Stephen fry odyssey6/6/2023 ![]() James Heneage captures the full Grecian drama in this riveting, short history, revealing Greece as the wellspring of Western civilization-and a model that may yet save modern democracy. Today’s nation is battered by austerity, encroaching climate change, and a refugee crisis-yet unwavering in its ancient values. E ver since William Godwin persuaded Charles Lamb to retell The Odyssey as a novel for younger readers in The Adventures of Ulysses (1808), the myths of ancient Greece have been retold in. Greece’s modern chapter, too, tells of triumph and calamity-from liberation and expansion to schism, homegrown dictatorship, Nazi occupation, and civil war. “Byzantine” conjures decadence and deadly intrigue, yet the thousand-year empire that ruled from Constantinople and saved Europe twice from invasion was, in fact, Greek. Pericles and the Parthenon may be familiar, but what of Epaminondas, the Theban general who saved the Greek world from Spartan tyranny? Alexander the Great’s fame has rolled down the centuries, but the golden Hellenistic Age that followed is largely forgotten. Philosophy, art, democracy, language, even computers-the glories of Greek civilization have shaped our world even more profoundly than we realize. On coming out as Jewish, being recommended the best therapist he’s ever had by John Cleese, and why he chose celibacy for years. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. ![]() ![]() ![]() Discover the cultural and political riches of Greece across 3,000 years, from classical might to modern rebirth. ![]()
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