"This is a highly engaging, persuasive, and original book. Combining rigorous scholarship with clear and lively prose, it almost seamlessly integrates a variety of theories with a more empirical approach."--Jonathan Hall, University of Chicago

"This is the first book to address, in a large-scale way, what vase painting reveals about the 'social imaginary' of ancient Athens. It finally accounts for the changes in this area of art in a systematic fashion and contextualizes them within the larger history of Greek art."--Kathryn Topper, University of Washington