Famous Men of Ancient Times

Famous Men of Ancient Times presents a gallery of concise biographical portraits drawn from the classical and Near Eastern past: rulers, lawgivers, philosophers, soldiers, and statesmen whose actions shaped early civilization. Rather than offering antiquarian scholarship, Goodrich writes in a lucid, episodic manner, turning ancient history into moral narrative. The book belongs to the nineteenth-century tradition of instructive juvenile history, where Plutarchan example, Protestant moral earnestness, and republican admiration for civic virtue meet in accessible prose. Samuel Griswold Goodrich (1793-1860), better known as "Peter Parley," was among America's most influential makers of educational literature. A Connecticut-born publisher, editor, and public servant, he believed that history should cultivate judgment as well as memory. His career in schoolbooks and children's periodicals helps explain the volume's clarity, compression, and ethical emphasis: antiquity becomes a classroom of character, ambition, prudence, courage, and folly. This book is recommended to readers interested in how the nineteenth century taught the ancient world to young citizens, as well as to anyone seeking an engaging introduction to celebrated figures of antiquity. Its value lies not only in the lives it recounts, but in the revealing moral lens through which Goodrich interprets them.

Pagina's: 144, Paperback, Sharp Ink