SOCRATES A Man for Our Times

Paul Johnson’s engaging extended essay on Socrates might be better called “Socrates, A Man of His Time.” Johnson spends much worthy effort placing Socrates in the fifth-century Athens that is his proper place. Ancient Athens, like Socrates, is subject to interpretation, and Johnson presents it as a British gentlemen’s club utopia in which rhetoric sparkles, friends are important, homosexual desire is tolerated (but rarely acted upon), and women are admired but excluded. John Curless’s rich voice and upper-class British accent add to the world Johnson conjures. His Greek pronunciation is perfect—English, but not too much so. Johnson truly admires his Socrates (as he reviles Plato), and his affection gives the narrative life. F.C. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2012]