The Devil Knows Latin: Why America Needs the Classical Tradition

Argues that the culture of the United States should be viewed as part of the Greco-Roman Classical tradition, rather than as something new

For generations scholars treated the United States as a unique country whose cultural history could be studied in isolation from world events and traditions. More recently, writers have shown an increased awareness that American society, far from developing in a protected, ahistorical realm, can be understood only as part of a wider civilization. Now E. Christian Kopff offers an even sharper perspective by viewing America squarely within the classical traditions of ancient Greece and Rome. For, as Kopff demonstrates convincingly, a truly informed, nuanced view of American culture must rest upon an appreciation of our debt to the classical past. Kopff, a professor of classical studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, reveals a nation that, for all its self-conscious pursuit of a new secular order, cannot break free from tradition. "Creativity is possible," he observes, "only as the final stage in a long, rigorous absorption of the teachings and discoveries of the past." If we ignore the accumulated wisdom, insight, and experience of those who lived before us, Kopff argues, and look only ahead as if we could live by mere innovation, we will stagnate. He understands the irony of our predicament and employs his wit and erudition to devastating effects. Wholly immersed in the distant past, Kopff nevertheless offers incisive commentary on the modern world. From his classical vantage, Kopff examines the interplay of such seemingly unrelated subjects as postmodernism and pop culture to reveal the deleterious effect pseudo-intellectualism can have on America. And he offers original assessments of another pop culture icon, the ubiquitous Top 100 Lists. With a keen eye and rapier wit, Kopff grades the list makers who would decide which books and movies belong in everyone's repertoire. The Devil Knows Latin is a learned, often irreverent, and thought-provoking examination of American culture at century's end.