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Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at Cambridge University. Her many books include The Roman Triumph and The Fires of Vesuvius.
'Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up,' which has just been published, is an engaging exploration of what made the Romans laugh-bad breath, among other things-but it also explores dimensions of Roman sensibility that have become elusive to us. -- Rebecca Mead New Yorker 20140901 Few things are more tiresome than seeing a joke analyzed... Beard's book avoids pedantry but also its opposite, the archness that preens itself on 'not taking humor too seriously' and signals inane wordplays with 'pun intended!' More importantly, her treatment makes one look with new eyes ... even at works she does not herself discuss ... [a] stimulating book. -- Gregory Hays New York Review of Books 20140710 [Beard] makes the Romans come alive and through them, gets readers to ponder that most fundamental and uniquely human facility-laughter. The phenomenal Ms. Beard has written another cracking book, one of her best, I think. -- Yasmin Alibhai-Brown The Independent 20140529 Expect to be engaged by an enthralling book. -- Harry Mount The Spectator 20140607 [Beard's] central question is simple: what made the Romans laugh? Her answers are pleasingly complex... Beard is always enlightening, and writes with a perfect balance of forensic detail and wide-ranging intellect. The Scotsman 20140615 Superbly acute and unashamedly complex... To our vision of the solemn grandeur that was Rome, she restores a raucous, ghostly laughter. -- Iona McLaren The Telegraph 20140701 Written in Beard's trademark combination of erudition and effortless prose, Laughter in Ancient Rome is a fascinating combination of history, psychology, linguistic exploration and humor. This is scholarly writing at its best. -- Pamela Toler Shelf Awareness for Readers 20140701 You can read hundreds of books on Roman emperors and conquests; this represents a valiant attempt to bring a little understanding of a smaller, but no less important, part of what made Rome run. -- Rob Hardy Columbus Commercial Dispatch 20140721 Rich and provocative. -- Roy Gibson TLS 20140813 Like a great piece of archaeology, 'Laughter in Ancient Rome' allows us to glimpse ourselves in the cracked mirror of a distant culture. -- John Domini Washington Post 20140917
