<p>In 'The House That Jill Built, after Jack's Had Proved a Failure,' the prolific writer E. C. Gardner embarks on an ambitious examination of political durability through the lens of antiquity's most storied republics. The text delves into the triumphs and downfalls of Sparta, Athens, Thebes, Carthage, and Rome with an incisive interpretative style, juxtaposing their ancient lessons with the pivotal British circumstances of Gardner's era. Gardne...