Greece: Roderick Beaton's Biography of a Modern Nation, A Review by Richard Pine (and other reviews)

"This book sets out to understand the modern Greeks on their own terms" (Publisher).

I haven't yet read this new book by Roderick Beaton. I will order it on my return to the UK.

Richard Pine reviews it in The Irish Times.

Available on Amazon.

Financial Times review, Tony Barber

Literary Review

The Spectator, Yiannis Baboulias

Rethinking Greece: Roderick Beaton on the study of Greece and modern Greek achievements, Greek News Agenda

Q. "In what terms can we rethink Greece and Greek exceptionalism after six years of intense economic and political crisis and the relevant European debates?"

A. "Well, for what it’s worth I’ve always thought that Greek exceptionalism (the idea of treating Greece and Greeks as a special case, set apart by a uniquely long history) has been part of the problem, not part of the answer. Not being Greek myself I’ve no right to prescribe how Greeks ought to define themselves. But I do believe that the opportunity to take a justified pride in the achievements of modern times might become part of a solution when Greece does finally begin to pull itself out of crisis. I’ve already spoken about the achievement of a brand-new nation state in the early 19th century, one that has proved an enduring model for others. Another would be Greek shipping – the wealth it has generated, and the lasting influence too, through the charitable and educational foundations set up in memory of the great ship-owners of the last century, men like Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos. And what about Greek achievements in the arts in the 20th century: Nobel prizes for Seferis and Elytis, the worldwide fame of Kazantzakis and Cavafy; musicians like Hadjidakis and Theodorakis; artists like Hadjikyriakos-Ghika, Theophilos, Engonopoulos. And these are just a few. It’s not just the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the endless reproductions of red-figure vases and miniature sculptures that you see in tourist shops all over Greece: the ancient past is part of the story, of course it is. But that’s an old story. The new story that needs to be told is how much Greeks have achieved for themselves in the last two hundred years or so".

From the interview by Aikaterini Papalouka and Nikolas Nenedakis, Greek News Agenda.

It's clearly essential reading, a different kind of "national biographical" history book.

A book which should take its place alongside Richard Clogg's invaluable

  "A Short History of Modern Greece",

which has been used by several generations of Greek and foreign students and general readers

 (Clogg's 2nd edition takes the reader up to the late 1980s), and his more up-to-date 

A Concise History of Greece (Cambridge Concise Histories, 2013):

"Now re-issued in a third, updated edition, this book provides a concise, illustrated introduction to the modern history of Greece, from the first stirrings of the national movement in the late eighteenth century to the present day. The current economic crisis has marked a turning point in the country's history. This third edition includes a new final chapter, which analyses contemporary political, economic and social developments. It includes additional illustrations together with updated tables and suggestions for further reading. Designed to provide a basic introduction, the first edition of this hugely successful Concise History won the Runciman Award for the best book on an Hellenic topic published in 1992 and has been translated into twelve languages".

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