The Edinburgh History of the Greeks, 20th and Early 21st Centuries

Who are the Greeks? This volume provides new answers to the long-vexing question, situating its subject both within national boundaries and broader global context. With this truly modern and sophisticated history, Liakos and Doumanis provide an account of Greece's - and the Greeks' -dynamic, complex and complicated twentieth century. -- Katherine Fleming, Alexander S. Onassis Professor of Hellenic Culture and Civilization , NYU and President of the J. Paul Getty Trust
This is a necessary book – a survey of a country’s modern history from the long-neglected perspective of everyday social and cultural dynamics. The authors give life and voice to the vast, far-flung, but hitherto largely unheard majority of people claiming Greek identity in locally distinctive ways. They tell the unvarnished story of one of the earliest European liberal democracies with its factional fractures and its sudden solidarities; of rapid and sometimes violet social change that was often little understood by those who claimed to lead the nation; and of a mischievously independent national tail that even today proactively wags the ponderous European dog. This lively, compelling narrative shows why the history of the Greek people is vital for understanding European and global realities today. -- Michael Herzfeld, Harvard University