It's a Don's Life (Paperback)
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Britain's best known classicist speaks her mind on the ancient, and modern, worlds. A wide-ranging selection from her 'best hit' blog.
Mary Beard's by now famous blog A Don's Life has been running on the TLS website for nearly three years. In it she has made her name as a wickedly subversive commentator on the world in which we live. Her central themes are the classics, universities and teaching -- and much else besides.
What are academics for?
Who was the first African Roman emperor?
Looting -- ancient and modern.
Are modern exams easier?
Keep lesbos for the lesbians.
Did St Valentine exist?
What made the Romans laugh?
That is just a small taste of this selection (and some of the choicer responses) which will inform, occasionally provoke and cannot fail to entertain.
It's a Don's Life (Ebook)
Buy from
Britain's best known classicist speaks her mind on the ancient, and modern, worlds. A wide-ranging selection from her 'best hit' blog.
Mary Beard's by now famous blog A Don's Life has been running on the TLS website for nearly three years. In it she has made her name as a wickedly subversive commentator on the world in which we live. Her central themes are the classics, universities and teaching -- and much else besides.
What are academics for?
Who was the first African Roman emperor?
Looting -- ancient and modern.
Are modern exams easier?
Keep lesbos for the lesbians.
Did St Valentine exist?
What made the Romans laugh?
That is just a small taste of this selection (and some of the choicer responses) which will inform, occasionally provoke and cannot fail to entertain.
Reviews for It's a Don's Life
Sam Leith Daily Mail
Dinah Birch Observer
Charlotte Higgins Guardian
Julian Fleming Sunday Business Post
Frances Spalding Independent
Jane Gardam Daily Telegraph
Edmund Gordon Sunday Times
Alastair Mabbott Glasgow Herald
Weekend Australian
Mary Beard
Mary Beard is one of the most original and best-known classicists working today. She is Professor of Classics at Newnham College, Cambridge, and the Classics editor of the TLS. She is a fellow of the British Academy and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her books include the Wolfson Prize-winning Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town (2008) and the best-selling SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (2015). Her popular TLS blog has been collected in the books It's a Don's Life and All in a Don's Day. Her latest book is Women & Power: A Manifesto (2017).
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