The Greeks

A Global History

By: Roderick Beaton

Narrated by: Anna Crowe

A sweeping history of the Greeks, from the Bronze Age to today

More than 2,000 years ago, the Greek city-states, led by Athens and Sparta, laid the foundation for much of modern science, the arts, politics, and law. But the influence of the Greeks did not end with the rise and fall of this classical civilization. As historian Roderick Beaton illustrates, over three millennia Greek speakers produced a series of civilizations that were rooted in southeastern Europe but again and again ranged widely across the globe.

In The Greeks, Beaton traces this history from the Bronze Age Mycenaeans who built powerful fortresses at home and strong trade routes abroad, to the dramatic Eurasian conquests of Alexander the Great, to the pious Byzantines who sought to export Christianity worldwide, to today’s Greek diaspora, which flourishes on five continents. The product of decades of research, this is the story of the Greeks and their global impact told as never before.

©2021 Basic Books (P)2021 Basic Books

Critic reviews

“A monumental, sweeping history of the Greeks covering more than three thousand years right up to the present day. Authoritative, compelling, and beautifully written. A wonderful book.” (Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads)

“A masterpiece, from a towering expert in all things Greek.” (Gregory Nagy, Harvard University)

"Roderick Beaton has given us a wonderful big picture of the Greeks, with a very generous cross-cultural, temporal, and geographical sweep. At the same time, the book’s solid detail and careful distinctions - for example, between the Platonic and the Christian vocabulary for 'virtue'—should help in discouraging political exploitation of stilted, anachronistic ideas about Greek civilization.” (Sarah Ruden, translator and author of Paul Among the People)

Great to focus on one region and people.

I'm a layman and no scholar, so your perception may vary. I felt this book was one of the best histories I've read because it didn't have any artificial boundaries, i.e the Persian empire or the Crusades. Just because the Persian empire fell didn't mean that Asia didn't have a huge impact on the Aegean afterward. This book keeps the story going forward all the way to the present.

All encompassing history of the Greeks beautifully read

Ranging from 5000 BCE to 2022 this history demonstrates again and again that is much more important to study the Greeks than Greece - although you will find plenty of both in this masterful work. The wonderful narration keeps this lengthy tome fresh and engaging.

Great narration marred by a few mispronunciations

I tried reading the ebook version of this but couldn't finish. Anna Crowe does a great job narrating this and I cruised through the audiobook. Her pronunciation of Greek terms seemed very good to me, she nailed some hard names. But oddly, she mispronounced some more common words and place names.

The author is fluent in Greek and his knowledge adds a lot to the book. I wish he had been more involved in the audiobook.

Overall, very much worth the listen.

I would be interested to see the same author and narrator do a similar book that focuses on modern Greece.

An Ethnography of the Greeks

In the vein of the sweeping historical narratives like “Sapiens”, Beaton sets out on a journey to describe the Greek people and chart the evolution of a nation and heritage over time.

Genuinely impressive in its breadth, he does fall victim to skimming over some important historical details (mostly around the formation of the modern Greek state). However, this is bound to happen when trying to summarize over 3000 years of recorded history.

This is a valuable contribution and a great launching off point to those seeking to understand a people and a culture that is both ancient and modern, deeply influenced by the many periods they have survived. It is rare to find books that try to bridge the gap between Ancient Greece and the modern iteration of the Greek state, and Beaton keyed in the Greek people and language as the unifying theme between the two. His nuanced understanding of the complexities of the Greek sense of “ethnos” is refreshing.

The performance was good overall. Some complicated modern Greek pronunciations were surprisingly accurate. However common Greek words were pronounced incorrectly, I was surprised when the narrator pronounced “όχι” as “Oshi”.

Enjoyable easy to comprehend history of Greece

I thought the narrator did a terrific job and honestly most books like this put me to sleep rather quickly but this one did not. Kudos to this author and thanks for summarizing centuries clearly.