"'All in all, Hamel has succeeded in writing an informative, engaging and entertaining introduction to Herodotus, the Greek world of his age and the Greco-Persian wars he narrates that surely will inspire many to engage with the author himself."
-- Tristan Taylor, Ancient History: Resources for Teachers
"'But hold! I hear you cry. I had a cup of bull’s blood with my breakfast this morning and I’m just fine. And so you are. Because in fact bull’s blood isn’t poisonous....' So Hamel writes in just one of the witty passages in this loose retelling of Herodotus’ History. Her book, she promises, will contain only the 'juicy bits,' leaving the 'boring bits' safely out of sight on the cutting-room floor. Hamel delivers this and more: the 'guided tour' of her title is in fact undergirded by considerable scholarship—just enough to introduce readers to alternative accounts of important elements in Herodotus' work (the usurpation of Gyges, the death of Croesus) but not more than the general reader will be game for, and giving due consideration to occasions when Herodotus may have been misled by his sources. I learned from reading the book several things that I had not known—that a mule, for example, had in fact foaled in Colorado in the spring of 2007! (This was confirmed by DNA testing. So much for the impossibility of such a thing.) And speaking of animals, the discussion of woman-on-goat (or goat-on-woman) sex in Egyptian Mendes, also mentioned in Pindar fragment 201, gives rise not only to a discussion of Mendesian goats and Satanism but inspired Hamel to include (65) a remarkable 1854 drawing by Eliphas Lévi of the 'Baphomet of Mendes,' a memorable hybrid goat/human figure—with wings."
-- Jennifer T. Roberts, Classical World
"Hamel...has excerpted 'juicy parts,' emphasizing anecdotage of eccentric 'barbarian' eating habits and medical remedies, tyrants misbehaving, and intermittent, acrobatic obscenities. Readers impatient with Saharan geography, catalogs of combatants, and Hellenic constitutional reform will savor these immoderate behaviors, e.g., in a chapter titled 'Horny Goats and Medicinal Urine.'"
-- Donald Lateiner, Choice Review
"With glances out to fifth-century literary works (Bacchylides’ Ode on Croesus on the pyre, Aeschylus Persians) and forward to the Macedonian conquest of Persia and beyond, Hamel opens up a broad historical and cultural perspective. She includes much wondrous comparative material that the Father of History himself would doubtless have appreciated, for example on Vlad the Impaler (whose grim techniques are compared to Astyages’: 45), on the fascinating modern reception of Herodotus’ account of Amasis’ fart (76), and on other people reputed, like Pheretime, to have died by worms."
-- Emily Baragwanath, The Classical Journal
"Hamel presents Herodotus and his material in an original, illuminating, and entertaining way. By leading the reader through Herodotus’s text from beginning to end, the book provides an accessible introduction both to Herodotus and to an exciting period of Greek history, which culminates in the Persian Wars."
-- Timothy E. Duff, University of Reading
"A book like this should be useful not only for the general reader, but also for university students, especially in countries where no education in classical languages is regularly provided at the level of high school."
-- Leone Porciani, Bryn Mawr Classical Review
"How can you *not* enthusiastically endorse a history book that cites S. Morgenstern's classic The Princess Bride as its inspiration? Here's the author, Debra Hamel, explaining her intent in this book's introduction:
"'What's needed with Herodotus, it occurred to me, is a `good parts' version of [Herodotus'] The History, a book for the everyday reader who's unlikely to slog through all the `begats' to get to the juicy bits. Hence this volume, a loose retelling of Herodotus' account, with obscure references explained and the boring bits left out.'
"I believe that William Goldman would wholly approve of Hamel's final product. Here, in brief, are four reasons why you should really, really, really consider reading this book...."
-- Jeanette Thomas, Amazon.com
