A Traveller's History of Greece

This was the perfect book for a traveler looking for a short history. It was readable and gave me a good understanding of Greek history.

If you are travelling to Greece and need an overview of history, this is a very easy, if concentrated read. The even pace and focused chapters helps you to remember the pertinent facts and sequence of events. I never really understood how Macedonia, the Roman Empire, Byzantium, Crusades, Venetians, and Ottoman/Turks were tied together, but at least I have a basic understanding now, and why Turkey and Greece are always at odds. I suppose in order to condense the length of the 1st half of the book, Boatswain leaves out most information about the relationship of history and Greek Mythology (their religion), and focuses on the train of events only. Some actual photos of famous people, especially in Nicolson's second half describing recent 20th Century history would have helped rather than the cheesy drawings. Also, there is no glossary for the second half, making it difficult to review the meaning of political group abbreviations (PASOK, ERM, EOKA, EAM, KKE, ELAS, etc.)or people's names if you forget who they are (i.e, you have to go back through the book). For the difficult task the book sets out to do (getting you to remember 4,000 years of Greek History in a painless and entertaining manner) it does a great job. I also felt Boatswain and Nicolson made a clear and successful effort to be as neutral and objective as possible. I usually dislike history books, but found myself fascinated by it all.

This book should prove quite useful for those traveling to Greece, whether the trip is still in the planning stage or even if it has already been done and the traveler wants to enrich his or her experience with some background information. It is clearly intended for the non-specialist but contains a few insights I had not found in more learned volumes. The style and tone are crisp and fast-paced throughout. The first part, by Boatswain (120 pages), goes from very early Greek civilization to the fall of Constantinople. Normally, this would be too few pages for so much material, but the author does an adequate job, considering his purpose. The second part, by Nicolson, takes us to the end of the twentieth century. I must admit to a bit of disappointment with Boatswain's treatment of the world of Hellenism. He gets all the facts right but wobbles on the spirit of the Hellenistic -- as distinct from the Hellenic. But this is not a real flaw since few historians bother to elaborate on the distinction. Recommended for travelers and for general readers.

This was the first Greek history book that I read and was interesting enough to both be read in a single sitting and spur my interest to further study Greek history. It's format is of a general, sweeping political overview with the more dramatic points (Pelo. War, War of Independence, the Greek Civil War) covered in detail, while other eras are glossed over in just a handful of pages (Byzantium, Roman occupation). There's a detectable populist-sympathetic slant that is detectible especially in the last third of the book, but such sentiment probably more accurately reflects the Greece that the traveller will find today than Ancient Athens.More academic treatments can be found by Richard Clogg in 'A Concise History of Greece' and the sadly out-of-print 'Modern Greece' by C.M. Woodhouse.

Just the thing for those who want to find out more about the Greek past than can be got from the usual bland guidebook account. This is an excellent summary of Greek history, particularly interesting on the period after 1453 usually glossed over in standard 'patriotic' accounts. The authors plot a course through the political minefields with great skill, dealing with hot-potatoes like the War of Independence and the Civil War with admirable detachment and clarity. No doubt some Greeks will be offended by the de-mythologising of the Greek independence struggle, and will balk at the notion that Turkish rule was not unreservedly evil, but for the intelligent traveller this book will provide an informative and stimulating beach-side read.