The Greeks

"When so much of an ancient civilization--its art as well as its philosophy--is being used in contemporary ideas of thought and style, it becomes extremely difficult for the historian to disentangle the true past, to divest himself of all the inherited and acquired attitudes; indeed to see Greece as it really was has required the Herculean efforts of the last two generations of Greek scholars. . . .To get to the truth is not easy and the great virtue of Professor Andrewes' book is the dedication with which he has pursued and captured it. Here is a more accurate legend-free reconstruction of Classical Greece than we have had before." --J. H. Plumb