★ Author Ryoji Motomura is professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, with a PhD in Literature. He specializes in ancient Roman history and served as specially appointed professor at Waseda University‘s School of International Liberal Studies. His book “The Dim Roman World” won the Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities, and “A World History of Horses” won the JRA Horse Culture Award. He has also received the Mediterranean Studies Association Award.
★ “True culture lies in classics and history.” In the afterword, Motomura writes that a person can carefully read at most 400 books in a lifetime. Given that, it is wise to include as many classics as possible. Rushing to read many books randomly leaves almost nothing behind.
★ The book covers 20 masterpieces spanning East and West—from Homer’s epics to Camus‘s “The Plague,” from Sima Qian’s “Records of the Grand Historian” to Lu Xun‘s “The True Story of Ah Q.” Each work has its own chapter. From ancient to modern, from West to East, it opens windows onto world history through classics.
★ Not a general world history, but a series of windows into world history through 20 classics. For readers who want to read classics but don’t know where to start, and for those who want to reorganize their own knowledge system.

True culture lies in “classics” and “history.”
A leading scholar of ancient Roman history selects must-read masterpieces from ancient to modern times.

It is said that even with thousands or tens of thousands of books, a person can carefully read at most 400 books in a lifetime.
Indeed, even at 10 books a year, that would take 40 years.
If so, wouldn‘t it be wise to include as many classics as possible among those 400?

Classics read by people over the ages, if carefully savored, will be engraved as heavy, solid experience. They should bring a certain composure to the heart. Rushing to read many books randomly to process vast information leaves almost nothing behind. This is understood from experience—so isn’t it more important than anything to become familiar with classic masterpieces?

【Masterpieces introduced in this book】
“The Iliad,” “The Odyssey,” “Records of the Grand Historian,” “Parallel Lives,” “Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” “The Divine Comedy,” “The Decameron,” “Don Quixote,” “One Thousand and One Nights,” “Hamlet,” “Robinson Crusoe,” “Faust,” “Old Goriot,” “Great Expectations,” “War and Peace,” “The Brothers Karamazov,” “Before the Dawn,” “The Leopard,” “The True Story of Ah Q,” “A Farewell to Arms,” “The Plague”

True culture is classics and history. Selected must-read masterpieces from ancient to modern times! The method for acquiring true culture taught by the leading scholar of ancient Roman history. A world only visible to those who read classics.

Ryoji Motomura（本村凌二）
Professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo. PhD in Literature. Born in 1947 in Kumamoto Prefecture. Graduated from Hitotsubashi University Faculty of Social Sciences in 1973. Completed doctoral program at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology in 1980 with credits earned. Former professor at the University of Tokyo College of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies. Served as specially appointed professor at Waseda University‘s School of International Liberal Studies from April 2014 to March 2018. Specializes in ancient Roman history. “The Dim Roman World” won the Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities, “A World History of Horses” won the JRA Horse Culture Award, and he received the Mediterranean Studies Association Award for his overall achievements. Major works include “Polytheism and Monotheism,” “An Erotic History of Rome,” “Biographical Dictionary of the Roman Empire,” “A World History of Horse Racing,” and “How to Read ‘World History’ as Culture.”

01 The Iliad / The Odyssey — Homer
02 Records of the Grand Historian — Sima Qian
03 Parallel Lives — Plutarch
04 Romance of the Three Kingdoms — Luo Guanzhong
05 The Divine Comedy — Dante
06 The Decameron — Boccaccio
07 Don Quixote — Cervantes
08 One Thousand and One Nights — Anonymous
09 Hamlet — Shakespeare
10 Robinson Crusoe — Defoe
11 Faust — Goethe
12 Old Goriot — Balzac
13 Great Expectations — Dickens
14 War and Peace — Tolstoy
15 The Brothers Karamazov — Dostoevsky
16 Before the Dawn — Shimazaki Toson
17 The Leopard — Lampedusa
18 The True Story of Ah Q — Lu Xun
19 A Farewell to Arms — Hemingway
20 The Plague — Camus