For Lust of Knowing

Jan 9, 2025 2:28 AM

Author:Robert Irwin

For Lust of Knowing

Robert Irwin’s history of Orientalism leads from Ancient Greece to the present. He shows that, whether making philological comparisons between Arabic and Hebrew, cataloguing the coins of Fatimid Egypt or establishing the basic chronology of Harun al-Rashid’s military campaigns against Byzantium, scholars have been unified not by politics or ideology but by their shared obsession. For Lust of Knowing is an extraordinary, passionate book, both a sustained argument and a brilliant work of original scholarship.

Reviews

Imaginative, sympathetic and plausible

—— Bettany Hughes

An exciting tale written in a lively style that brings Homer's heroes and the world in which they lived to vibrant and colourful life

—— Donald Kagan

Strauss's brilliant interweaving of the mythic and the modern archaeological records makes for exhilarating [...] reading

—— The Scotsman

Consumed in one of those burning-the-midnight-oil situations... I really enjoyed it

—— Michael Wood

A military epic of the first order, weaving together fact and fiction in a beguiling tapestry of blood, guts, gore - and terrible feminine beauty

—— Paul Cartledge, professor of Greek History, Cambridge University

This is as good an account as we are likely to get of one of the most famous wars in history. A must-read for anyone interested in war, history, or ancient times

—— Max Boot, senior fellow in national security studies, The Council on Foreign Relations

It has taken a mere 2,700 years for archaeology to reveal Homer as a truly talented historian, not just a peddler of second hand myths. Contrary to age-old academic prejudice, finds since 1988 have confirmed that the Trojan War happened much as Homer - the Iron Age writer with an inspired grasp of Bronze Age culture - related it. Homer's heroes remain mythical, but so much else is spot-on that Barry Strauss extends the benefit of the doubt by re-telling The Iliad in his own chattily lyrical style as if Achilles & Co were as real as the other proven evidence. Cracking book ...

—— The Daily Telegraph

In this gripping reconstruction [Strauss] deploys an impressive array of archaeological, historical and linguistic evidence...

—— Mail on Sunday

A gripping account

—— Adam Forrest , The Herald

DeGroot tells the story of the American lunar mission with verve and elegance

—— Richard Aldous , Irish Times

Fascinating, gossipy and occasionally hilarious

—— Jeffrey Taylor , Express

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