CLEOPATRA

The Nile put Ludwig back into the position of eminence from which he had slipped, with his finest and most significant book. Now -- growing right out of that book -- is his first biography of a woman, Cleopatra. It should be easy selling to all who bought The Nile, and the character of Cleopatra has unfailing glamor. This is not a gossipy type of biography. It is a serious, thoroughly readable, and very interesting picture of the period, the motivating forces which tore the Roman world asunder, the part Cleopatra played in the lives of Caesar and of Anthony. One gets some impression of the setting and life, but the concentration of thought and interest is on the psychology of the woman and her deliberate manipulation of the two men. The book has little of the fire and zest and sense of discovery that The Nile offered, but to many it will prove easier reading, and is sure to build up big sales.