Amo, Amas, Amat… And All That

Have you ever found yourself irritated when a sine qua non or a mea culpa is thrown into the conversation by a particularly annoying person? Or do distant memories of afternoons spent struggling to learn obscure verbs fill you with dread?

Never fear! (or as a Latin show-off might say, Nil Desperandum!)

In this delightful guided tour of Latin – featuring everything from a Monty Python grammar lesson to David Beckham’s tattoos and all the best snippets of prose and poetry from 2000 years of literary history – Harry Mount wipes the dust off those boring primers and breathes life back into the greatest language of them all.

“Amo, Amas, Amat is a diverting meander and Mount’s love of Latin shines out on every page.”
The Spectator

“Latin without the pain.”
The Guardian

“The latest challenge to the crown claimed by Eats, Shoots & Leaves.”
The Times

About Harry Mount

Harry Mount read Classics at Oxford and was a Latin tutor before becoming a journalist. He has been a leader- writer and New York correspondent at the Daily Telegraph. His memoir of his time as a barrister’s pupil, My Brief Career, is also published by Short Books.