Greek Realities

by Finley Hooper

Book Overview

A history of ancient Greek life and thought from the Mycenaean kings to Alexander, Aristotle and Diogenes.

"The study of the Greeks can never be a closed account. The wide variety of critical and descriptive works written about them . . . . bears witness to man's continuing preoccupation with himself. Other ages might talk of God or machines; the Greeks, from Homer to Diogenes, were fascinated with man. Plato's emphasis on the spiritual...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814315976
• ISBN13: 9780814315972
• Release Date: August 1978
• Publisher: Wayne State University Press
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 2.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.7" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Best of a bookshelf

I've got a bookshelf of both new and old Greek history, historical novels, even historical fiction. Nothing even comes close to the information, originality of approach and pure delight in reading than this book. If all my school text books would have been this interesting, I'd be up to my umteenth degree by now and still going strong.

Superbly written basic history of Ancient Greece

I read this book in college over thirty years ago as a textbook in my Greek History class. It is one of the best history books I have ever read. If you are wanting to explore the great classic primary writings on history such as Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War, or if you want to read the best philosophical works ever, such as Plato's dialogues, or if you want to read the great dramas by Aeschylus, Sophocles, or Euripides, or even if you want to read the compelling historical novels of Mary Renault, reading this remarkable survey of ancient Greek history and culture will give you exactly what you need to understand those works better. A couple of years after my class in Greek history, I gave a copy of this book to my father, an avid reader. He loved the book and told me that it was the best general history he had ever read. I concur and I hope that colleges are still teaching Greek history with this book.

A History With A View

Hooper's book panoramas the history of Hellenic civilization from Mycenae to the Alexandrine Age. His grasp of art, archaeology, architecture, and complete command of his sources inform the magistrial prose that pours off of every page. That said, the size of the book is manageable. Hooper's view of history is similar to Thucydides: non-idealistic, and mistrustful of extreme forms of democracy. His views come as through strongly in interpeting the course of Greek history and civilization in this book as they did in his lectures when I was his student at Wayne State. This is most evident in his chapters on the three Athenian generations streching fron Marathon to defeat in the Peloponesian War. The feeling of inevitability, as the city-state moves from triumphant action to hurbis, exemplified by the debate over the expedition to Syracuse,to defeat at the hands of Sparta, reads like a Greek tragedy. So it was. -Lloyd A. Conway