Caesar in the USAThe figure of Julius Caesar has loomed large in the United States since its very beginning, admired and evoked as a gateway to knowledge of politics, war, and even national life. In this lively and perceptive book, the first to examine Caesar's place in modern American culture, Maria Wyke investigates how his use has intensified in periods of political crisis, when the occurrence of assassination, war, dictatorship, totalitarianism or empire appears to give him fresh relevance. Her fascinating discussion shows how—from the Latin classroom to the Shakespearean stage, from cinema, television and the comic book to the internet—Caesar is mobilized in the U.S. as a resource for acculturation into the American present, as a prediction of America’s future, or as a mode of commercial profit and great entertainment. |
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American ancient Rome assassination audiences British Brutus Bush Caesar’s Commentaries Caesar’s Gallic Caesarean campaign Cassius chapter cinematic civil Classics Illustrated classroom Cold War comic book conspirators contemporary critic culture dictator’s dictatorship drama Elizabethan example Fascist film film’s Gallic War Gaul George George W German Guazzoni’s hero high-school Houseman Ides of March imperial Imperial Presidency intertitles Italian John Houseman Johnson journalist Latin teachers leader Library Mark Antony MGM’s Julius Caesar military modern modern-dress murder Mussolini narrative newspaper Pearson and Uricchio political popular president presidential production published reporter republican rhetoric Roman dictator Roman Empire Roman general’s Roman history Roman past Roman republic Rome’s Rubicon scene screen second-year Latin Senate Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar Shakespeare’s play Shakespeare’s Roman Shakespeare’s tragedy soldiers stage strategies television theater tion totalitarianism twentieth century tyranny United Vercingetorix Vitagraph’s Welles’s Wilder’s Wyke York young