RECOMMENDATIONS
BOOK
Tara Johnson HISTORY AMBASSADOR
If you are interested in learning more about Ancient History, I would highly recommend ‘Cleopatra: A Life’ by Stacy Schiff. Not only does it give you an excellent insight into the life of Cleopatra in Ancient Egypt, but also about Egypt’s foreign relations, and how she made use of her position to create ties with those in Rome and others. Schiff casts away the myths surrounding Cleopatra’s infamous image, and rescues the truth by utilising classical sources, making this a compelling read.
BOOK
Jemima D’Sa ENGLISH AMBASSADOR & EDITOR
What comes to mind when you think of poetry? Certainly not 112 lines of a frustrated, lamenting voice, speaking of suicide, sex, drugs and madness, of an ever-rambling tangent that plays little care for structure and consistent meter. Howl was a visionary poem that expressed Allen Ginsberg’s discontent with regulated American culture, with religion, with capitalism, and incites rebellious sentiment. For anyone interested in 1950s American prosperity culture, Ginsberg provides insight into the individuals who sought to escape it. From its publication, Howl was regarded as incendiary and obscene, and even faced a trial that threatened Ginsberg’s freedom to write what was deemed taboo. It is interesting to consider these parameters against freedom of speech and thought – is that not something deeply American? Then again, is not America deeply hypocritical with the allocation of its freedoms. I recommend Howl due to its disturbing and graphic honesty, its revolutionary hold on the Beat Generation, and the anti- authoritarian spirit that it inspires even now.
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