Then & Now

These two long essays make up a short book, one full of depth and knowledge, in which Eva Brann gets at the roots of our thinking -- without tearing things apart. Then: In the first essay, Brann parses out the schema and meaning of Herodotus's The History (The Persian Wars). She writes that Herodotus worked by indirection. Giving a full account of the Persians and the peoples who constituted their empire -- and whose empire encircled the Greeks (thus the "Greek centre") -- Herodotus delineates the essential difference between the Barbarians and the Greeks. This difference Brann calls Athens' "elusive essence", its freedom contrasting with the slavery upon which the Persian empire depended. Now: In the second essay, the author delves into what it means for a person to unite a disposition toward conservatism with a capacity to reiterate and rehearse events, scenes, and dramas in "the conservatory of the imagination". To uncover the meanings and consequences of this union -- this imaginative conservatism -- and the type of soul to which it applies, Brann offers twelve perspectives, starting with "Temperamental Disposition" and ending with "Eccentric Centrality" (without ever explicitly focusing on politics). Join her and you'll find both delight and education.