The Last of the Wine (1956) is an excellent historical novel by all the standards which we usually use to judge such work. Miss Renault's reconstruction of the past is vivid and exciting, for she has been able to make us believe in a world remote from ours, but one in which we recognize problems and people who reflect our own society. The Athens of Sokrates and Alkibiades comes alive for us because Miss Renault has made it consistent, colorful, and interesting. But unlike many historical novelists who use their recreation of the past as an excuse for sensationalism or pseudo-history, Miss Renault has used her setting as a reinforcement of theme and character. Sokrates and what he teaches are central to the meaning and to the structure of the novel, though he himself remains a secondary figure…. [She] gives us a real "flavor" of the period, since we...