly's that attempts to so thoroughly arrive at what the Sophists actually believed and what their effect was on Greek thought and civilization.

The most important question though is does she finally redeem the Sophists from the charges of amorality and corruption that were assigned to them? Ultimately I do not think believe she can regardless of how neutral a face she puts on her analysis and how much she endeavors to redeem their thought. As with so much ancient literature it is deeply sad that we do not pocess more texts by the sophists themselves. Given that we do not and given what remains, it seems that Plato was entirely in the right to cast them in the evil light that he did. But that is certainly no reason not to buy and learn from this terrific work of scholarship.

I haven't read this book but the Sophists fascinate me. How good is this book?

If you love this play and are thrillled by the stage history and staging minutiae, the this book will send you reeling! The historical reasearch is encyclopediac and captivating. Your rude sea will grow civil with its song.

I thought that the book was fantastic and delight. I couldn't put it down. I loved every minute of the book.

In a Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare's loveliest comedy, the world of four lovers collides in a magical woods one night during midsummer with hilarious results. Pandemonium reigns and misunderstandings abound; nothing is as it seems, or should be, and that is what makes this play so perfect.

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare's extraordinary talent for creating poetry that is unrivaled is effective in both establishing character and demonstrating the theme. The characters of this play all speak in poetic form with the exception of the English rustics who speak in prose. This helps to place the fairies and the lovers on a higher and more transcendental plane that the artisans. The artisans, as a result, become even more comical and serve to heighten the misunderstandings of love.

The poetry of Shakespeare's genius also helps to clarify the play^s theme of the extreme confusion and blinding power of love. The rhythmic words help to create a magical setting while the rhyming scheme serves to portray the confusion each character feels while under the power of love.

Those who think that love is only a blissful dream, will find that Shakespeare, in this play of clever intrigue, shows also that love can be a place of extreme confusion. As the audience ponders the revelry they have just seen on stage, Puck steps forth to conclude the confusion:

If we shadows have offended/ Think but this, and all is mended/ That you have but slumbered here/ While these visions did appear/ And this weak and idle theme/ No more yielding than a dream.

The audience is left in as much ambiguity as it felt throughout the performance; the play appropriately ends in a puzzling state of confusion.

The majority of events is this play take place during the night, even the rehearsal for the farcical play-within-a-play. All of the mishaps occur during the nighttime hours and the confusion is not cleared up until the next morning when the four lovers are discovered. This setting of night allows the audience to drift into the idea that the entire play could well have been nothing more than a fantastic dream.

Sleep in another theme that threads its way throughout the play. All of the mishaps and mistakes occur through the guise of sleep. One of the major influences of sleep is that it allows Puck and Oberon to make use of the magic love flower whose power is only effective if its intended victim is fast asleep. The flower, however, causes an hilarious love triangle that is not set straight until Oberon once again finds all of the confused lovers asleep. When they are discovered the next morning and asked to explain their crazy night, the only explanation that can be given is that it was all a dream.

There seems to be no other way for Shakespeare to end this riotous entanglement of lovers, mythological beings, fairies and artisans but to explain it as a dream. Throughout the play, with its nighttime atmosphere and frequent occurrences of sleep, the dreamy state of the characters is passed on to the audience. The play itself is still in an inconclusive state when the characters leave the stage and many questions remain in the mind of the audience. Puck's closing monologue, however, explains that puzzlement is the appropriate emotion to be felt during the course of the play. Puck then goes on to persuade the audience that the only logical explanation for the ambiguity of the play, itself, is that, just as the characters themselves experienced, the audience has just awakened from a comical and fantastic dream.

Yes, Shakespeare has a sense of humor; he proved it in A Midsummer Night's Dream. I have enjoyed all of his books, especially Romeo and Juliet and MacBeth, but A Midsummer Night's Dream is, in my opinion, his best work. There are many love stories in this book, one of which is about Hermia and Lysander. They hide in the woods because Hermia's father wants her to marry Demetrius, a wealthy man. In order to win over Hermia's father, a woman named Helena tells him where Hermia is, and they immediately go after the two lovers. What happens to Hermia and Lysander? Does she marry Demetrius? You'll have to read it in order to find out. There are other great stories in this book, including the one of Theseus and Hippolyta -- two royals that are about to get married. With Shakespeare's ability to write a beautiful love story with a touch of poetry and precise comic timing, this is a classic that everyone should read. I highly recommend it!

The book shows how the greek people were the first to concentrate their attention on the perfection of MAN and his place in society. Jaeger traces this fact from Homeric times through Plato and explains it through many outstanding writers such as Hesiod, Solon, Sophocles, and many more. He shows the powerful Ideals of the greeks in all their beauty which continue to live on in the world today. He reveals how Poetry, Philosophy, Rhetoric, Politics, Medicine, etc. have their basis in the quest to reach the highest standard imaginable for man and society. The space contributed to Plato is subtantial and the first volume is really only an intro to Plato by the authors own admission. That's a four hundred page intro! But it all leads to the greatest of inventions...Philosphy. I enjoyed the whole book, but the second volume "the search for the divine center" was the best part explaining many things about Plato. To understand in greater depth the influence of these ideals on the western world I recommend reading a book (which I read first) called "The Classical Tradition" by Gilbert Highet whom is also the translator of this book. That book reveals how most of the surviving great works throughout western history were written by authors who were well aware of the greek world and their ideals including many writers in the Christian tradition. Jaeger wrote a short book called "Greek Paideia and Early Christianity" which shows that connection very well. He has convinced me beyond doubt of his statement that the ancient greeks are the educators of the western world.

Anyone with an interest in Ancient Greece must read this book! Jaeger weaves elements of history, anthropology, philosophy, and psychology with masterful dexterity. I've read a number of general texts on Ancient Greek culture. There are some quite good ones out there. H.D.F. Kitto's, The Greeks, is another favorite of mine. Nevertheless, Jaeger's work stands well above the others. He provides a great deal of depth and detail but it never seems to wane as his genius provides a stunning insight on every page. Jaeger uses a concept well-known to classicists, arete, as a synthesizing thread. Paideia, which is roughly equal to our idea of culture, in the sense of 'she is a very cultured woman,' defined the aims and ideals of a Greek education. Arete, a blend of excellence, virtue, nobility, and skill provided a telos for that process of education. Jaeger, using the framework of educational ideals, came to present the true spirit of Ancient Greek culture. This idea, of using educational ideals to survey the depth and breadth of a culture, would rightfully scare a well-educated American. For our educational aims, which are primarily vocational or simply technical, represent a vacuum of higher values and ideals. Even the once powerful currency of 'honor' as a unifying goal has long since expired. A review of Ancient Greece, steeped in values and appreciative of the finest things in life, may rekindle the search and development of values in our own time and place. This book should be a guide for the quest.

I'm no longer at Playboy, and can be reached via email at rbrown@cimedia.com

Let me know if you're looking for a copy of Party Out of Bounds and I'll point you to potential sources.

Thanks for your interest. R.Brown

I no longer have any copies. However, if you're interested in this book, please let me know, as I'm trying to get somebody interested in reprinting it. rodgerb@playboy.com

This book has won the 2001 Best First Book Prize from the Foundations of Political Theory division of the American Political Science Association. The citation reads as follows:

In Plato's Democratic Entanglements, Sara Monoson uncovers and explores the connection between "two things usually viewed as thoroughly opposed - Plato's thought and Athenian democratic ideals and practices." To inform her inquiry, she draws upon her extensive knowledge of two bodies of recent scholarship: the literature in classics and political theory that reaches beyond the level of specifically governmental institutions to examine the civic practices and norms of Athenian democracy: and the literature on Plato that examines his philosophic practices and his involvement with the political life of his city.

Although fully cognizant of the antidemocratic features of Plato's thought, Monoson provides us with a more complex and nuanced account of the interaction between Plato's ideals of philosophic practice and the civic practices and ideals of democratic Athens. In particular, she shows the parallels between Plato's conception of the philosopher and the Athenian conception of the good democratic citizen - as lovers of the polis, as frank speakers, and as adherents of norms of deliberativeness and reciprocity.

Monoson's erudite analysis adds significant new dimensions and insights to a venerable scholarly debate and problematicizes overly simple understandings of Plato's political ideals, of Athenian practices, and of the standards for democratic citizenship. This book, in the words of Arlene Saxonhouse, "fully succeeds in bringing Plato into our conversations about democracy." It will reward the attention of all those classicists, philosophers, and political theorists interested in the issues she addresses.

Yikes, Plato uncovered! May I suggest that you and your most educated friends buy the book for those meaningful latenight exchanges around residual b-b-q light. What else can you ask of a political text?

This book is an excellent study of the trial of Socrates in its historical and cultural context. Unlike other studies, this book presents both sides of what the author conceives to be a tragic collision of values between the philosopher and Athens. The book is distinguished by excellent prose, clear and insightful analysis, and cogent arguments. This book is invaluable for anyone who wants to better understand Plato's APOLOGY and CRITO, which are dramatic re-creations of Socrates' trial, condemnation, and imprisonment. The author succeeds in transporting the reader back into the world of ancient Athens.
This book is suitable for the general reader as well as scholars. Many works, designed primarily for scholars, depict Socrates as a series of abstract arguments, depriving him of the humanity and passion that made him a great philosopher. Having read I.F. Stone on the trial of Socrates, which distorts the philosopher, presenting him as an authoritarian anti-democrat, I welcome Colaiaco's book for its presentation of a more objective view.
Unlike other studies which take either the side of Socrates or Athens, the author's approach is a balanced one. The reader is led to respect Socrates, the philosopher as hero who maintained his integrity until the end, and at the same time understand why the Athenians were threatened by his radical critique of their fundamental values. A glance at the table of contents will reveal that the book offers an enlightening intellectual history of Athens during the decline of its glory.
This book makes excellent reading for anyone interested in better understanding one of the greatest trials in history.

A graceful guide containing valuable historical and cultural description of Socrates' Athens, James Colaiaco's well informed and sometimes provocative exploration of an ancient conflict between democracy and dissidence evokes the scene and sense of the great philosopher's trial. It is a welcome addition to the literature on Socrates' trial and imprisonment that will enliven the modern debate over civil disobedience.

Peter Athens provides an excellent comparison between the rigors of the world of golf and sales. By using his own personal experiences in sales and golf, he is able to probide an insightful look at the striking similarities between the two in a clear and concise manner. This book will provide an excellent reference for sales professionals to keep with them throughout their carrers.

Peter Athens using everyday sales and golf terminology engages the reader consistently. Each section is concise and to the point. Sales can be a specific science based on your product. Mr. Athens transcends any possible product line. Golf as we all know is sweeping the nation. Your average golfer is now more cognizant of circumstance and strategy. Parallels and analogies throughout the book lead the reader to the intent, "golf and sales are conceptually interchangeable". This book is an easy read. Nowhere in the text is the jargon so golf/sales specific that cross cultures cannot follow along. Mr. Athens uses personal humility and " lessons learned" to share the risks of sales and golf. Books of this nature grab me when self disclosure is used in proper doses. Experience and reflection combined with his choice of analogy make this a great read. I recommend this book to all sales trainers. What better teacher than a man telling " his story".

Violent Criminal Acts and Actors Revisited is a brilliant piece of forensic literature! The graphic and case-by-case, first-person accounts provide that needed "dose" of reality. Dr. Athens has developed a unique theory that is, paradoxically, both down-to-earth and profound in nature. He's a true forensic expert! The man focuses on quality rather than mere quantity in his works. His contributions to the field of criminology await full recognition. Reviewer is the author of Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity: One Man's Recovery.

If you have any interest in violent criminal acts, criminal justice, chronic/acute criminal behavior from a treatment, control or academic perspective, this is a must read. I have spent 25 years researching, planning, and programming in this field and Dr. Athen's work has major implications across many domains. Whether or not you agree, after reading this book you will be left motivated and enlightened. I also recommend reading "Why They Kill" by Richard Rhodes either before or after reading this book.

This work has everything you might want to know about the 1896 Olympic Games: results, back ground stories, statistics, competitor information. The best part is that all controversies on the results - quite a few - are carefully documented so one can see WHY the authors have listed the results as they did. Also, several contemporary articles on the Games give a good picture of these Olympic Games. Because these texts are original, you can once again read and judge yourself.