The Shortest History of Greece: 6

It was a great book, 5 star content for sure, I learned a lot from it. It could have maybe done with more stuff about the recent migrant crisis and the situation in places like lesbos but it covers pretty much everything else.I was surprised how recent the events go up to, this must have been released very recently. It also must have been rushed out pretty quick because I noticed quite a few errors in it, the odd wrong word, wrong number, bad grammar or a text formatting issue (like on page 23 when theres one line randomly inserted under an illustration) that look pretty stupid. Don't you read your books through before printing thousands of copies?I do like this series though, this is the 3rd one I've read (the England and Germany ones are also excellent) and I plan on reading the China one next. Look forward to reading more in the future!

Squashing the history of Greece into such a relatively slim volume seems impossible but this is a great read.

The great thing about this book is that it joins the dots between the different phases of Greek history - the ancients, the Byzantines and the modern Greeks. I've visited Greece almost every year since 1971, and read quite widely about the country, but I still learned a lot, especially about the ups and downs of modern Greece since the 1820s. And Heneage makes an interesting case for what Greek democracy (both in its ancient and its modern guise) can teach us about our own situation today.Like the other shortest histories, the style is relaxed and jargon-free, and there are maps, photographs and illustrations every other page or so. I also liked the boxes scattered throughout – about things like the Olympics, iconoclasm, whether Churchill was to blame for the Greek civil war, and si on. All in all, highly recommended.

I suspect that many of us have, at best, a sketchy idea of Ancient Greek history but little if any knowledge of the last 2,000 years - save for the belt and braces rip off of a financial rescue of recent times. James Heneage brings the Ancients to life and then proceeds to fill in the missing bits extremely well. He has a light yet authoritative touch which makes this book not only very readable, but highly informative. Clearly, he is an Hellenophile, however, that doesn't blind his analysis. He follows in the footsteps of Patrick Leigh-Fermor as an anglicised klepht of The Mani.

An excellent quick tour of Greece's history, from the first civilisations of the Aegean and Ionian to the refugee crisis on Lesbos. So much in here! So much I simply never knew, about Greece's role in the world, and the Greeks' perception of themselves. I have friends and colleagues who go to Greece regularly - they know about Troy and the Iliad, but they don't know a fragment of what came after. (So that's my Xmas present buying taken care of)

Having read and enjoyed Heneage's vibrant historical fiction it was such a joy to be able to join all the dots in this superb narrative of Greek history from the ancient Greeks to present day Mitsotakis leadership. It is a vivid and well-written account of the peaks and troughs of what the Greek people have been through and for anyone who has even a passing interest in Greece it is a must-read. Highly recommended.

Having read other works in the series I was excited for this release and it did not disappoint one bit! An incredibly relevant read that gives a valuable insight to why this beautiful country has been, and continues to be, so important to the west, it’s values and culture

Absolutely flew through this , such an amazing insight into the history of Greece; telling amazing stories and bringing so much of it to life as well as leaving you with some real thinking points to take away and reflect on. Couldnt recommend this more highly!