Working IX to V: Orgy Planners, Funeral Clowns, and Other Prized Professions of the Ancient World

by Vicki León and Vicki Le N.

Book Overview

Vicki Le'n, the popular author of the "Uppity Women" series (more than 335,000 in print), has turned her impressive writing and research skills to the entertaining and unusual array of the peculiar... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802715567
• ISBN13: 9780802715562
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Walker & Company
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.0" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

I am entertained!

I'm really enjoying this book. It's light and informative, with plenty of great stories and spotlights on personalities. It's a fun filled window into the past that never comes off musty or like a history lesson. But oh, you'll learn plenty of history; it just won't feel like you are being forced to learn it. It's more like a pleasant conversation about history with a good friend and a glass of wine. I'd not only recommend this I'd give it to a friend as a give. Osk

Useful tidbits for historical crime writers

I wish that certain writers of historical crime novels would read this book. While they are at it they might also read Ancient Rome on Five Denarii a Day (5 Denarii).

Stunningly funny, erudite, and entertaining

I picked this book up because of the clever title, but it is a revelation. Leon takes what could be a very dry topic, and presents it in an entertaining, yet erudite way. The entries are well-researched and genuinely informative. Ancient history has been a lifelong interest, but I've learned much from this book. An overarching theme is how similar the ancients were to us, and it works. People are people across the centuries. The interior illustrations are excellent, and the captions are often very funny. A bit bawdy at times, but nothing beyond PG-13. Excellent puns too. Leon's empathic heart is in the right place.

Fascinating reading

For those familiar with the work of Michael Foucault, this work is a little problematic. It basically picks up where Foucault's "The Birth of the Prison" and "The History of Sex" and his other curious titles leave off. Foucault's technique was to examine not the high-falutin literature of the past, or the documents of the haute bourgeoisie, but to look at ordinary systems and attitudes and uncover an archaeology of knowledge and a clearer map of ancient times from alternate perspectives. Because Foucault's technique was subversive, speculative, and academically suspect, many of his conclusions were controversial and his reputation binary. His taste for rough trade and bathhouses didn't help. Enter Vicki Leon, who does a Studs Terkel ("Working") on the past. Which is why this is such an excellent book. Leon strips away Foucault's tendency for obfuscation to sound profound (and his rather specialized taste for the louche and bizarre), and doesn't stoop to Terkel's socialist "history" as oppressor and inescapable condition. Leon's prose is also better than journalists, which makes this a fun read. She doesn't do an exhaustive treatment of jobs in the past: tallow wright (someone who renders cowfat for candles and soap) and grease monkey (a usually samll boy sailor who greased oar gunnels) aren't here. But the ancient world's professions are on full display. My favourites included are: vicarious, nomenclator, fishmonger, purple seller (biblical!), sycophants (yikes), orgy planners, beast supplier, postal worker (now you'll know how going postal originated) and my favourite....psychopompus. If there is any quibble here (and there really aren't any) Leon is a bit better at jobs typically held by females rather than males: the lives of soldiers, sailors, roughnecks, stevedores, etc. are relatively thin compared to vestal virgins. This is an excellent, always interesting, highly readable, fun book in the vain of popular economics books sold in airports the world over. Leon is going to make a zillion dollars.

History at Ground Level

Vicki Leon's "Working IX to V" is not a history of wars and rulers. Instead, it looks at, as its subtitle proclaims, "Orgy Planners, Funeral Clowns, and Other Prized Professions of the Ancient World". In other words, it looks at the jobs performed by ancient Greeks and Roman to keep their world running on a day-to-day (or night-to-night) basis. It's a book made for great browsing if you are not in the mood or have the time available for a straight-through reading. The tone is light and breezy, but Ms. Leon's lively prose conveys a sense of authenticity.