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Nicolson's spirited exploration illuminates our own indelible past.
— Kirkus Starred Review
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“Complex, personal, and profound…a brash and brave piece of writing… [The world of Nicolson’s] book, filled with the swords and spears that inflict the carnage of the Iliad, can change the way we see ours.”
— Wall Street Journal
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“Nicolson has written the book that was waiting to be written…a superbly written account of the poems.”
— Times (London)
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“Highly accessible…[Nicolson’s] globe-trotting passion for his subject is contagious…bringing the heroic age into our own.”
— New York Times Book Review
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“A hosanna to Homeric wandering and wanderlust…breathes new life into an ancient adventure.”
— Observer (London)
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“Stirring…Nicolson eloquently sums up what we still look for in Homer: ‘wisdom, his fearless encounter with the dreadful, his love of love and hatred of death, the sheer scale of his embrace, his energy and brightness, his resistance to nostalgia.’"
— Washington Post
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“If I have a serious complaint about this book, it’s that it threatens to be better than Homer—and I say this as a qualified classicist, who is supposed to be extensively trained for snottiness toward an amateur enthusiast like Nicolson.”
— National Review
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"[A] gracefully written and deeply informed book…Nicolson’s spirited exploration illuminates our own indelible past.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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“In this passionate, deeply personal book, Nicolson explains why Homer matters—to him, to you, to the world—in a text full of twists, turns, and surprises.”
— Publishers Weekly
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"[A] sprawling, lyrical, and frequently intimate exploration…It is Nicolson’s passion for his subject that animates this selection and elevates textual explication into a paean.”
— Booklist