Book cover of Lars Porsena: On the Future of Swearing

Book description

Equal parts history and absurdity, this tongue-in-cheek treatise laments the decline of swearing and foul language in England and looks back with nostalgia at the glory days of oaths and blasphemies. Written when censorship in England was still in full sway, this was an impassionate defense of the foul-mouthed in…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Lars Porsena as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

No one has ever heard of this book, but it is hilarious! Written by the inimitable poet, critic, author, and wit Robert Graves, it is a rumination on the future of swearing and improper language. Graves had a wonderful ability to talk about things of the utmost gravity in a way that, while not displacing their significance, allowed us to laugh about them. His were, as someone once said, “jests too deep for laughter”. Perhaps at no time in history was such a capability more culturally appropriate and important than during the First World War. Swearing bursts onto the mainstream…

If you love Lars Porsena...

Ad

Book cover of The Winnowing

The Winnowing by Patrick Garner,

We know the Greek gods from mythology, and assume their stories ended there. They did not. This is a compelling new story about the Olympic gods in our century. True to form, they continue to challenge our modern morality. Now they appear to prevent humans from discovering immortality.

The Fates—three…

Want books like Lars Porsena?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Lars Porsena.

Browse books like Lars Porsena

Book cover of The Great War and Modern Memory
Book cover of The Vertigo Years: Europe, 1900-1914
Book cover of Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,276

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like Lars Porsena, you might also like...

Book cover of The Exiled Queen

The Exiled Queen by Roxana Arama,

She spent years following the path reserved for highborn men. When she’s thrust back into a subservient role, how will she forge her own destiny?

When Princess Andrada tries to become the heir to her father’s throne, she fails and is sentenced to death. To avoid execution, her father marries…

Book cover of The Myth of the Year

The Myth of the Year by Helen Benigni,

The Myth of the Year reveals the astronomy underlying Celtic and Greek mythology using the calendar of the Druids discovered in Coligny, France and the Sacred Calendar of Eleusis of ancient Greece.

The myths of the ancients follow the seasons through the constellations illuminating the path of knowledge our ancestors…

5 book lists we think you will like!