Genres

Romans

Lists

Royals, Romans and the Emperor, Nonfiction

82 books — 13 voters

The Gospel Activity Book of Bible Stories for Preschooler's a... by Ukay J. Ekong

What Is Given from the Heart by Patricia C. McKissack

Picture Books About Christianity and The Black Church by African-Americans

45 books — 4 voters

Ancient Greece and the Olympics by Mary Pope Osborne

Dress me Baroque or Musketeer's Fashion by Alaya Aifel

History 4 Kids!

116 books — 3 voters

The Romanization of Britain by Martin Millett

From Caligula to Constantine by Eric R. Varner

Roman non-fiction

13 books — 5 voters

Le premier jour du reste de ma vie by Virginie Grimaldi

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Des livres qui font du bien

25 books — 1 voter

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

On Persephone's Island by Mary Taylor Simeti

Mediterranean Melting Pot (II): Sicily

135 books — 51 voters

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“ On my desk is an appeal from the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. It asks me to become a sponsor and donor of this soon-to-be-opened institution, while an accompanying leaflet has enticing photographs of Bob Dylan, Betty Friedan, Sandy Koufax, Irving Berlin, Estee Lauder, Barbra Streisand, Albert Einstein, and Isaac Bashevis Singer. There is something faintly kitsch about this, as there is in the habit of those Jewish papers that annually list Jewish prize-winners from ...more ”
― Christopher Hitchens, Hitch 22: A Memoir

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“ What happened? It took Gibbon six volumes to describe the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, so I shan’t embark on that. But thinking about this almost incredible episode does tell one something about the nature of civilisation. It shows that however complex and solid it seems, it is actually quite fragile. It can be destroyed.   What are its enemies?   Well, first of all fear — fear of war, fear of invasion, fear of plague and famine, that make it simply not worthwhile constructing thi What happened? It took Gibbon six volumes to describe the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, so I shan’t embark on that. But thinking about this almost incredible episode does tell one something about the nature of civilisation. It shows that however complex and solid it seems, it is actually quite fragile. It can be destroyed.   What are its enemies?   Well, first of all fear — fear of war, fear of invasion, fear of plague and famine, that make it simply not worthwhile constructing things, or planting trees or even planning next year’s crops. And fear of the supernatural, which means that you daren’t question anything or change anything. The late antique world was full of meaningless rituals, mystery religions, that destroyed self-confidence. And then exhaustion, the feeling of hopelessness which can overtake people even with a high degree of material prosperity.   There is a poem by the modern Greek poet, Cavafy, in which he imagines the people of an antique town like Alexandria waiting every day for the barbarians to come and sack the city. Finally the barbarians move off somewhere else and the city is saved; but the people are disappointed — it would have been better than nothing. Of course, civilisation requires a modicum of material prosperity—  What civilization needs:  confidence in the society in which one lives, belief in its philosophy, belief in its laws, and confidence in one’s own mental powers. The way in which the stones of the Pont du Gard are laid is not only a triumph of technical skill, but shows a vigorous belief in law and discipline. Vigour, energy, vitality: all the civilisations—or civilising epochs—have had a weight of energy behind them. People sometimes think that civilisation consists in fine sensibilities and good conversations and all that. These can be among the agreeable results of civilisation, but they are not what make a civilisation, and a society can have these amenities and yet be dead and rigid. ...more ”
― Kenneth Clark, Civilisation

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