Customer Reviews

History of Greek Culture

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book because Burckhardt is (in my mind) the first "modern" historian. I've seen his more well known "History of Renaissance Italy" around, but this was the first time I had encountered his History of Greek Culture. Unpublished during his lifetime, this book is more a compilation of his lecture notes from the University of Basel then a classic history text. Most impressive about this book is that despite it's age, it is still completely readable to a contemporary- try comparing the readability here to what the Brits were turning out in the history department in the mid 19th century- yikes.

It's also interesting because it is an example of the roots of the discipline of history in the west- specifically, the History of Greek Culture is only partially "objective" and exists primarily to extol the primacy of greek culture. Frankly I found the non-pc "white man" take to be refreshing- no hemming and hawing here- just straight up declarations about greek culture- no attribution required (because their lecture notes.)

I read the abridged version and still skimmed maybe 50 page of the 300 page book. The end of specific chapters often devolves into Burckhardt giving his opinion about the merit of every greek playright, for example.