Customer Reviews

The Ancient Greeks (Penguin History)

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Ancient Greek society is a pretty elaborate topic and this book only touches on the basic principles of this place in history. Really only for the casual reader, the book only briefly touches on the "important" aspects of Greece such as science, religion, art, military, architecture, etc. In describing these things the author does not go into any sort of deatil, only giving you a taste of it. Eventhough it is not written for a serious historian it does do a good job of giving you an idea of the society that was Greece.

For being such a great scholar of ancient Greece and Rome, Finley's book is just awful. The writing is dry and uninspiring and Finley's presentation of Greek culture is too cerebral and bloodless. Maybe some people like their classical history served like white bread on a paper plate, but not me. Get Kitto or Freeman instead.

Finley is a master of so many fields and types of scholarship. Here he has turned his talent to an introductory textbook about ancient Greece. Unlike his specialized previous work, Finley demonstrates that he can write in a clear and logical fashion. A little sparse on social history at times.