- Paperback: 198 pages
- Publisher: Encounter Books; New edition edition (Nov 1 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1893554570
- ISBN-13: 978-1893554573
- Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,027,411 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Book Description
In the classics departments of today’s universities, Bruce Thornton says, the Greeks are accused of stealing their achievements from black Egyptians, of oppressing their wives and daughters, and of hypocritically speculating about freedom while holding slaves. Most of all, classic Greek culture has come under attack precisely because its glorious achievement, extended into history, is what defines the West and makes it distinct. In Greek Ways, Thornton clears away these misconceptions. Writing with wit and erudition, he discusses in fascinating detail those areas of Greek life - sexuality and sexual roles; slavery and war; philosophy and politics - that some modern critics have made into “contested sites.” Perhaps more importantly, he also reclaims the importance of those core ideas the Greeks invented, ideas about human fate and purpose that have shaped the modern world. Nearly seventy years ago, Edith Hamilton published The Greek Way, a book that educated two generations of readers about the debt we owe the handful of city-states that developed “the spirit of the West” some 2500 years ago. Bruce Thornton’s Greek Ways is for our time what Hamilton’s book was for a prior era: a classic inquiry holding up a mirror to Greek culture in which we can see ourselves.
From the Inside Flap
"In brief compass and clear, enjoyable prose, Professor Thornton has written a stimulating and delightful account of the remarkable and revolutionary characteristics that distinguished the Greeks of the ancient world from all societies before and since. In the process he responds with calm reason and broad and deep learning to the unhistorical, tendentious and foolish assaults launched against them as part of current political agendas. The happy result is this spendid book that allows the Greeks themselves to speak and reveal the absurdity of the modern barbarians who abuse them. -Donald Kagan, Hillhouse Professor of History and Classics, Yale Univeristy.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
In 1942, when Edith Hamilton republished The Greek Way, her already classic study which had appeared a few years earlier, the survival of the liberal Western tradition was very much in doubt. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
In 1942, when Edith Hamilton republished The Greek Way, her already classic study which had appeared a few years earlier, the survival of the liberal Western tradition was very much in doubt. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Greeks Defended,
By A Customer
This review is from: Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization (Hardcover)
This book sets out to rescue the Greeks from the clutches of the postmodernists, deconstructionists and polymorphous perverse who have invaded the modern Classics department. Rather than seeing them as The Other, strangers in our midst, or as hypocrites who preached democracy while practicing slavery, etc., Thornton sees the Greeks squarely--in their own terms--and finds them to be our brothers. What is valuable in the much abused Western tradition--the examined life, the pursuit of truth, the dialogue about the place of the individual in the larger group--comes from the Greeks. Thornton's defense is spirited and learned, and, judging from the dada masquerading as scholarship these days, it arrives not a moment too soon. The Greeks live again in this brilliant book and we learn once again what their achievement was and how much we owe them.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good writing and great subject,
By A Customer
This review is from: Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization (Hardcover)
The author is a relly good writer. I read this book a couple of years ago and it really awoke my interest in the classics. This book should be required reading for college students.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great book about a great civilization.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization (Hardcover)
I was truly enlightened while reading this book. Not only did it give me new information, but it also got me interested in reading other books about the Greeks.
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