A Review of the Trojan War by Olivia Coolidge

 

I recently finished The Broadview Anthology of British Literature Volume A. This book gives a good start for anyone interested in the history of the subject. Now that I have finished it, I have gotten back to the reading of literature again.

As I am making my way through The Iliad and The Odyssey, I attempt to post more about the literature of the Classical world in the following weeks. While this literature is not ''English Literature'', it no doubt influenced it, and thus has reason to be conversed about here. Many English writers including Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, and John Milton took from Greek mythology, and that's just naming a few. In more recent times, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and J. K. Rowling have all been heavily influenced by Greek mythology. Lewis, Tolkien, and Rowling were Readers in Classical Studies during college after all.
  I first became interested in the Greek Myths as early as I can remember, but it was a friend librarian that encouraged me to read Homer and Virgil when I was around the age of twelve/thirteen. As he was into the American Civil War as I was, he recommended that I read the Greeks as their stories and warfare were heavily influential on the Americans during The War Between the States. I first studied the history of the Greeks for the next few years, before reading The Trojan War by Olivia Coolidge. This book greatly influenced me, perhaps one of the most influential books on me that I have ever read. Immediately, I became fascinated by the Greek Culture, and incorporated much of it's history and literature into my stories.
I would recommend all readers not yet familiar with the classics, to buy The Trojan War by Olivia Coolidge. This book is an easy and enjoyable read, that can be a good start for anyone that wants to understand The Iliad or The Odyssey. It gives a brief history of the Trojan War, with special emphasis on key characters like Achilles or Hector. Coolidge's book incorporates Homer and Virgil's stories, along with Aeschelues in one volume, made especially for young adults.