Civilisations: How Do We Look / The Eye Of Faith

[Mary Beard is] the best in the business - Dan Snow

Excellent ... an invigorating guide - Kathryn Hughes, Guardian

Beautifully produced and elegantly written ... utterly compelling - Linda Hogan, Irish Times

Enthralling - John Carey

[Beard] has always had the sharpest eyes for telling detail and colourful anecdote - Sunday Times

The rock star scholar of Ancient Rome - Jo Ellison, Financial Times

With such a champion as Beard to debunk and popularise, the future of the study of classics is assured - Daily Telegraph

The reigning Queen of Classics - Spectator

Slim yet insightful. . . . Beard expands her view beyond western Europe to offer an admirable survey of cultures from Egypt to China, Judaism to Christianity, centuries past to the modern era, all while emphasizing the significance of the viewer over the artist. . . . As Beard emphasizes the power of the context in which we look at and interpret art, she ultimately suggests that civilization itself is a leap of faith. Beard is having fun in this joyfully accessible primer, backed with a robust appendix, for all interested in a new perspective on religion, art, and history. - Booklist

Praise for Mary Beard: What she says is always powerful and interesting - Guardian

An irrepressible enthusiast with a refreshing disregard for convention - Financial Times

If they'd had Mary Beard on their side back then, the Romans would still have their empire - Daily Mail

[She] implicitly invites us to think about our own world, and about our answers to the question of what makes us human - Sydney Morning Herald