The Word Within the Word II takes up where Volume I left off and continues to illustrate to students the benefits of knowing Latin and Greek stems. Once students know what a stem means, they are able to figure out the meanings of several other words that contain that stem, even if those words are ones that they have never seen before. n this book, each of the thirty lessons begins with a list of stems, along with their meanings and words that contain them, followed by a list of advanced academic words that contain the stems in the list. There are ten new words in each lesson, as well as five words brought forward from The Word Within the Word I.As in Volume I, there are numerous activities in each lesson, many of which simply involve reading and thinking and discussing the facts and ideas presented. Activities allow students to play with the words, to see them in context, and to understand their grammatical function. Whereas Volume I included extensive essays on the ancient Greeks, Volume II provides substantial discussion of the Roman Republic. This is the period in which Rome rose from a small mud village ruled by kings to the most powerful entity in the Mediterranean world. It looks at the history, people, institutions, and army that made this rise possible. There are more than a hundred photographs in the book, along with discussions of such topics as the toga, Roman food, and educational practices, in which frequent beatings were considered an aid to understanding.