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Helen Of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore
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Review
" The book triumphantly reclaims Helen from some of her traducers. Hughes's portrait is as close to a real, living Helen as we are likely to get."
- "Financial Times"
" When Helen launched her " thousand ships, " was she a " shameless hussy?" Or, like her mother, was she a rape victim? . . . The answers have always depended on who you speak to and when. Hughes has them all."
- "The Times"
" Hughes skillfully brings this period back to life. A fascinating window onto the power politics of an age . . . a genuinely exciting historical narrative."
- "Sunday Telegraph."
- "Financial Times"
" When Helen launched her " thousand ships, " was she a " shameless hussy?" Or, like her mother, was she a rape victim? . . . The answers have always depended on who you speak to and when. Hughes has them all."
- "The Times"
" Hughes skillfully brings this period back to life. A fascinating window onto the power politics of an age . . . a genuinely exciting historical narrative."
- "Sunday Telegraph."
She magazine, interview with Bettany Hughes -
`On My Bookshelf'
Inside This Book
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Bettany Hughes is one of the most able and articulate writers on ancient history we have; and this is a fine example of her work.
Bringing together her extensive research into Helen and demonstrating that the best historians are polymaths, it is possible to imagine that Hughes left out as much detail as she put into her book. What is in is very well presented and superbly written. The deep understanding of the subject is communicated by a turn of phrase and literary expression that is rarely found today, and all the more valuable when it is.
This book is a treat for greco-philes and lovers of history a-like; it pulls together fact, deduction, inference and supposition, is always credible and completely absorbing. You really should order it - Now!
Bringing together her extensive research into Helen and demonstrating that the best historians are polymaths, it is possible to imagine that Hughes left out as much detail as she put into her book. What is in is very well presented and superbly written. The deep understanding of the subject is communicated by a turn of phrase and literary expression that is rarely found today, and all the more valuable when it is.
This book is a treat for greco-philes and lovers of history a-like; it pulls together fact, deduction, inference and supposition, is always credible and completely absorbing. You really should order it - Now!
25 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In every biography there is an element of myth but in Helen's case the myth is the story and Hughes brilliantly uses this as the starting point for her unique exploration of the making and meaning of Helen across human history. This is a wonderfully ranging read, moving across times and continents from the bronze age civilisation that kindled the first idea of Helen to the modern world that refuses to let her die. This is certainly not, and never could be, a `standard' biography but is instead a wonderful synthesis of archaeology, mythology and history and stands as a testament to the ever-changing image of Helen that we all still carry with us.
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
History/biography is a very difficult genre which all too often gets clobbered by either the Scylla of turgid style, overly dense footnotes and too much detail or the Charybdis of superficiality and crowd-pleasing. Hughes' 'Helen' brilliantly steers herself past both with a witty, engaging and passionate style and ample, but not excess, detail to back up her ideas.
The book is a dazzling exploration of Bronze Age history and, particularly, the role of women in it which is threaded on a figure who is universally known and relevant today. The trick of imagining and pursuing Helen as a real person gives a cogency, life and focus to a field which might otherwise have little or no appeal to a modern non-academic audience. Furthermore, combining that history with an analysis of how views of Helen have changed and developed over time gives an essential cultural context for the whole exercise. All-in-all, easily one of the best history books I have ever read.
The book is a dazzling exploration of Bronze Age history and, particularly, the role of women in it which is threaded on a figure who is universally known and relevant today. The trick of imagining and pursuing Helen as a real person gives a cogency, life and focus to a field which might otherwise have little or no appeal to a modern non-academic audience. Furthermore, combining that history with an analysis of how views of Helen have changed and developed over time gives an essential cultural context for the whole exercise. All-in-all, easily one of the best history books I have ever read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
If Only Real Life Were This Good!
I read that some people who watched James Cameron's Avatar (I haven't) were left feeling depressed because they had to return to the real world. Read more
Published 4 hours ago by Honrus Publicus
Pure Brilliance
This is the best historical book I have read yet. I am a huge fan of Bettany Hughes' TV programmes but this puts them in the shade. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Louise
Unconvincing
There doesn't seem to be a cogent argument at work in this book - it explores a lot of airy fairy avenues, and there's a lot of imagining what Helen's life was like. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Sonsiekat
Lacks focus but enjoyable
Hughes both suffers and succeeds in trying to link a wide number of sources and contexts and look at them through a Helen-tinted window. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Scamander
Insightful, well-researched portrait of Helen of Troy
Bettany Hughes' debut work is a magnum opus of truly astonishing proportions. Hughes has not only written a thoroughly detailed examination of the evidence for a real Bronze Age... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Isis
Good scholarship
Bettany Hughes' television programmes tend perforce to be superficial but this and other books show that she has a thorough knowledge of her subject.
Published 14 months ago by David R.
In Search of Helen
My interest in architecture and Bronze Age history was rekindled by Michael Woods 'In Search of the Trojan War' and more recently watching a rerun of Bettany Hughes' bumper TV... Read more
Published 24 months ago by David N. Esq
A New Look
An excellent follow up to Bettany Hughes television programme about Helen of Troy, putting her into her proper context as a Bronze Age Princess. Read more
Published on 9 May 2010 by Cicero
Dumbed up.
Bettany Hughes may be a passable television presenter but as a Historian she is not terribly convincing. Read more
Published on 25 Mar 2010 by D. Carrick
I felt like a time traveller: marvellous
"Helen of Troy" tells the story of one of the most famous women in history: Helen of Sparta, better known from Homer's Iliad as Helen of Troy. Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2009 by Basileus
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