A People's History of Classics

"A massive work of scholarship, deep reading, immersion and understanding of both the classical sources and of their modern British uses. Nowadays, when the cultural hegemony of the classics has well and truly passed, it is a rare scholar who has the ability to pick up the nuances, meanings and allusions that would have been second nature to historical actors when that hegemony was at its peak. The rest of us who lack that ability will be forever in their debt." - Peter Mandler, Times Literary Supplement

"If potential readers of this splendid book are daunted by its subtitle — Class and Greco-Roman Antiquities in Britain and Ireland 1689 to 1939 — they would sadly be missing out not only on a mine of information but also a riveting and entertaining read... its authors Edith Hall and Henry Stead have avoided a style that might alienate readers other than professional academics." - Morning Star

"Hall and Stead offer us not just a history of working-class learning and scholarship, but also a dazzling compendium of genres, a dictionary of working-class classical biography, a survey of institutions and a multidimensional reference work of working-class culture. This is an undoubtedly brilliant book, not only hugely valuable in its own right, but also destined to open up and nurture new lines of research." - John Kittmer, ARGO

"A People’s History of Classics is a timely and important book, which will help to provide, as its authors suggest, ‘a new ancestral backstory for a discipline in need of a democratic makeover’. Its publication marks a watershed in the study of working-class classical reception in the British Isles and Ireland, and Hall and Stead are to be commended for excavating a stratum of social history that has been for too long obscured by the layers above it. While many studies have examined classical reception in the context of gender, race and sexuality, class has remained a poor cousin. This book goes far towards remedying that fault, while providing numerous starting points for others to extend scholarship in the field." - Quentin Broughall, Romance, Revolution and Reform Journal

"A People’s History of Classics is a trailblazer, opening up to view a fertile landscape that has for long been obscured by clouds of class partiality. Each of its twenty-five and fully referenced chapters acts as a signpost to byways that are full of surprises and lessons to be learnt." - Scottish Left Review

"Edith Hall (King’s College London) has campaigned to promote the study of classical civili>zation in UK state schools, where it is now rarely taught, even in translation. Henry Stead (University of St. Andrews) has created the Brave New Classics project to research the classical roots of Communist ideology. Their joint mission in this volume is to uncover the diffusion and study of the classics among the British and Irish working classes. It is a fascinating archae>ological dig, full of important discoveries." - Jonathan Rose, Journal of British Studies