Book Description Athens, 440 BC. Under Pericles, the democracy is building its imperial legacy in blood, stone, and ballots. Ruling the stage, Sophocles premieres the tragedy of Antigone, earning renown that propels him to an honorary generalship. But the honor turns serious when war breaks out with the powerful island of Samos. Can Sophocles the playwright now direct real soldiers in a war that will decide the fate of Athens sea empire? ............................. Author Bio: Nicholas Nicastro was born in Astoria, New York in 1963. He has also worked as a film critic, a hospital orderly, a newspaper reporter, a library archivist, a college lecturer in anthropology and psychology, an animal behaviorist, and an advertising salesman. In addition to Antigone s Wake, his published novels include The Eighteenth Captain (1999), Between Two Fires (2002), Empire of Ashes (2004), and The Isle of Stone (2005). His writings also include short fiction, travel and science articles in such publications as The New York Times, The New York Observer, Film Comment, and The International Herald Tribune. ........................... Reviews: Nicastro is an author who clearly relishes his subject. Each sentence bursts with juicy, nurturing historical detail and considered thought about the hopes, aspirations, ideals and troubles of those who lived in the distant past. We follow the triumphs and travails of Sophocles as he struggles to create his art and also be what Athens wants him to be a brilliant general. Athens as a great civilization is constructed in front of our eyes. Nicastro brings to life both the back-streets of the city and the sea-battle-lanes of its Empire. The towering giants of Western history; Sophocles, Euripides, Pericles and his consort Aspasia are, through his vivid imagination, given a voice. This book allows the reader to inhabit the Golden Age of Athens, and to taste its grit as well as its glory. Bettany Hughes, PBS and BBC, author of Helen of Troy: The Story Behind the Most Beautiful Woman in the World