Review: The Shortest History of Greece

The Shortest History of Greece by James Heneage
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this up from my library app because I'm about to go on a trip with 37 of my students over March Break and I wanted to refresh my memory on the history of Greece- not the ancient or Byzantine periods. I've been studying those for decades, but rather the Ottoman and modern history of Greece. I will say, in passing, it is really hard to find books on this period. I mean, surprisingly so. I know that reflects the tendency of modern North Americans to pay attention only to the ancient periods in Italy and Greece, but it is really glaring!

The book itself is good enough. I had to squirm and sigh all the way through the ancient and Byzantine periods, not so much because of inaccuracies, but more because the editorial stress on Greece as the origin of Western democracy really annoyed me. I mean, yes, it is one of the sources, but let's all remember that the radical democracy of Athens was not only a bit of a disaster, but also it really only involved 30 000 or the approximately 250 000 people in Athens. Modern representative democracy may not be as responsive on every single issue, but it has a wider reach and is usually more stable. This is a long way of saying that, when it comes to democracy in ancient Greece, it's complicated. More complicated that this book with its Western civilization lens misses.

I found the other periods easier to take, even though the tone never really eases down. The Ottoman period and the Revolution is told with the outrage you'd expected and, fair enough. The modern period has a strong anti-socialist lean and outlines with suitable horror the financial disasters of the 2010s. These are the periods I wanted to refresh my reading on and, editing for the editorial bias, it was really quite helpful.

This is a worthwhile book to read, but be cautious about the rather heavy axes the author likes to grind while telling the story.

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