Stacy Schiff at 192 Books

Golly, is anyone getting better reviews these days than Stacy Schiff? Everyone seems to adore her biography of Cleopatra, which, as Schiff explained last night at 192 Books, essentially shows that everything we think we know about the ruler is wrong. She wasn't beautiful, for one; she was extremely educated, for another; and, sorry romantics, she didn't kill herself immediately upon hearing of Marc Anthony's death.

From zero documentation --- no letters, no diary fragments, no eyewitness accounts at all ---  Schiff has created a fine, utterly updated portrait of a woman we hardly know. Schiff herself also seems like someone worth knowing. When asked how she chooses her subjects, she answered, wryly, "A smart person, having written a biography of Benjamin Franklin, would write the next one on Thomas Jefferson." But she couldn't turn away from the Egyptian queen who fancied herself a goddess. If this is idiocy, we'll take it.  

Photo: thanks