Athens
City of Wisdom

This is a book I really looked forwards to reading, but again I struggled with the problem that I occasionally have, that the book wasn't the book I wanted it to be. I love Athens. I love Greece. I've studied both modern and ancient Greek language and history, but I am constantly saddened that so fe......more

This is a lovely recounting of the history of one of humanity's greatest metropolises. I've been fortunate enough to have visited the city many times, and the author does a fine job of refreshing my fond memories of its people and places. I found the later chapters, dealing with post-Ottoman Athens......more

Bruce Clark is a longtime reporter who spent several years living in and writing about Greece. This experience is at the heart of his book, which offers a lively survey of the history of Athens from its beginnings to the early 21st century. In it he takes an idiosyncratic approach to the city’s hist......more

Clark covers the history of Athens from its mythical origin stories to the present. The book moves quickly; obviously Clark can't cover everything in detail in one volume, so he tends to focus on a few monuments, people, and events for each period. Overall, they are well chosen and provide a good, i......more

The book is as much a history of Greece as of Athens, from the earliest times to the present day. I enjoyed it as far as the early twentieth century, but the dark days beginning in 1940 made for depressing reading.......more