Stacy Schiff’s biography of Cleopatra has enjoyed a great deal of prepub attention, fueled by talk of a movie version directed by James Cameron, starring Angelina Jolie AND in 3D. Now that Cameron has announced his next projects will be Avatar 2 and Avatar 3, Cleopatra appears to have been scuttled.

The book, however, stands on its own (Schiff won a Pulitzer Prize for Vera, her biography of Nabokov’s wife) and is reviewed widely today:

NYT, Books of The Times: The Woman Who Had the World Enthralled

NPR’s web site, How History And Hollywood Got ‘Cleopatra’ Wrong

Salon, Laura Miller, “Cleopatra”: Sex and sovereignty

USA Today, ‘Cleopatra’ burns with passion, both personal and political

The Wall Street Journal, In All Her Infinite Variety

The Washington Post, Stacy Schiff’s new biography of “Cleopatra,” reviewed by Maria Arana

It rose to #60 on Amazon sales rankings today. Holds in libraries, however, are modest so far.

Cleopatra: A Biography Stacy Schiff Retail Price: $29.99 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – (2010-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0316001929 / 9780316001922

Hachette LARGE PRINT; Hdbk; 9780316120449; $31.99
Hachette Audio; UNABR; 9781607887010; $34.98

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