Critical Acclaim for 'Sparta's German Children'

Helen’s first monograph, Sparta’s German Children: The ideal of ancient Sparta in the Royal Prussian Cadet Corps, 1818-1920, and in National Socialist elite schools (the Napolas), 1933-1945, has recently received a favourable review in the online humanities forum H-Soz-u-Kult / Historische Bildungsgeschichte Online.

The reviewer sums up his discussion as follows:

‘With her study, Helen Roche has enriched the history of [male] education and elite socialisation from an interesting perspective. […She] succeeds in telling a story which indicates the corruptibility even of philhellenist reception of the ancient world, and thus of bourgeois conceit… Helen Roche’s engagement with this challenging task redounds to her credit.’

To read the review in its entirety, click here.

Additionally, Sparta’s German Children was favourably reviewed in February 2014 by the online journal Archiv für Sozialgeschichte.

Meanwhile, the University of Cambridge doctoral thesis on which the book was based has recently been nominated for the prestigious Hellenic Foundation Prize, as well as being one of three theses shortlisted for the University’s Hare Prize.