American Classicist

The Life and Loves of Edith Hamilton

By: Victoria Houseman

Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers

A biography of the remarkable woman whose bestselling Mythology has introduced millions of readers and listeners to the classical world

Edith Hamilton (1867–1963) didn’t publish her first book until she was sixty-two. But over the next three decades this former headmistress would become the twentieth century’s most famous interpreter of the classical world. Today, Hamilton’s Mythology (1942) remains the standard version of ancient tales and sells tens of thousands of copies a year. During the Cold War, her influence even extended to politics, as she argued that postwar America could learn from the fate of Athens after its victory in the Persian Wars. In American Classicist, Victoria Houseman tells the fascinating life story of a remarkable classicist whose ideas were shaped by—and aspired to shape—her times.

Hamilton studied Latin and Greek from an early age, earned a BA and MA at Bryn Mawr College, and ran a girls’ prep school for twenty-six years. After retiring, she turned to writing and began a relationship with the pianist and stockbroker Doris Fielding Reid. The two women were partners for more than forty years, and entertained journalists, diplomats, and politicians in their Washington, D.C., house. Hamilton travelled extensively around the world, formed friendships with Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound, and was made an honorary citizen of Athens. While Hamilton believed that the ancient Greeks represented the peak of world civilization, Houseman shows that this suffragist, pacifist, and anti-imperialist was far from an apologist for Western triumphalism.

An absorbing narrative of an eventful life, American Classicist reveals how Hamilton’s Greek and Roman worlds held up a mirror to midcentury America even as she strived to convey a timeless beauty that continues to enthrall listeners.

©2023 Victoria Houseman (P)2023 Recorded Books

Keeping the Greeks alive

This is a type of book that I would not read. It is much better as an audible book. she lived for more than 90 years during a time of change for women. Her translations were honored by the country of Greece. She was not scorched by the lavender scare of the 1950s that ruined so many gay men’s careers.