Matthew Wright brings Menander’s Samia to life by explaining how it achieves its comic effects and how it fits within the broader context of fourth-century Greek drama and society. He offers a scene-by-scene reading of the play, combining close attention to detail with broader consideration of major themes, in an approach designed to bring out the humour and nuance of each individual moment on stage, while also illuminating Menander’s comic art. The play dramatizes a tangled story of mistakes, mishaps and misapprehensions leading up to the marriage of Moschion and Plangon. For most of the action the characters are at odds with one another owing to accidental delusions or deliberate deceptions, and it seems as if the marriage will be cancelled or indefinitely postponed; but ultimately everyone’s problems are solved and the play ends happily. Samia is one of the best-preserved examples of fourth-century Greek comedy: celebrated within antiquity but subsequently lost for many years, it miraculously came back to light, in almost complete form, as a result of Egyptian papyrus finds during the 20th century.

Numerous books have been written about Greek tragedy, but almost all of them are concerned with the 32 plays that still survive. This book, by contrast, concentrates on the plays that no longer exist. Hundreds of tragedies were performed in Athens and further afield during the classical period, and even though nearly all are lost, a certain amount is known about them through fragments and other types of evidence. Matthew Wright offers an authoritative two-volume critical introduction and guide to the lost tragedies. This first volume examines the remains of works by playwrights such as Phrynichus, Agathon, Neophron, Critias, Astydamas, Chaeremon, and many others who have been forgotten or neglected. (Volume 2 explores the lost works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.) What types of evidence exist for lost tragedies, and how might we approach this evidence? How did these plays become lost or incompletely preserved? How can we explain why all tragedians except Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides became neglected or relegated to the status of 'minor' poets? What changes and continuities can be detected in tragedy after the fifth century BC? Can the study of lost works and neglected authors change our views of Greek tragedy as a genre? This book answers such questions through a detailed study of the fragments in their historical and literary context. Including English versions of previously untranslated fragments as well as in-depth discussion of their significance, The Lost Plays of Greek Tragedy makes these works accessible for the first time.

This is the first major critical study of three late plays of Euripides: Helen, Andromeda, and Iphigenia among the Taurians. Matthew Wright offers a sustained reading of the plays, arguing that they are a thematically connected trilogy. He re-examines central themes such as myth, geography, cultural identity, philosophy, religion, and (crucially) genre. These are not separate topics, but are seen as being joined together to form an intricate nexus of ideas. The book has implications for our view of Euripides and the tragic genre as a whole.

Linear acoustics was thought to be fully encapsulated in physics texts of the 1950s, but this view has been changed by developments in physics during the last four decades. There is a significant new amount of theory that can be used to address problems in linear acoustics and vibration, but only a small amount of reported work does so. This book is an attempt to bridge the gap between theoreticians and practitioners, as well as the gap between quantum and acoustic. Tutorial chapters provide introductions to each of the major aspects of the physical theory and are written using the appropriate terminology of the acoustical community. The book will act as a quick-start guide to the new methods while providing a wide-ranging introduction to the physical concepts.

Some of the best evidence for the early development of literary criticism before Plato and Aristotle comes from Athenian Old Comedy. Playwrights such as Eupolis, Cratinus, Aristophanes and others wrote numerous comedies on literary themes, commented on their own poetry and that of their rivals, and played around with ideas and theories from the contemporary intellectual scene. How can we make use of the evidence of comedy? Why were the comic poets so preoccupied with questions of poetics? What criteria emerge from comedy for the evaluation of literature? What do the ancient comedians' jokes say about their own literary tastes and those of their audience? How do different types of readers in antiquity evaluate texts, and what are the similarities and differences between 'popular' and 'professional' literary criticism? Does Greek comedy have anything serious to say about the authors and texts it criticizes? How can the comedians be related to the later literary-critical tradition represented by Plato, Aristotle and subsequent writers? This book attempts to answer these questions by examining comedy in its social and intellectual context, and by using approaches from modern literary theory to cast light on the ancient material.

It remains one of the most remarkable breakthroughs in music history. The nervous and dishevelled figure who played his punk-blues song 'Dog House Boogie' before Jools Holland and his dumbstruck Hootenanny audience that New Year's Eve 2006 seemed to have emerged from nowhere. Apparently a sixty-five-year-old former hobo, Steve played his trademark threestring guitar (aka The Three-String Trance Wonder) and stomped on a wooden box with a Mississippi motorcycle plate stuck on (aka The Mississippi Drum Machine). His Norwegian studio had recently failed, he'd had a heart attack, and he was only known among a tiny community of hardcore blues fans, yet by the next morning he was famous. His album Dog House Music, recorded in his kitchen, sold out overnight. 2007 brought a MOJO, Reading and Glastonbury, and 2008 worldwide success and his major label debut. The rest, they say, is history. Or perhaps not. Everyone loved the grit and authenticity of Steve's songs about life on the road. His roots in the Deep South were celebrated across the media, and BBC Four took Steve round Mississippi for a documentary. But look a little closer, and a very different musical - and personal - journey rears its head. In this groundbreaking new biography, Matthew Wright draws on new information and some musical collaborators to create a startling life story, teasing out crucial details to turn the regular story of a hobo's wanderings in the wilderness on its head and bring Seasick Steve's life in from the cold. The real Steve was not a blue-collar amateur who got lucky, but a committed professional, steeped in a variety of ever-changing, era-defining musical traditions throughout his life, from the moment his dad played him boogie-woogie piano as a baby. This is a career that's touched an astonishing range of lives, from Albert King and Lighnin' Hopkins to Jimi Hendrix, from Janis Joplin to Kurt Cobain and Slash of Guns N' Roses. Ramblin' Man tells the tale of the extraordinary life of this musical polymath, as he wound a course through some of the most epochal moments in music history of the twentieth century. The myth was astonishing; the real story is even better.

The surviving works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides have been familiar to readers and theatregoers for centuries; but these works are far outnumbered by their lost plays. Between them these authors wrote around two hundred tragedies, the fragmentary remains of which are utterly fascinating. In this, the second volume of a major new survey of the tragic genre, Matthew Wright offers an authoritative critical guide to the lost plays of the three best-known tragedians. (The other Greek tragedians and their work are discussed in Volume 1: Neglected Authors.) What can we learn about the lost plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides from fragments and other types of evidence? How can we develop strategies or methodologies for 'reading' lost plays? Why were certain plays preserved and transmitted while others disappeared from view? Would we have a different impression of the work of these classic authors - or of Greek tragedy as a whole - if a different selection of plays had survived? This book answers such questions through a detailed study of the fragments in their historical and literary context. Making use of recent scholarly developments and new editions of the fragments, The Lost Plays of Greek Tragedy makes these works fully accessible for the first time.

Linear acoustics was thought to be fully encapsulated in physics texts of the 1950s, but this view has been changed by developments in physics during the last four decades. There is a significant new amount of theory that can be used to address problems in linear acoustics and vibration, but only a small amount of reported work does so. This book is an attempt to bridge the gap between theoreticians and practitioners, as well as the gap between quantum and acoustic. Tutorial chapters provide introductions to each of the major aspects of the physical theory and are written using the appropriate terminology of the acoustical community. The book will act as a quick-start guide to the new methods while providing a wide-ranging introduction to the physical concepts.

What do Americans want from immigration policy and why? In the rise of a polarized and acrimonious immigration debate, leading accounts see racial anxieties and disputes over the meaning of American nationhood coming to a head. The resurgence of parochial identities has breathed new life into old worries about the vulnerability of the American Creed. This book tells a different story, one in which creedal values remain hard at work in shaping ordinary Americans' judgements about immigration. Levy and Wright show that perceptions of civic fairness - based on multiple, often competing values deeply rooted in the country's political culture - are the dominant guideposts by which most Americans navigate immigration controversies most of the time and explain why so many Americans simultaneously hold a mix of pro-immigrant and anti-immigrant positions. The authors test the relevance and force of the theory over time and across issue domains.

Over six previous editions, Twelve Theories of Human Nature has been a remarkably popular introduction to some of the most influential developments in Western and Eastern thought. Now titled Thirteen Theories of Human Nature, the seventh edition adds a chapter on feminist theory to those on Confucianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Plato, Aristotle, the Bible, Islam, Kant, Marx, Freud, Sartre, and Darwinism. The authors juxtapose the ideas of these and other thinkers and traditions in a way that helps students understand how humanity has struggled to comprehend its nature. To encourage students to think critically for themselves and to underscore the similarities and differences between the many theories, the book examines each one on four points-the nature of the universe, the nature of humanity, the diagnosis of the ills of humanity, and the proposed cure for these problems. Ideal for introductory courses in human nature, introduction to philosophy, and intellectual history, this unique volume will engage and motivate students and other readers to consider how we can understand and improve both ourselves and human society.

What do Americans want from immigration policy and why? In the rise of a polarized and acrimonious immigration debate, leading accounts see racial anxieties and disputes over the meaning of American nationhood coming to a head. The resurgence of parochial identities has breathed new life into old worries about the vulnerability of the American Creed. This book tells a different story, one in which creedal values remain hard at work in shaping ordinary Americans' judgements about immigration. Levy and Wright show that perceptions of civic fairness - based on multiple, often competing values deeply rooted in the country's political culture - are the dominant guideposts by which most Americans navigate immigration controversies most of the time and explain why so many Americans simultaneously hold a mix of pro-immigrant and anti-immigrant positions. The authors test the relevance and force of the theory over time and across issue domains.

Finding Answers in U.S. Census Records is a comprehensive guide to understanding and using U.S. Census records, in particular those of the federal census. Aimed at the general family history audience, this book is especially useful for the beginning to intermediate researcher. Along with a description of the history and structure of the federal census there is a guide to each decennial census. Three appendixes offer a description of major census data providers, major state and national archives with census collections, and specially designed census extraction forms. Includes a complete index.

An acclaimed translator of Euripidean tragedy in its earlier and more familiar modes, Diane Arnson Svarlien now turns to three plays that showcase the special qualities of Euripides' late dramatic art. Like her earlier volumes, Ion, Helen, Orestes offers modern, accurate, accessible, and stageworthy versions that preserve the metrical and musical form of the originals. Matthew Wright's Introduction and notes offer illuminating guidance to first-time readers of Euripides, while pointing up the appeal of this distinctive grouping of plays.

Selfhood and the Soul is a collection of new and original essays in honour of Christopher Gill, Emeritus Professor of Ancient Thought at the University of Exeter. All of the essays in the volume contribute to a shared project - the exploration of ancient concepts of self and soul, understood in a broad sense - and, as in the work of the honorand himself, they are distinguished by a diversity of approach and subject matter, ranging widely across disciplinary boundaries to cover ancient philosophy, psychology, medical writing, and literary criticism. They can be read separately or together, taking the reader on a journey through topics and themes as varied as money, love, hope, pleasure, rage, free will, metempsychosis, Roman imperialism, cookery, and the Underworld, yet all committed to examining central issues about the experience of being a person and the question of how best to live. The international line-up of contributors includes many established figures in the disciplines of classical literature, ancient philosophy, and ancient medicine, as well as several younger scholars. All have been inspired by Christopher Gill's contributions to scholarly research in these fields and their collective work aspires to honour through imitation his remarkable combination of range with focus.