Amo, Amas, Amat ... and All That

“If you know someone who missed out on Latin at school and wants to live a happier life, you could do no better than give them Harry Mount’s entertainingly educative Latin primer.” Daily Mail

“Amo, Amas, Amat is a diverting meander and Mount’s love of Latin shines out on every page.” The Spectator

“Latin without the pain.” Guardian

“If you studied Latin at school this will bring back fond memories, but even newcomers will be captivated by this witty and entertaining book…” Yorkshire Evening Post

Have you ever found yourself irritated when a sine qua non or a mea culpa is thrown into the conversation by a particularly annoying person? Or do distant memories of afternoons spent struggling to learn obscure verbs fill you with dread? Never fear! Or, as a Latin show-off might say, Nil desperandum!

Those endless afternoons where you struggled to remember the third person singular present indicative of volo (vult) may be a long time ago. But, if you have the vaguest memory of the ablative absolute, the locative and the gerund, you mastery of Latin will spring back to life with Amo, amas, amat…and all that. In his trip through the world’s most influential language, Harry Mount uncorks its magic, drawing on Latin lovers from Kingsley Amis to John Cleese, from Evelyn Waugh to Donna Tart. Read this book and you will know Latin. Know Latin and – mirabile dictu – you will know Wilfred Owen’s misery, Catullus’s aching heart and the comedy of a thousand bachelor schoolmasters.