Greece Books

An evocative memoir of the author's stay [1953-6] in what's now Northern Cyprus. Much of the landscape was still as he described it when we visited Belle Pais, Famagusta, Kyrenia, and Nicosia, the Tree of Idleness and other sites on our hiking trip to Cyprus in 2001. His adventures in buying and maintaining a house rival those of Peter Mayle's "A Year in Provence"written many years later. The peaceful interludes in the hills are marred by foreshadowing of the political turmoil and tragedies that would engulf Cyprus in the following decades, leading to the departure of Durrell and other foreign nationals. Some of those towns and even cities remain ghost towns to this day. Once hard to find, this book has now been deservedly reissued.

I wouldn't want to spoil the thing by saying too much, but it was a very interesting read, aside from being intensely pleasant. There's a certain delicacy, about death, and strife, and the drinking of wine. Durrell is well spoken and well informed: you might think, like I did, that the story of Cyprus isn't politically relevant. But I only thought that because I'm an ignorant American, and because I had yet to read this lovely book.

This is one of the best casual-reading mythology books I've picked up. You can open to any page and find something of interest, explained in Macrone's fresh and funny style. This simple, accessible book makes clear how ancient mythology has survived in words, customs, naming systems, and such, and outlines the most famous stories in world mythology. (Ours being a Western culture, Macrone focuses on Greco-Roman mythology, but makes connections to several ancient cultures.) The book's only drawback is its potentially addictive quality: mythology is so interwoven that this book must be also. Expect lots of cross-references, and thus lots of pageturning. Each page will open a new topic to you. Beware an addiction to this wealth of knowledge!

I picked up the book at the Getty Museum as I wandered through the sundry sculptures and paintings drawing blanks at times at the curator's notes. My remedy was this book. While I cannot
verify accuracy of dates and sources of the mythological stories
due to the myriad of versions, I found my interest quickly perked up traveling through the museum. It really helped me familiarize with not only mythology but also etymology.

This is a great book by Leonard Cotrell, maybe even better than "Los Egipcios" , which I had to read in primary school and which I loved so much as a kid that I read it three times. The author's name stayed in my mind and when I saw this book I immediately bought it and I'm glad I did.

Leonard Cottrell was a commentator and producer at the BBC, so he travelled across the Mediterranean to get material for his program. This book is about his travel to Greece (Knossos) and Turkey on the footsteps of two archeologists, Heinrich Schliemann and Sir Arthur Evans, who found lost cities during their searches and excavations.

The book merges three time periods, the ancient Greek world, the world of the 19th century archeologists and the early 20th century of Cottrell, while the story goes back and forth mainly between the first two.

It explains to some detail the rudimentary archeological methods at the disposal of the before mentioned archeologists and how their passion for finding their dream, as well as the deep faith of Schliemann in the accuracy of Homer's works helped him through his early disappointments in his quest for finding Troy. The findings of these archeologists are taken back in time to explain the history of the buried cities and their inhabitants, their myths and their social life, as well as their relations to other cultures of the Mediterranean like the Egyptians.

The book reads like a novel, but has a lot of historic details, as well as an explanation of how the findings relate to Homer's great works of literature, like for example Homer's description of round warrior shields, which were thought to be coming out of his lucid imagination, but which proved to exist according to some archeological findings.

It's a pity that almost all of Cottrell's books are apparently out of print.

This book is almost impossible to put down. The author discusses ancient Greek history and archaeology through the work of two famous pioneers in this field: Heinrich Schliemann and Sir Arthur Evans. The main sites focused upon are Troy, Mycenae and Knossos; however, many more sites are discussed, both in Crete and mainland Greece. This is obviously a work of love for the author; the passion with which he writes about this subject is spellbinding. Although written in 1953 (revised in, probably, the late 1950s - this isn't clear), the historical facts surrounding the principal personages remain valid; only the interpretations of the findings (and those unearthed since then) have evolved. I heartily recommend this book to anyone with an interest in truly ancient (pre-classical) Greece and in the pioneers who led its discovery and excavation.

Don't get me wrong, this is an interesting and very readable book but I think the title is misleading. I didn't see much revival. The period 780-842AD is filled with military blunders, humiliating foreign tribute, pointless religious bickering and violent power struggles. Why anyone would even want the job of Emperor/Basileus is beyond me. Most of these guys and one gal ended up blinded, castrated or worse for their troubles, ditto for their families. This empire seems to have been held together by its tax collecting ability and religous orthodoxy rather than its military prowess, multi ethnic people or corrupt overall government. It makes me appreciate our good ol' democracy.

The most significant thing that happened during the period is the directed settlement of what is now Greece by pushing aside the long established Slavic invaders. Emperor Nicephorus strong-armed a quarter million people to set up shop in these long abandoned areas of the empire. Nowadays we'd call that ethnic cleansing and send in the UN!

In another great text on Byzantine History, Treadgold shows how the Byzantine Empire, wrought by devastation on all sides from Avars, Slavs, Bulgars, Arabs and Saracens, as well as entangled in internal strife over the question of iconography was able to revitalize itself under a series of successful rulers beginning in 780. He provides accurate and useful information on the economy, the growth of the Orthodox Chruch, the debates of Iconoclasm, and the successful re-Hellenization of of the Balkans while keeping the reader interested and focused on the topic. What I like best about this book is that at the end of each chapter, he provides an overall assessment of the Empire, its growth since its last emperor, the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the times. The main argument Treadgold is trying to portray is that in this period of regrowth, the Empire was reduced to its skeletal framework, but was able to monopolize on a being a smaller regional state, and expand back into the Balkans and Asia Minor with a series of strategic and unified military and diplomatic endeavors and hold onto any new territorial claims. Here is where we see the beginnings of Byzantine culture, the revitalization of learning, and the guidance of educated patriarchs and monks that set the stage for the next 300 years of Byzantium's Golden Age. This book is a must for anyone who wishes to learn about how Byzantium recovered from its earlier defeats at the hands of Persia and Islam, and was able to come back stronger than ever before.

As a college student, it could be quite daunting to take on certain philosophy texts. Some can be completely dry. Some could just drone on and on. But even to an individual with limited interest in ethics will find this book rather accesible. There are many moments in this book where the average student will say, "oh, I get it". So whether you are buying this book as a requirement or to fullfill you curiosity in ethics, this book is a great buy. Even though I purchased this book as a requirement, it will always have a nice little home on my bookshelf. Zeuschner rules all!

For college students that do not have much time to read, this book offers the basics on the major ethical positions from around the world -- not just from the west! There are nice biographical pieces and the position summaries are broken up nicely. For a short introductory ethics course this or the Clark and Poortenga seem to be targeting our contemporary students well.

This book is highly recommended for basic studies of the ancient Greek world. I would not recommend it for highly advanced studies, due to the fact that it's 37 years old, and is a bit behind current archaeological findings. But it's got some great images and it's very informative. This really is worth adding to anyone's collection of books on Ancient Greece.

This is one of the Time-Life Great Ages of Man series. It is absolutely first class. The pictures are stunning, and the writing is superb. The author clearly shows how Athens became predominant through success in the Persian wars, and how democracy was created and grew. Anyone who loves democracy will love this book. One quote says it all: "We are free and tolerant in our private lives; but in public affairs, we keep to the law...We give our obedience to those whom we put in positions of authority". No one in the subsequent 2,500 years has said it better. You need this book.

An excellent source of information - in richly illustrated detail - of the Greek and Roman orders of architecture, including not just the columns, plinth and pediments, but complete building facades, plans and how the porportions of the order relate to these elements as well. In addition, the author includes examples by famous architects or of famous buildings showing how the order was interpreted in the past. The only omission - an intentional one, I am sure - is that orders of other cultures were not included.

Whatever your view as an Architect, Classical Architecture is still around, and being built. With fewer Architects being knowledgeable of the orders of architecture, this book provides the essential information needed to provide an understanding of Classical Architecture. This book is not just a plate by plate description of built or unbuilt classical architecture, but a raw, down to the bone instruction manual of how to construct in minutest detail the five orders. WHEN it is back in print, this book will be an essential purchase for Architects and Offices alike. With very few Architects now having an understanding of Classical Architecture, you could be at an advantage. I would also suggest that when you get a copy, to actually draw the orders...its well worth it.

IFLYA

I love all Shakespeare's works in all his genres, but this play is my favourite one of the Comedies. I have read it numerous times, but I have also seen it played on the stage, and it was unbelievably funny there. This play is actually one of Shakespeare's earliest. The play is a story about doubles, and the confusion that arises from this. Shakespeare protagaonists are a pair of twins, and to complicate things further each twin has an identical twin for a servant. Shakespeare's humour is bawdy as it was expected to be during the Elizabethan age. Some people think this particular play displays farcical humour because the humour is so broad, but I truly enjoyed reading it and seeing it. I think the genius of this particular play is in the deftness of the plot and the fast-paced perfection and timing of its action. I laughed out loud many times during this wonderful play.

As someone who is reading Shakespeare for the second time at the age of 40 and who considers himself a careful reader, I am always surprised to find the Oxford editors bring new ways of looking at the plays. In this introduction, Whitworth does a commendable job of explaining the importance of The Comedy of Errors which is usually dismissed as light weight farce, by explaining the history of critiism of the play and it social relevance.
Presented as a Christmas entertainment for the queen, The Comedy cleverly combines plots from two Plautus plays as well as introducing plot elements of his own.
I-- a mere mortal-- have no ability to criticize Shakespeares truly immortal genious. As the best writer ever, all I can do is enjoy the work. The scholarly intro allows you to heighten the pleasure seeing thing that might not be seen at surface level.
An additional benefit of the Oxford Shakespeare is that it is annotated with just enough notes-- on the same page as the text.
If you read Shakespeare for enjoyment or for a class, Oxford is the best.

I used this commentary years ago. Without it, much of this book, the delight of which is in detail and nuance, would have remained obscure for me. the primary emphasis is on the Greek text, but there is a real wealth of historical information to be found here as well. The first four books of Herodotus, in particular, display a narrative richness deriving from what we would now call travel literature, anthopology, and legend. Herodotus was speaking to an educated and somewhat cosmopolitan audience whose knowledge and belief background is very difficult for a modern to replicate. The How commentary was critical for getting a real understanding of what Herodotus was talking about and in fact made it very entertaining. In particular, these first four books should be very enjoyable for those what want to get a feel for an intelligent Greek's world view at the time, without getting into the actual history of the Persian War, which really commences in the fifth book.

This supplement to Herodotus is the most comprehensive work on Herodotus' History. By commenting on the text, archaeology, geography, and virtually every aspect relating to Herodotus, one may become familiar with the first history of the classical era. I strongly reccomend the two volumes for anyone who has read Herodotus before, as he/she will gain a deeper study of the work.

This volume deal with the German campaigns in the spring of 1941 into Yugoslavia, Greece, and Crete. There is not quite as much in the way of operational maps, but that is simply due to the greater simplicity of the campaigns and the more restricted areas they dealt with. It also looks at the political dealings of Germany with Rumania, Bulgaria and the remainder of the Balkans.

A few things of interest:

Hitler was not actually concerned about conquering the Balkans as long as they were stable and would continue to supply Germany with resources, in particular, oil from Rumania. He initially had no plans to invade the region but was working to build alliances to allow him to begin the war with Russia. Italy's failing invasion of Greece and a personal insult from new leadership in Yugoslavia prompted his quick change in plans.

After months of strong political pressure, the leader of Yugoslavia agreed to allow Germany to move troops through his country and recognized the Tri-partate Act. This caused a coup in his coutry in defiance of his decision. Only weeks later the successful new government came to the same conclusion as the former King, and accepted the treaty that they had rebeled over. It did not matter, because a now angry Hitler invaded anyways, completly taking the country in a few weeks.

Trapped and cut-off in Albania, the greek 1st Army surrendered. They did so to a mid-ranked officer who was quick to sit down and work out the arrangements. Infact, aides had to find the commanders from both side later to formally sign the documants. A higher ranked german officer felt the papers were not detailed enough...the Greeks surrendered again. Italy protested, beliving they should be involved, and so the Greeks complied, and surrendered a third time.

The Good: Great photo-essays on the assaults on the greek mountain defenses, german paratrooper doctrine and training, and the surrender of the Greek first Army (as above). Great detail on all three campaigns.

The Bad: Not much. Placement of the photo essays still causes you to flip back and forth a bit.

The Ugly: German Paratroop landings on Crete. The German doctrine had troops landing lightly armed and the battle plans had them close to enemy positions and at several different locations. The initial losses were not just severe, but devastating. Had British forces realized how weak the remaining german units were, they could have counterattacked in force and destroyed them before they were reinforced.

The German campaing in the Balkans in the spring of 1941 is a little mentioned episode in the history of World War II but it is really very interesting not only for its strategic consequences but also of its operational aspect. This excellent Time-Life book gives first the political and diplomatic background to the campaign, explaining how Hitler forged his alliance with countries like Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, and how the coup in Belgrade changed the whole nature and scope of the operation. The analysis of the war against Yugoslavia and Greece is very well presented with many nice photographs and maps and the final chpater deals with the airborne assault on Crete, a real historical first. This is a very well made volume and a valuable addition to the library of every WW II buff.