THE DEVIL KNOWS LATIN

What They're Saying...

"In his very well-received book, The Devil Knows Latin: Why America Needs the Classical Tradition, E. Christian Kopff describes the path that has led to the current lamentable state of education and argues powerfully that attending to ancient insights is not a matter of affectation or anachronism. To the contrary, any thorough and nuanced understanding of our current cultural and political condition requires an appreciation of the rich history of Western civilization — and the era of its origins no less than any other."
— The Wilberforce Forum, April 2001

"Kopff offers an engaging perspective…"
— Reviewer's Bookwatch, April 1999

"This is harsh criticism, but perhaps the only solution for our ignorance is to take up the professor's challenge."
— Campus Report, March 1999

"Kopff writes in an engaging manner, and…has much insight to offer."
— The University Bookman

"Kopff's case for the classical tradition is articulate and persuasive."
— The Social Contract, Fall 1999

"His is an engaging…voice…"
— Times Literary Supplement, March 5, 1999

"(Kopff's) clean and lively style throughout constitutes a very cogent arguing point for teaching the classical languages again: would that we all wrote so well."
— Booklist

"E. Christian Kopff cuts to the heart of the Culture Wars. Drawing on a wellspring of sources—from Aristotle to Tolkien, The Republic to High Noon—Kopff champions tradition and the 'permanent things' and highlights the cost of our cultural amnesia. His value is not in telling us what we should know, but in reminding us of what we forget at our peril."
— Theodore Pappas, Executive Editor, Encyclopaedia Britannica

"Reading E. Christian Kopff's The Devil Knows Latin is like hearing a series of liberal arts lectures from a brilliant, entertaining and deliberately controversial professor. That is, apparently, a fair description of Kopff, who teaches Classical Studies at CU Boulder.

These essays begin by urging Americans to respect and study the classics: Greek drama and history, Roman poetry, the philosophies of Marcus Auraleus and St. Augustine. But they quickly begin to show us how familiarity with the classical tradition help illuminate our own world, from partisan politics to Clint Eastwood movies...."
— Rocky Mountain News

"…Kopff believes that the elimination of Latin and Greek from the standard university curriculum has severed our culture from the literature, history, philosophy and political traditions that should constitute its mental infrastructure. He therefore wants colleges to teach liberal arts students to read the classics in the original language—Dante in Italian; Plato, Homer and Ovid in Greek and Latin; the New Testament in Greek—and insists that the elementary school curriculum should concentrate on ancient languages and mathematics."
— Publishers' Weekly

"The Devil Knows Latin has appeal for anyone who is tired of seeing the direction in which the country has been heading. Though it seems a heavy subject to tackle, it is written in laymen's terms and is extremely interesting in its scope.… Kopff has definitely given the public quite a challenge…."
— ForeWord

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