12-30-2010, 01:52 AM
I've read both. David R. posted my Goldsworthy review above.
I have to find the time to comment on the Schiff book. Just briefly: I found stretches of it rather annoying. Schiff is jumping all over the place and is making a lot of assumptions. I've read the complete review by Mary Beard in the NYRB, http://www.nybooks.com/ , which latter requires paid subscription and is well worth it, BTW. Mary is regular contributor. She rightly acknowledges Schiff's qualifications as a biographer in general and terms the book for which Schiff got the Pulitzer prize "excellent." The thing is of course that the generalist biographer should not attempt a biography of a subject from the Ancient history without at least some amount of classical training. The pitfalls are just too many.
I have to find the time to comment on the Schiff book. Just briefly: I found stretches of it rather annoying. Schiff is jumping all over the place and is making a lot of assumptions. I've read the complete review by Mary Beard in the NYRB, http://www.nybooks.com/ , which latter requires paid subscription and is well worth it, BTW. Mary is regular contributor. She rightly acknowledges Schiff's qualifications as a biographer in general and terms the book for which Schiff got the Pulitzer prize "excellent." The thing is of course that the generalist biographer should not attempt a biography of a subject from the Ancient history without at least some amount of classical training. The pitfalls are just too many.
