The Greek Achievement: The Foundation of the Western World by Charles Freeman
447 pages
Published 1999
Read from March 20 to April 10
Rating: ★★★ out of 5
This
was a dense, old-fashioned history tome, dwelling on kings and orators
and the usual cultural achievements. While the lives of women and the
subsistence of common folk were explored, each topic was confined to a
special chapter, leaving the mass of the book to explore the usual
formulaic themes and storylines. In other words, it does exactly what it
says on the tin, as the British say. The biggest surprise in this book
was the lack of proofreading that went into it. Countless typos and, in
one case, several paragraphs transposed between chapters made for an
irritating read. I like this dense flavorless sort of history once in a
while, as brain-fiber if you will. Typos aside, it wasn't a bad
representative of the genre. But between this and a bunch of stuff going
on in my life the last few weeks, I haven't had much enthusiasm for
reading each day.
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