Greece Books

THE FIELD OF QUEER STUDIES ASSUMES THAT BEFORE ITS APPARITION ON THE ACADEMIC FASHION RUNWAY, GAY WRITERS AND THEORETICIANS DID NOT EXIST. ONE LOOK AT THE VICTORIAN XIXth cENTURY SHOWS THIS VIEW TO BE HISTORICALLY DISTORTED. SYMONS CORAGEOUS ESSAY ANTICIPATES SIMILAR DOCUMENTS BY A CENTURY, AND SHOULD BE READ AND STUDIED BY ALL THOSE WHO ANALYZE, CRITIQUE OR PRETEND TO CREATE GAY LITERATURE.

Still one of the most often quoted men in history. This book is a timeless treasure of truth and wisdom.

C.M. Reed has written a wonderful account of the true nature of trade in the Ancient Greek world. Myths and beliefs of Greek Maritime activity are completely debunked in this wonderful analysis.

Josiah Ober's book is no longer new, but it is still as fresh as when it first came out, in the 1980's. It should be required reading for anyone interested in the way Athenian democracy worked, or how any democracy can work, for that matter. Ober focuses, not on the notorious periods of civic strife and oligarchic revolution, but on the working democracy, especially during the period of the great orators (4th century B.C.). The question, he implies, is not "why did the democracy break down," but "why did it work as well, and as long, as it did?" Ober finds the answer in "ideology," which for him is the symbolic language--of word, posture, gesture, and deed--that allowed the upper class ("elite") political leaders to communicate with an audience composed mostly of lower class citizens who might not be expected to be very sympathetic to them. My only quibble is that Ober may assume too lightly that things worked the same way in the 5th century (the "Age of Pericles"); but he does address himself to this question, and uses what little evidence there is to elucidate it (e.g. the various speeches preserved in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War; the plays of Aristophanes, etc.). Ober also does his best to draw parallels and conclusions that are relevant to modern political systems, especially "democracy" as it is practiced in the U.S. It's compelling reading--but before taking it on, you might want to bone up on your Greek history a little bit. Make sure you know who Demosthenes was, and his role in trying to help Athens figure out how to respond to the rising power of Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great!

Please don't be mislead by the title "Master Farmer" because this book is about management and will be helpful to all nonprofits. It is addressed to development workers, those who train them and to those concerned with supporting rural community development efforts. On one of his sabbaticals, the author visited Ireland where he discovered the saying "Management is doing what you want with what you've got". As Director of the American Farm School in Thessaloniki, Greece, the author never had the resources he wanted but he did a superb job with what he had. He would stand up in front of a group of farmers and jokingly tell them "I am going to teach your cows to polka" and then teach the basics of management - Planning, Organization, Leadership, K(c)ontrol, and Adjustment. Hundreds can still remember him emphasizing the philosophy of the school - the head, the hands and the heart - by drawing a spidery man showing the over-evolvement of man from one with a big pair of hands, big heart and a modest sized head into one with a big head, but virtually no hands and little heart. While these lessons are invaluable for those working the land, the same lessons benefit the rural worker in other occupations.

Lansdale also believes that "The story of postwar Greece holds invaluable lessons for many developing countries today. In 1947 Greece had just emerged from a decade of war and strife; its villagers were demoralized and fleeing rural life for the cities; and its farms were unable to produce adequate crops to feed its people. In less than forty years Greece has become a major exporter of foodstuffs, most villages have made the transition from underdeveloped to developing, and rural people no longer yearn to move to the cities." As I view the development efforts since the book was written in 1986, I cry at the money wasted because the decision-makers did not learn from Greece as a development model nor did they take to heart the wisdom in this book.

Lansdale became famous for his Hodja stories and if he failed to include one in his frequent talks the audience would not let him leave the room. But for Lansdale Nazredin Hodja was not just a wise legend and a good laugh, he was the tool to bring home his message of training master farmers. Rural life in developing areas is centered on the peasant, a word used by Lansdale with affection, admiration and profound gratitude for their wisdom and what they taught him. That a peasant has something to teach a person with a university degree may seem strange, but Lansdale took to heart Deeming's adage "get close to the customer", listening rather than preaching, gaining insights and a depth of understanding which most of us would fail to appreciate. The author points out "Many Greek and foreign development workers came to the villages with the idealistic conviction that they understood the peasant's problems and could solve them. However, they soon realized how important it was for the peasants to learn to identify and solve their own problems. Others could introduce modern techniques to the peasants and share new ideas with them, but until the peasants assimilated the ideas, they would have little meaning. The word economics is derived from the Greek word oikos (home). Although any rural development program must rely on effective planning at the national level, development workers must recognize that ultimately success depends on basic economics in the peasant home." Lansdale then goes on to say "But much of the credit must go to the villagers themselves, particularly to the women, whose role in many cases has been even greater than that of their husbands. These master farmers and their wives are the sergeants of agriculture: the select group of peasants who have acquired the managerial skills to lead the country to its present high level of agricultural production. It is essential that developing nations of the world discover innovative approaches to creating such master farmers and the technicians who support them, by providing adequate management and technical training for subsistence peasants." And this is what this book is all about - providing adequate management and technical training for progressively more sophisticated and educated peasants.

Lansdale starts out the book by helping us to understand the problem. How many of us have got sufficiently close to the peasant to be really sure that we understand all dimensions of the problem, and thus build in failure to the best-laid plans? In this respect the author says "The peasants generally accepted their feelings of helplessness in the face of constant misfortune as inevitable and played a primary role in initiating it. Their misfortune was something neither they nor those who wanted to help them could do much about. In Greece today, progressive farmers have grown to accept change as inevitable. If development workers in Greece and else where are to utilize the peasants' potential for change, they must first understand the characteristics of the villagers that once hindered progress in the Greek countryside." It is in understanding the characteristics of the villagers that Lansdale found his magic touch. This allowed him to correctly define the problem and then his university training could be used to help. It is because Lansdale was able to climb into the peasant's skin and look out on the world with the peasants eyes and then return home and meld that world view with that of the developed world that he has been able to make such a valuable contribution.

If you do a quiet self-evaluation and suspect that you have not really and truly got close to your rural customer then I recommend that you absorb the wisdom contained in this book.
dwillis@afs.edu.gr

I like looking at the photos of the 1900's, they are so unique. It is amazing at what they could do with such limitations. It's very creative stuff. Of course all the photos are really great, even the 20th century works.

As someone who has studied both Homeric and Modern Greek, I found this book about the evolution of Greek fascinating. There is also an interesting chapter about the dialects of Modern Greek.

The book is written in an extremely readable style. I read through it in only a couple of days. There is a large bibliography at the back of the book and I intend to look up some of the references.

I found this book quite by luck, hoping the title would truly indicate its contents. I have been wanting to plan a trip of travel across the Mediterranean from port to port, and this book is a splendid start for such a venture. Also, it is sufficiently rigorous and detailed-- probably because the author is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society.

This easy to read book is a "Who is Who" in the development of western thought. It treats more than 50 of the ancient Greek philosophers and also explains the significance of 14 of the most well-known historical sites in ancient Greece. Each topic is individually treated by an international expert and, although written in a non-academic style, each topic has annotated footnotes which can lead the serious reader to more formal research. This handy little book is a must-have for readers and travelers to the region with even a casual interest in the history of western philosophy.

This interesting little monograph provides evidence that Greek ambitions to re-create the Byzantine legacy did not stop with their freedom in the 1830s from the Turkish yoke. Their futile war in 1897 marked a serious effort to take adantage of a tottering Ottoman Empire's dilapidation, but ultimately failed in its immediate designs. However, in the succeeding decade they and their Balkan neighbors would all feast on the carcass. The author does a good job of describing the Greek political factions and their machinations to manipulate the Great Powers to their cause.