Editing Edith Hamilton (section)

==Modern influences==
Many of the facts in ''The Greek Way'' (1930) have surprised modern readers. One reviewer in Australia explained Hamilton's view "that the spirit of our age is a Greek discovery, and that the Greeks were really the first Westerners, and the first intellectualists." The same reviewer also credited the book with noting that modern concepts of play and sport were actually common activities to the Greeks, who engaged in exercise and athletic events, including games, races, and music, dancing, and wrestling competitions, among others.<ref>"'The Greek Way', Its Modern Value", ''The Age'' (Melbourne, Australia), 1930.</ref>

Among those whose lives were influenced by Hamilton's writings was [[United States Senator|U.S. Senator]] [[Robert F. Kennedy]]. In the months after his brother, [[President of the United States|President]] [[John F. Kennedy]], was assassinated, Robert was consumed with grief.<ref name=Thomas>{{cite book | author =Evan Thomas | title =Robert Kennedy: His Life | publisher =Simon and Schuster | year =2002 | url =https://archive.org/details/robertkennedy00thom | isbn =978-0-7432-0329-6 }}</ref> Former First Lady [[Jacqueline Kennedy]] gave him a copy of ''The Greek Way,'' which she felt was certain to help him. Political commentator [[David Brooks (cultural commentator)|David Brooks]] reported that Hamilton's essays helped him better understand and then recover from his brother's tragic death.<ref name=Brooks>{{cite journal| author=David Brooks  | title =After JFK's death, Bobby Kennedy drew strength from ancient Greeks | journal =Arizona Daily Star | page=7 | date =November 28, 2006}}</ref> Hamilton's writings remained important to him over time, as Brooks explains, and changed Kennedy's life. "He carried his beaten, underlined and annotated copy around with him for years, reading sections aloud to audiences in a flat, unrhythmic voice with a mournful edge" and could recite from memory various passages of [[Aeschylus]] that Hamilton had translated.<ref name=Brooks/>

According to reviewers, Hamilton's ''The Prophets of Israel'' (1936) had similarities to her earlier books about Greeks and Romans by making the prophets' messages relevant to contemporary readers. She accomplishes this, according to one writer, by showing that "behind all great thought stands an individual mind, fired by passion and possessed of an eye that sees deeply into humanity."<ref name=Detroit1>{{cite journal| title =Americans Welcome Book About Prophets | journal =Detroit Free Press | location =Detroit, Michigan | date =June 21, 1936}}</ref> The views of the prophets, it adds, are very similar to those in modern times: "The prophets were forerunners of three genuinely American movements{{mdash}}[[humanism]], [[pragmatism]] and the philosophy of common sense."<ref name=Detroit1/>