Here is the best account and compilation of scientific data on one of the major cataclysmic events in man's history - the Late Bronze Age (LBA) eruption of Thera (Santorini) volcano in the southern Aegean Sea. This account is written for the general public and easily understandable, although one would wish for more and better illustrations than line drawings. But Dr. Forsyth has done her homework and discusses data, conclusions, implications, and ideas on this eruption and its effects on the LBA world in the eastern Mediterranean region from the perspectives of geologists and archaeologists. It is well done. A must for those interested in the Bronze Age of Greece, especially students.

Having just taken AP Catullus-Ovid, I must say that while this text seemed relatively well-done and useful at first, I soon found I simply couldn't ignore its large number of faults. Yes, it's nice that the poems have most of the vocab on the facing pages--but the author seems to insist on defining excruciatingly common words (like "amo" and "dico") multiple times while leaving more obscure words for the back of the book or ignoring them entirely. Bender's text must therefore be used with a Latin-English dictionary--not the end of the world, I know, but something that shouldn't be necessary for something like this billed as a "student text."

Another problem is that the author bases much of his commentary on his own crass assumptions. Bender seems to like pointing out poetic devices (notably chiasmus) that simply *aren't there.* The sparse commentary on each poem, too, is nearly useless from a scholarly standpoint; it's well and good to tell us that one poem "provides a window into the poet's tortured soul," but does it actually help students to appreciate the poem in any meaningful form? And some actual background information on the people and places Catullus mentions so frequently would really have been nice.

I do realize that this is merely an AP text, and certainly not one designed for the serious study of Catullus and his poetry. And it does have some positive aspects: much of each poem's (more common) vocab *is* defined on the facing pages, and the margins provide plenty of space to write the translation or one's own notes. I can't help but think that Bender and Forsyth could have tried just a *little* harder with the commentary and the vocab, however. For any AP student with more than a passing interest in Catullus, I'd recommend Garrison's text in conjunction with (or just instead of) Bender's.

Amazingly helpful to prepare students for the AP test. Includes a biography about the author, commentaries, notes, and a glossary of words used in the poems.