Synopses & Reviews
What can teachers do to inspire their students? In this compelling book, Sam Intrator provides detailed portraits of powerful learning episodes in a high school classroom and suggests numerous practical ideas to help teachers cultivate their own seemingly magical learning moments.
“Should be required reading for every teacher and every student contemplating teaching as a profession.” — Mary Lynn Collins, Teachers College Record
“Sam Intrator is one of the brightest lights in education today and a key leader in the rising generation of scholar-activists who can help bring meaning and purpose back to education. A compelling, wise, and truly extraordinary book.”—Parker J. Palmer, author of The Courage to Teach
“I yearn for our society to change its vision of education, to remember that hearts must be engaged in order for minds to be put in gear. [Tuned In and Fired Up] adds to my sense of hope. . . . I am grateful for this book.”—Kathy Simon, Horace
“Young teachers reading this book will learn many valuable things, but the most important message here is that good teaching is more a matter of passion and human connection than of practiced technique.”—David Ruenzel, Teacher Magazine
Review
and#8220;[The] excellent scholar Mary Lefkowitz . . . briskly retells [some of the] classic myths, not only from Homer, Hesiod, and Greek tragedy, but also those to do with the voyage of the Argonauts and the adventures of Virgiland#8217;s Aeneas.and#8221;and#8212;Peter Green,
Los Angeles Times Book ReviewReview
and#8220;A great success. . . . Acute and fascinating.and#8221;and#8212;Jasper Griffin,
New York Review of Books Review
“[The] excellent scholar Mary Lefkowitz . . . briskly retells [some of the] classic myths, not only from Homer, Hesiod, and Greek tragedy, but also those to do with the voyage of the Argonauts and the adventures of Virgils Aeneas.”Peter Green,
Los Angeles Times Book ReviewReview
and#8220;[From] a super-competent, sometimes controversial, and always engaging professional classicist, . . . [a] fascinating study.and#8221;and#8212;Tracy Lee Simmons,
Washington Post Synopsis
Why the Greek myths, more than those of any other culture, continue to captivate us
The mythology of ancient Greece has fascinated readers for two millennia and has formed the basis of Western civilization. The Greek gods are a perennial source of delight because they seem so much like us: in their rages, their love affairs, and their obsession with honor, the gods often appear all too human.
In Greek Gods, Human Lives, preeminent classicist Mary Lefkowitz reintroduces readers to the literature of ancient Greece. Lefkowitz demonstrates that these stories, although endlessly entertaining, are never frivolous. The Greek myths--as told by Homer, Ovid, Virgil, and many others--offer crucial lessons about human experience. Greek mythology makes vivid the fact that the gods control every aspect of the lives of mortals, but not in ways that modern audiences have properly understood. We can learn much from these myths, Lefkowitz shows, if we understand that they are stories about religious experience--about the meaning of divinity, the nature of justice, and the limitations of human knowledge. These myths spoke to ancient audiences and helped them to comprehend their world. With Mary Lefkowitz as an interpreter, these myths speak to us as well.
Synopsis
The mythology of ancient Greece has fascinated readers for two millennia and has formed the basis of Western civilization. The Greek gods are a perennial source of delight because they seem so much like us: in their rages, their love affairs, and their obsession with honor, the gods often appear all too human.In Greek Gods, Human Lives, preeminent classicist Mary Lefkowitz reintroduces readers to the literature of ancient Greece. Lefkowitz demonstrates that these stories, although endlessly entertaining, are never frivolous. The Greek myths-as told by Homer, Ovid, Virgil, and many others-offer crucial lessons about human experience. Greek mythology makes vivid the fact that the gods control every aspect of the lives of mortals, but not in ways that modern audiences have properly understood. We can learn much from these myths, Lefkowitz shows, if we understand that they are stories about religious experience-about the meaning of divinity, the nature of justice, and the limitations of human knowledge. These myths spoke to ancient audiences and helped them to comprehend their world. With Mary Lefkowitz as an interpreter, these myths speak to us as well.
About the Author
Mary Lefkowitz is Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Department of Classical Studies, Wellesley College. Among her books is
Not Out of Africa: How Afrocentrism Became an Excuse to Teach Myth as History.