Biographical dictionary of North American classicists /

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Bibliographic Details
Imprint:Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1994.
Description:lxxvi, 800 p. ; 25 cm.
Language:English
Subject:Classicists -- United States -- Biography -- Dictionaries.
Classicists -- Canada -- Biography -- Dictionaries.
Classicists.
Canada.
United States.
Dictionaries.
Biography -- Dictionaries.
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/1696889
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:Briggs, Ward W.
American Philological Association.
ISBN:0313245606 (alk. paper)
Notes:"Prepared under the auspices of the American Philological Association."
Includes index.
Review by Choice Review

With William M. Calder III (Univ. of Illinois Urbana), Briggs (Univ. of South Carolina) edited Classical Scholarship: A Biographical Encyclopedia (CH, Jul'90), which profiled 50 seminal figures in Greek and Latin studies in great detail but included fewer than a half-dozen Americans among its primarily German and British scholars. The current volume provides 600 biographical sketches of classicists who were either born or worked in the US or Canada, dating from a 17th-century translator and visitor to Virginia, George Sandys, to the brief but groundbreaking career of Jack Winkler, who died in 1990 at the age of 46. Although archaeologists have been for the most part excluded in anticipation of Nancy de Grummond's forthcoming Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archaeology (1995), entries here treat scholars in all other areas of Greek and Latin philology and literature, ancient history, philosophy, and related disciplines. Most subjects were teachers and researchers at the college level, though some were influential secondary school teachers (Thomas Bulfinch) or independent scholars (James Loeb). Each entry consists of three parts: (1) a summary of facts (e.g., birth and death dates, parents' names and occupations, spouse names and marriage dates, a summary list of degrees attained and honors received); (2) a narrative sketch of career and influence; and (3) a bibliography of major publications and biographical sources. Begun over a decade ago under sponsorship of the American Philological Association, this dictionary contains entries by 172 different scholars. Sketches are consequently uneven, varying in length between one sentence and several thousand words, in tone between pedestrian or overly sentimental and vivid and concise. Introductory essays on the history of classical scholarship in the US and Canada, as well as a general bibliography, provide context for the biographical sketches; appendixes list entries chronologically, by college or university affiliation, and by last degree earned. A lengthy index of names and topics completes the volume. Although it draws together much unique and obscure information, the subject matter makes this a necessary purchase only for libraries supporting graduate level research in classics or those having extensive biographical collections. B. Juhl; University of Arkansas

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review