A Concise History of Greece (Cambridge Concise Histories) [Paperback]

Richard Clogg (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521004799 | ISBN-13: 978-0521004794 | Publication Date: July 15, 2002 | Edition: 2

This book provides a concise, illustrated introduction to the history of modern Greece, from the first stirrings of the national movement in the late eighteenth century to the present day. It is designed to provide a basic introduction for general and academic readers with little or no prior knowledge of the subject. A Concise History of Greece has been revised and now includes a new final chapter that covers Greek history and politics to the present day. Richard Clogg is a Fellow of St. Anthony's College, Oxford and was formerly Professor of Modern Balkan History, University of London. His previous publications include Anglo-Greek Attitudes (Palgrave, 2000) and Parties and Elections in Greece (Duke University Press, 1988). He is currently writing A Concise History of Romania for the Cambridge Concise Histories Series.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Readers who go no further than this concise history will have at their disposal the basic knowledge needed to understand Greece and what made it what it is today." Times Literary Supplement

"Deftly written and carefully researched, supplemented with tables, short biographies, as well as a listing of the royal houses of Greece, A Concise History of Greece is an excellent and scholarly survey of the modern growth of the nation which is a strongly recommended addition to academic World History collections in general, and Hellenic History supplemental reading lists in particular." Library Bookwatch

"This 2002 edition will be even more welcome to teachers, as it brings Greece up to 2000 and the 17 November terrorist group, the conflict over religion on identify cards and minority rights, and the Macedonian crisis.... I will have my students buy and use this edition.... the book is a vigorous, well-written, somewhat opinionated and occasionally humorous view of Greek history since 1770, remarkable in the amount of information and context it provides." Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Book Description

This book provides a concise, illustrated introduction to the history of modern Greece, from the first stirrings of the national movement in the late eighteenth century to the present day. Published initially in 1992, it now appears in a revised and extended second edition to take account of recent developments.

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 2 edition (July 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521004799
• ISBN-13: 978-0521004794
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #104,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #44 in Books > History > Europe > Greece

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great photographs, entertaining style, somewhat eclectic., December 18, 1998

By 

Mogens Skot-Hansen ([e-mail]) (Thessaloniki, Greece) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Concise History of Greece (Cambridge Concise Histories) (Paperback)

I am a graduate student of modern history, currently working on 19th century Greece. Professor Clogg's book is a good introduction to the subject. I don't think there are better ones around. His relaxed style of writing and the layout together make for a very attractive and easily-read history of modern Greece. The photographs are fantastic. Almost half the book is made up by pictures and little stories relating to them. This is nice to read, but also a little confusing. There is a lot of information without a context, a lot of loose ends, too few conclusions, and too little coherence. To put it short, Clogg is a good historian, but I don't think he had many late nights editing this so-called "Concise History". (What a ridiculous title, by the way.) Having said that, the academic level is high, the political angle is very moderate and the glorification of the Greek national state is less pronounced than in earlier volumes. There is an underlying if not out-spoken atmosphere of sound critical thinking. I prefer historians who don't pretend to know exactly what happened. If you are really interested in Modern Greece, you should maybe read P. Kitromilides "Enlightenment, Nationalism, Orthodoxy". To me Kitromilides really is the king of modern Greek history. Very up-to-date, very thought-provoking, very new, very eloquent.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deftly written and carefully researched, October 9, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Concise History of Greece (Cambridge Concise Histories) (Paperback)

Now in an expanded second edition, A Concise History Of Greece by Richard Clogg (Fellow of St. Anthony's College, Oxford University, England) is a straightforward, scholarly chronicle of the modern history of Greece, ranging from the Ottoman rule of the late 1700's, to the pressures of Balkan strife and political modernization of the present day. Deftly written and carefully researched, supplemented with tables, short biographies, as well as a listing of the royal houses of Greece, A Concise History Of Greece is an excellent and scholarly survey of the modern growth of the nation which is a strongly recommended addition to academic World History collections in general, and Hellenic History supplemental reading lists in particular.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delightful work on Greek history, January 16, 2001

By 

Alekos (Cancun, Quintana Roo Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Concise History of Greece (Cambridge Concise Histories) (Paperback)

Richard Clogg is a renowned international scholar who has been writing about Greek history for decades. This work is a popularization (from footnotes deliver me) that should prove very helpful to the layman with more than a casual interest in Greece. It invites comparison with C.M. Woodhouse's also famous history, but I must declare myself incompetent to decide if one is better than the other.

Clogg's section on the Ottoman period is blessedly brief and his discussion of the Nazi occupation and Communist insurection are to-the-point yet incisive.

Perhaps the most exciting feature of the work is the great bunch of pictures gracing nearly every page and showing the days of glory in Modern Greece as well as some of the saddest. The maps are also helpful.

There are no footnotes but the selective bibliography will be useful to most readers. There is also an appendix giving thumbnail biographies of some luminaries in modern Greek history.