This is a history lesson disguised as a novel, telling two stories: that of Classical Athens, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and all that, juxtaposed against a biography of Rembrandt. Somehow it works. Here’s Heller on the Athenian demogogue Cleon, who led the Athenian war effort after the death of Pericles. Patriots like Aristophanes who favored peace […]
