Author: Benjamin Markovits
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571268315
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 548
Book Description
Douglas Pitt is a man obsessed. Laughed at, mocked, and dismissed at every turn, Pitt has dedicated the best part of an unremarkable academic career attempting to prove the genius of Samuel Highgate Syme (b.1794, Baltimore; soldier, geologist, inventor). Pitt's postulation is simple enough: Syme, through some fault, wrong-doing, conspiracy or mischance, has not been credited with the recognition he deserves for hitting upon a key discovery in the advance of modern science - the theory of continental drift. Lacking the crucial last piece of the puzzle to convince his peers and normalize his family life, Pitt's emotional equilibrium is stabilised in a magical stroke of fortune when he uncovers a contemporary manuscript written by a fledgling German scientist, Friedrich Muller, which recounts a year (1821) in the company of the irrepressible Syme. Switching between these beguiling and colourful narratives, The Syme Papers takes the reader on an odyssey into the heart of Maryland and Virginia in the 1820s by way of London and Texas today. An epic stew of intellectual procrastination, early nineteenth-century picaresque and late twentieth-century angst, it is a novel of genius and failure; of a man who thought he could prove the world was hollow, and in the glorious process of discovery, broke his own heart. Teeming with comic detail and fierce intelligence, The Syme Papers recreates a time when to question the world and the origins of creation was the greatest project a scientist could undertake.
The Syme Papers
Author: Benjamin Markovits
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571268315
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 548
Book Description
Douglas Pitt is a man obsessed. Laughed at, mocked, and dismissed at every turn, Pitt has dedicated the best part of an unremarkable academic career attempting to prove the genius of Samuel Highgate Syme (b.1794, Baltimore; soldier, geologist, inventor). Pitt's postulation is simple enough: Syme, through some fault, wrong-doing, conspiracy or mischance, has not been credited with the recognition he deserves for hitting upon a key discovery in the advance of modern science - the theory of continental drift. Lacking the crucial last piece of the puzzle to convince his peers and normalize his family life, Pitt's emotional equilibrium is stabilised in a magical stroke of fortune when he uncovers a contemporary manuscript written by a fledgling German scientist, Friedrich Muller, which recounts a year (1821) in the company of the irrepressible Syme. Switching between these beguiling and colourful narratives, The Syme Papers takes the reader on an odyssey into the heart of Maryland and Virginia in the 1820s by way of London and Texas today. An epic stew of intellectual procrastination, early nineteenth-century picaresque and late twentieth-century angst, it is a novel of genius and failure; of a man who thought he could prove the world was hollow, and in the glorious process of discovery, broke his own heart. Teeming with comic detail and fierce intelligence, The Syme Papers recreates a time when to question the world and the origins of creation was the greatest project a scientist could undertake.
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571268315
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 548
Book Description
Douglas Pitt is a man obsessed. Laughed at, mocked, and dismissed at every turn, Pitt has dedicated the best part of an unremarkable academic career attempting to prove the genius of Samuel Highgate Syme (b.1794, Baltimore; soldier, geologist, inventor). Pitt's postulation is simple enough: Syme, through some fault, wrong-doing, conspiracy or mischance, has not been credited with the recognition he deserves for hitting upon a key discovery in the advance of modern science - the theory of continental drift. Lacking the crucial last piece of the puzzle to convince his peers and normalize his family life, Pitt's emotional equilibrium is stabilised in a magical stroke of fortune when he uncovers a contemporary manuscript written by a fledgling German scientist, Friedrich Muller, which recounts a year (1821) in the company of the irrepressible Syme. Switching between these beguiling and colourful narratives, The Syme Papers takes the reader on an odyssey into the heart of Maryland and Virginia in the 1820s by way of London and Texas today. An epic stew of intellectual procrastination, early nineteenth-century picaresque and late twentieth-century angst, it is a novel of genius and failure; of a man who thought he could prove the world was hollow, and in the glorious process of discovery, broke his own heart. Teeming with comic detail and fierce intelligence, The Syme Papers recreates a time when to question the world and the origins of creation was the greatest project a scientist could undertake.
Historia Augusta Papers
Author: Ronald Syme
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
This volume brings together fifteen studies written since 1972 on the notorious Historia Augusta. Syme advances the theory, supported by computer evidence, that the papers are the work of only one person, rather than six as they purport, and that they were written considerably later than the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine. He argues that, taken as a whole, the papers are a work of "fictional history" and constitute an elaborate and erudite hoax.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
This volume brings together fifteen studies written since 1972 on the notorious Historia Augusta. Syme advances the theory, supported by computer evidence, that the papers are the work of only one person, rather than six as they purport, and that they were written considerably later than the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine. He argues that, taken as a whole, the papers are a work of "fictional history" and constitute an elaborate and erudite hoax.
Approaching the Roman Revolution
Author: Ronald Syme
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198767064
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 445
Book Description
This book presents a series of previously unpublished studies on aspects of the Roman Republic by one of the greatest Roman historians of all time, Sir Ronald Syme (1903-1989), the author of The Roman Revolution.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198767064
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 445
Book Description
This book presents a series of previously unpublished studies on aspects of the Roman Republic by one of the greatest Roman historians of all time, Sir Ronald Syme (1903-1989), the author of The Roman Revolution.
Sallust
Author: Ronald Syme
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520929101
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
With this classic book, Sir Ronald Syme became the first historian of the twentieth century to place Sallust—whom Tacitus called the most brilliant Roman historian—in his social, political, and literary context. Scholars had considered Sallust to be a mere political hack or pamphleteer, but Syme's text makes important connections between the politics of the Republic and the literary achievement of the author to show Sallust as a historian unbiased by partisanship. In a new foreword, Ronald Mellor delivers one of the most thorough biographical essays of Sir Ronald Syme in English. He both places the book in the context of Syme's other works and details the progression of Sallustian studies since and as a result of Syme's work.
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520929101
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
With this classic book, Sir Ronald Syme became the first historian of the twentieth century to place Sallust—whom Tacitus called the most brilliant Roman historian—in his social, political, and literary context. Scholars had considered Sallust to be a mere political hack or pamphleteer, but Syme's text makes important connections between the politics of the Republic and the literary achievement of the author to show Sallust as a historian unbiased by partisanship. In a new foreword, Ronald Mellor delivers one of the most thorough biographical essays of Sir Ronald Syme in English. He both places the book in the context of Syme's other works and details the progression of Sallustian studies since and as a result of Syme's work.
Roman Papers: Volume IV
Author: Ronald Syme
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
Volumes Iv and V of Roman Papers contain forty-two of Sir Ronald Syme's papers composed between 1981 and 1985. A good many deal with the younger Pliny and Tacitus; other ancient authors examined here include Strabo, the elder Pliny, Statius, Quintilian, and Arrian. Several papers focus on the Spanish provinces and on the Greek east. New light is shed on the 'Hispano-Narbonensian nexus' that emerged under the Flavians and was to form the Antonine dynasty, on the emperor Hadrian and his Antonine successors, and on the usurper Avidius Cassius. There is an Index of Persons for the two volumes at the end of Roman Papers V.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
Volumes Iv and V of Roman Papers contain forty-two of Sir Ronald Syme's papers composed between 1981 and 1985. A good many deal with the younger Pliny and Tacitus; other ancient authors examined here include Strabo, the elder Pliny, Statius, Quintilian, and Arrian. Several papers focus on the Spanish provinces and on the Greek east. New light is shed on the 'Hispano-Narbonensian nexus' that emerged under the Flavians and was to form the Antonine dynasty, on the emperor Hadrian and his Antonine successors, and on the usurper Avidius Cassius. There is an Index of Persons for the two volumes at the end of Roman Papers V.
The Roman Revolution
Author: Ronald Syme
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191647187
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 592
Book Description
The Roman Revolution is a profound and unconventional treatment of a great theme - the fall of the Republic and the decline of freedom in Rome between 60 BC and AD 14, and the rise to power of the greatest of the Roman Emperors, Augustus. The transformation of state and society, the violent transference of power and property, and the establishment of Augustus' rule are presented in an unconventional narrative, which quotes from ancient evidence, refers seldomly to modern authorities, and states controversial opinions quite openly. The result is a book which is both fresh and compelling.
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191647187
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 592
Book Description
The Roman Revolution is a profound and unconventional treatment of a great theme - the fall of the Republic and the decline of freedom in Rome between 60 BC and AD 14, and the rise to power of the greatest of the Roman Emperors, Augustus. The transformation of state and society, the violent transference of power and property, and the establishment of Augustus' rule are presented in an unconventional narrative, which quotes from ancient evidence, refers seldomly to modern authorities, and states controversial opinions quite openly. The result is a book which is both fresh and compelling.
Anatolica
Author: Ronald Syme
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432
Book Description
No historian of ancient Rome in this century has had a greater influence on historical research or won greater international acclaim than Sir Ronald Syne (1903-89). His outstanding position was due mainly to his first two books, The Roman Revolution, which appeared in 1939, and Tacitus (twovolumes, 1958) - although he went on to produce many more monographs, and seven volumes of his Roman Papers have so far appeared. The long gap between his first two books is partly explained by the war, which took him on official duties to Belgrade and Ankara; and he spent the years 1943-5 atIstanbul as Professor of Classical Philology. It was known that in spite of the war, Syme had continued to write in these years, in particular `Strabonia', investigations into the famous ancient Geography composed by Strabo, a native of Asia Minor in the time of Augustus. After Syme's death, themanuscript was discovered among his papers: he had not quite completed the work, but what he had written, with almost complete annotation, represents a substantial and fascinating study of the historical geography of Anatolia in the Hellenistic and early Roman period. Syme ruthlessly dissects theoften incoherent and inconsistent text of Strabo, at the same time providing rich detail on client kings, Roman generals and emperors, writers and travellers. Above all, he shows unequalled ability to understand the landscape and settlement of Anatolia; and the work is composed in the same forcefuland elegant style that made his other books classics of historical literature.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432
Book Description
No historian of ancient Rome in this century has had a greater influence on historical research or won greater international acclaim than Sir Ronald Syne (1903-89). His outstanding position was due mainly to his first two books, The Roman Revolution, which appeared in 1939, and Tacitus (twovolumes, 1958) - although he went on to produce many more monographs, and seven volumes of his Roman Papers have so far appeared. The long gap between his first two books is partly explained by the war, which took him on official duties to Belgrade and Ankara; and he spent the years 1943-5 atIstanbul as Professor of Classical Philology. It was known that in spite of the war, Syme had continued to write in these years, in particular `Strabonia', investigations into the famous ancient Geography composed by Strabo, a native of Asia Minor in the time of Augustus. After Syme's death, themanuscript was discovered among his papers: he had not quite completed the work, but what he had written, with almost complete annotation, represents a substantial and fascinating study of the historical geography of Anatolia in the Hellenistic and early Roman period. Syme ruthlessly dissects theoften incoherent and inconsistent text of Strabo, at the same time providing rich detail on client kings, Roman generals and emperors, writers and travellers. Above all, he shows unequalled ability to understand the landscape and settlement of Anatolia; and the work is composed in the same forcefuland elegant style that made his other books classics of historical literature.
The Syme Papers
Author: Benjamin Markovits
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780571217915
Category : Continental drift
Languages : en
Pages : 591
Book Description
Douglas Pitt is a man obsessed. Laughed at, mocked and dismissed at every turn, Pitt has spent the best part of an unremarkable academic career attempting to prove the genius of Samuel Highgate Syme (b 1794, Baltimore; soldier, geologist, inventor). After years of frustration, Pitt finally stumbles into the good fortune he hopes will make his name: he uncovers a manuscript written by a fledgling scientist which recounts a year in the company of the irrespresible Syme. Teeming with comic detail and fierce intelligence, The Syme Papers recreates a time when to question the world and the origin of creation was the greatest project a scientist could undertake. It is a novel of genius and failure; of a man who thought he could prove the world was hollow, and in the glorious process of discover, broke his own heart.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780571217915
Category : Continental drift
Languages : en
Pages : 591
Book Description
Douglas Pitt is a man obsessed. Laughed at, mocked and dismissed at every turn, Pitt has spent the best part of an unremarkable academic career attempting to prove the genius of Samuel Highgate Syme (b 1794, Baltimore; soldier, geologist, inventor). After years of frustration, Pitt finally stumbles into the good fortune he hopes will make his name: he uncovers a manuscript written by a fledgling scientist which recounts a year in the company of the irrespresible Syme. Teeming with comic detail and fierce intelligence, The Syme Papers recreates a time when to question the world and the origin of creation was the greatest project a scientist could undertake. It is a novel of genius and failure; of a man who thought he could prove the world was hollow, and in the glorious process of discover, broke his own heart.
The Provincial at Rome
Author: Ronald Syme
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
This volume offers a new insight into the development of a great historian, as well as giving an exciting and immensely readable new approach to late Republican and early Imperial Roman history. Drafted in 1934-35, but laid aside in favour of 'The Roman Revolution' (1939), 'The Provincial at Rome' was to have been Ronald Syme's first book. It is a brilliantly written study of the enlargement of the Roman elite in the early empire, an analysis, in thirteen chapters, of the Emperor Claudius' enrolment of 'Gallic chieftains' into the Senate in AD 48. The edition also includes five unpublished papers dealing with Rome's conquest of the Balkans, a region Syme knew intimately. "
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
This volume offers a new insight into the development of a great historian, as well as giving an exciting and immensely readable new approach to late Republican and early Imperial Roman history. Drafted in 1934-35, but laid aside in favour of 'The Roman Revolution' (1939), 'The Provincial at Rome' was to have been Ronald Syme's first book. It is a brilliantly written study of the enlargement of the Roman elite in the early empire, an analysis, in thirteen chapters, of the Emperor Claudius' enrolment of 'Gallic chieftains' into the Senate in AD 48. The edition also includes five unpublished papers dealing with Rome's conquest of the Balkans, a region Syme knew intimately. "
Paper Emperors
Author: Sally Young
Publisher: NewSouth
ISBN: 1742244475
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 495
Book Description
‘A tour de force.’ — Professor Rodney Tiffen Before newspapers were ravaged by the digital age, they were a powerful force, especially in Australia — a country of newspaper giants and kingmakers. This magisterial book reveals who owned Australia’s newspapers and how they used them to wield political power. A corporate and political history of Australian newspapers spanning 140 years, it explains how Australia’s media system came to be dominated by a handful of empires and powerful family dynasties. Many are household names, even now: Murdoch, Fairfax, Syme, Packer. Written with verve and insight and showing unparalleled command of a vast range of sources, Sally Young shows how newspaper owners influenced policy-making, lobbied and bullied politicians, and shaped internal party politics. The book begins in 1803 with Australia’s first newspaper owner — a convict who became a wealthy bank owner — giving the industry a blend of notoriety, power and wealth from the start. Throughout the twentieth century, Australians were unaware that they were reading newspapers owned by secret bankrupts and failed land boomers, powerful mining magnates, Underbelly-style gangsters, bankers, and corporate titans. It ends with the downfall of Menzies in 1941 and his conviction that a handful of press barons brought him down. The intervening years are packed with political drama, business machinations and a struggle for readers, all while the newspaper barons are peddling power and influence.
Publisher: NewSouth
ISBN: 1742244475
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 495
Book Description
‘A tour de force.’ — Professor Rodney Tiffen Before newspapers were ravaged by the digital age, they were a powerful force, especially in Australia — a country of newspaper giants and kingmakers. This magisterial book reveals who owned Australia’s newspapers and how they used them to wield political power. A corporate and political history of Australian newspapers spanning 140 years, it explains how Australia’s media system came to be dominated by a handful of empires and powerful family dynasties. Many are household names, even now: Murdoch, Fairfax, Syme, Packer. Written with verve and insight and showing unparalleled command of a vast range of sources, Sally Young shows how newspaper owners influenced policy-making, lobbied and bullied politicians, and shaped internal party politics. The book begins in 1803 with Australia’s first newspaper owner — a convict who became a wealthy bank owner — giving the industry a blend of notoriety, power and wealth from the start. Throughout the twentieth century, Australians were unaware that they were reading newspapers owned by secret bankrupts and failed land boomers, powerful mining magnates, Underbelly-style gangsters, bankers, and corporate titans. It ends with the downfall of Menzies in 1941 and his conviction that a handful of press barons brought him down. The intervening years are packed with political drama, business machinations and a struggle for readers, all while the newspaper barons are peddling power and influence.