author
Paul Lachlan MacKendrick
1914–1998
An American classicist who made the ancient world feel vivid and approachable, he is best remembered for books that used archaeology and storytelling to bring old civilizations to life. His work opened Roman, North African, and Mediterranean sites to general readers as well as students.
1 Audiobook
The Mute Stones Speak: The Story of Archaeology in Italy
by Paul Lachlan MacKendrick
About the author
Born in Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1914, Paul Lachlan MacKendrick became a widely respected classicist, teacher, and author. He studied at Harvard University and Balliol College, Oxford, and later taught for several years at Phillips Academy before spending much of his career at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
MacKendrick wrote with a gift for making archaeology readable and exciting. He became especially known for books such as The Stones Speak, The Mute Stones Speak, and The North African Stones Speak, which used the physical remains of ancient places to tell lively human stories about the Roman world and its neighbors.
He died in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1998, just one day before his 84th birthday. Remembered as both a scholar and an engaging guide to antiquity, he helped generations of readers see ruins not as silent leftovers, but as clues to everyday life, politics, and culture in the ancient world.