THORNTON, Bruce S. 1953-

PERSONAL: Born August 2, 1953, in Fresno County, CA; son of Glen S. (a cattle rancher and barber) and Grace G. (a cattle rancher) Thornton; married Jacalyn Golston, 1977; children: Isaac, Cole. Ethnicity: "American." Education: University of California—Los Angeles, B.A. (magna cum laude), 1975, Ph.D., 1983. Politics: "Reluctant Democrat." Religion: Protestant. Hobbies and other interests: Basketball, chess.

ADDRESSES: Home—919 East Yale Ave., Fresno, CA 93704. Office—Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, California State University—Fresno, 2320 East San Ramon Ave., Fresno, CA 93740-8030; fax: 559-278-7878. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: California State University—Fresno, Fresno, CA, lecturer, 1977-78, 1982-89, assistant professor, 1989-91, associate professor, 1991-96, professor of classics and humanities, 1996—, chair, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, beginning 1996. Kings River Community College, lecturer, 1983-85.

MEMBER: National Association of Scholars, Phi Kappa Phi.

WRITINGS:

Eros the Killer: The Myth of Ancient Greek Sexuality, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 1998.

Plagues of the Mind: The New Epidemic of False Knowledge, Praeger (New York, NY), 1998.

(Coauthor) Bonfire of the Humanities: Rescuing the Classics in an Impoverished Age, ISI Books (Wilmington, DE), 2000.

Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization, Encounter Books (San Francisco, CA), 2000.

Humanities Handbook, Prentice Hall (Tappan, NJ), 2000.

Searching for Joaquin: Myth, Murieta, and History in California, Encounter Books (San Francisco, CA), 2003.

A Student's Guide to the Classics, ISI Books (Wilmington, DE), 2003.

Contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals, including Heterodoxy, Arion, Measure, Classical and Modern Literature, English Language Notes, and American Journal of Philology.

SIDELIGHTS: Bruce S. Thornton once told CA: "Writing, for me, is primarily about pleasure: the pleasures of using language, playing with ideas, gathering knowledge, and speaking my piece. What Horace saw as the purpose of poetry, 'delight and instruction,' should be the purpose of all writing. To speak the truth as we know it, to explode error, to have sheer fun with words and ideas: very few activities are more rewarding or enjoyable. I write for the same reason I breathe: to keep the soul alive."