Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why The Greeks Matter
Book Discussion – Transcript
The people we are and how real is history? What everyone knows about western civilization, is that correct? Well, these are complicated questions and they really deserve careful, considerate answers. Today, you will get some of those answers from a very, very special author, thomas cahill. He has written four of the series of seven books about history of western civilization. The series is called "hinges of history" and you'll soon find out why the greeks matter. The first of the four books was how the irish saved civilization. The second was the gift of the jews, the third is the desire of the ever lasting hills, the world before and after jesus and the recently published book is "sailing the wine-dark sea" and in this series about the formation -- formative moments of western civilization, mr. Cahill tells the rest of the story. He tells you things that are different from what you would read in your normal textbooks. Instead of turning his light on war and outrage and catastrophe, natural and man-made, mr. Cahill presents the narratives of greats, the stories of great gift givers and tevlution of our western sensibility. He tells us the history that we don't find elsewhere. Now the newest book "why the greeks matter" was just published last month. He leads a captivating tour of ancient greek achievements, which encompasses dozens of facts, ranging from state craft, philosophy, architecture, militarism, and science. This might sound boring to some people. But wait until you hear what mr. Cahill has to say and read his book and you will be convinced, as one of the comments on amazon.com said, "this is the professor i wish i had." now from publishers weekly, the review for this latest book is "in its elegant introduction to greek life and though, cahill provides the same majestic historic cal survey he has already offered for the irish, the jews and the christians. He eloquently narrates the rise of greek civilization and handly isolated six archetype pal figures representative of the development of greek thinking. It's full of whimsical characterization, such as the depiction of sack ra tease as a squat, ugly, barefoot man who did not bathe too often. The author include generous portions of the original writings in order to provide the flavor of the greek way. Once again, cahill opens autopsy world that has provided so much of western culture's characteristic way of thinking." that is typical of the types of reviews you will see about this book. Now, who is tom cahill? Many of you already know him because of the series. But for those who don't, he is a life-long scholar himself. He studied with some of america's most distinguished literary and biblical scholars. He was born in new york city to irish american parents and was raised in the bronx. He was educated by the jesuits and studied ancient greek and latin. He will tell you himselfs that that was the root of all that has come since then as far as his writings and his literature. He continues to study of greek and latin litz chure as well as mid evil philosophy, scripture and theology at fordham university. He got a b.a. in classical litsdz chure and philosophy and a pontiff cal degree in philosophy. He went on to complete his masters in fine arts at columbia and studied scripture at new york's union theological seminary. As you can see, he is well versed in the areas in which he has written. He taught at queens college, fordham and seton hall and he ises a regular contributor to the los angeles times book review. He is married to susan, who is also an author and they founded the now legendary cahill and company, whose readers' catalog was much beloved in literary households throughout the country. Now just one final tidbit tom my son david is the audience, who goes to a jezz width school and is learning some of the very things mr. Cahill learned at his age, there is light at the end of the
