Category: books

Book Review

The New Roman Empire A History of Byzantium

By

Anthony Kaldellis

Oxford University Press.

2023

This book is an excellent history of the Empire of New Rome from Constantine to the fall of Constantinople. It is very long at over nine hundred pages but very much worth reading. It is encouraging that the field of Byzantine studies is flourishing.

The book covers much ground by going through the reigns of all of Constantinople’s Emperors with great detail regarding their military campaigns and foreign relations. A great book but as with all works on Byzantine history, one can not help but get frustrated.

The author recounts the great successes of the Macedonian dynasty. Specifically, Nikephoras Phokas, John Tsimiscez, and Basil II. Here is where the Empire turned the tables on the Muslim invaders. Militarily and politically they could do no wrong. The murder of Phokas by Tsimizces was an outrage but at least the new ruler (on behalf of the child Emperor Basil II) kept the Enpire strong militarily and was feared by external enemies.

Basil II performed miraculously and crushed all foreign invaders. The Caliph fled Syria when he heard Basil was on his way. It would have been good to have more on Basil’s role in the conversion of Russia to Christianity, but what is here is great. It is noted that the treachery that would become a pattern in the Empire was not tolerated Basil. Basil crushed elements in the Empire that attempted to start a civil war while the Empire was at war.

This was the glory of the Empire. After Basil, the decline slowly began. In 1071, the Battle of Manzikert led to the devastating loss of territory in Asia Minor. Even after Manzikert, the great Komneni dynasty emerged that recovered much of this territory. But corruption and treachery led to the rise of the Angeli dynasty one of whose members stupidly brought the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople. Things were never the same after the Fourth Crusade attacked Constantinople.

Byzantine history is a joy to read, but also frustrating. The last two centuries saw the Turks take everything until the end came in 1453. Byzantine history is heartbreaking.

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Book Review

Greece Biography of a Modern Nation

by

Roderick Eaton

University of Chicago Press. 2019

Roderick Eaton is one of the finest writers of Greek history. Since the publication of this book, he has published, “The Greeks a Global History” which recounts all of Greek history going back to the classical era. This book goes back to the era preceding the War of independence.

This book is great history and is better than similar books (also good) by Christopher Woodhouse and Richard Clogg. A good deal of the book recounts Greek nationalism and the ideas preceding the uprising of 1821. The contrast between the views of Adamantios Korais and Rigos Pherais are compared.

The book does a great job in recounting the evolution of Greek politics. From the era of the Republicanism vs the Monarchy and the National schism to the Greek Civil War where the Communists filled the vacuum of the fall of Venizelism.

The author brilliantly recounts the national schism during the First World War. He properly describes the dispute between Venizelos and the King as a dispute between the nation vs the state. A very important distinction.

Also, much information is provided regarding dictator Metaxas and the later regime of the Colonels. The book makes clear these were not mass movements but regimes imposed on Greeks from the top.

Alas, these were not nationalist movements. The history in this book is not partisan but exonerates figures such as Venizelos and the great Col Nikolaos Plastiras.

Other historians have tended to misinterpret the legitimacy of Greece’s campaign in Asia Minor. But this book gets it right and even points out how close Greece came to defeating the Turks. At one point Mustafa Kemal almost threw in the towel!

Perhaps the best book available that focuses on the two hundred year history of modern Greece.

Book Review

The Vanishing

By

Janine Di Giovanni

Public Affairs. 2021

“The Vanishing” is an excellent journalistic account about the plight of Christians in the Middle East. The book examines the plight of Christians in Iraq, Gaza, Syria, and Egypt. This is excellent journalism with great interviews of Christians in all of the above mentioned countries.

There is also a great deal of historical background and an examination of the differing views on authoritarian regimes such as Syria and Iraq. Christians interviewed in these countries were overwhelmingly pro regime and condemned western efforts to overthrow those governments. An examination was undertaken to examine the undemocratic nature of these regimes.

Undemocratic as they are, they are tolerant of Christianity and the author made it clear why Christians support these governments. This is a very good survey and examination about the plight of middle eastern Christians.

Book Review

Venizelos The Making of a Greek
Statesman, 1864-1914
By

Michael Liewellyn-Smith

Oxford University Press.2021

This biography of the great Greek statesman is the first of a two volume biography by Smith. Smith is also the author of “Ionian Vision Greece in Asia Minor 1919-1922”. It is a very good and detailed read focusing heavily on the early life and subsequent rise of Venizelos from his life in Crete to his leadership of Greece during the Balkan Wars.

Venizelos was active in the movement in Crete to break from the Ottoman Empire. Union with Greece was not possible at the beginning of the struggle and Crete originally became an autonomous part of the empire. It is during this period that tensions between Venizelos and the Greek monarchy developed.

Tensions developed between Venizelos and Prince Nicholas who governed Crete. These are the roots of what would become the national schism in 1920. Interesting is the fact that relations between Venizelos and then Captain John Metaxas were good after the former became Prime Minister of Greece.

This is very good but cannot be judged until the second and final volume is completed. The book ends after the great success of Greece in the Balkan Wars. The high point of the career of Venizelos was to come later when Greece entered Smyrna.

The best biography of Venizelos hithero was written by Doris Alastos in 1942. The most politically important biography of Venizelos as it pertained to the Asia Minor campaign was written by Herbert Adam Gibbons in 1920.

This is a fine addition to the study of the life of Venizelos but is incomplete until the arrival of the final volume.

Book Review

Putin

By

Philip Short

Henry Holt and Company. NY. 2022

It is rare these past few years to get any objectivity on matters pertaining to Russia. Bookstores have seen many biographies on Putin hit their shelves. At a close glance, they appear propagandistic and biased.

Previous to this, only the biography “Putin the New Tsar” by Steven Lee Myers looked at the life of the Russian leader with objectivity. Now there is this new biography by Philip Short which is quite good.

Short does not like Putin and considers him a bad guy but the book reads as fact rather than commentary. The author is objective and gives Putin his due many times. The author affirms many important facts regarding Putin.

Putin came to power with the intention of aligning with the west. He was pro western after 9/11 when the Bush administration went to war in Afghanistan. Things went sour over time but a crucial factor in the deterioration of relations between Russia and the west was when the Bush-Cheney administration declared that Ukraine and Georgia would join NATO.

The book is an excellent biography that includes details of Putin’s youth and family background and his career and rise to power. It is an excellent source for researching what is happening with Russia at the present time.

Book Review

Constantine XI Dragas Palaeologos (1404-1453) The Last Emperor of Byzantium

by Marios Phillipides

Routledge.

2018.

The last Emperor of Constantinople lives forever. Mr. Phillipides makes this point in this latest biography of the last Emperor of Constantinople. The Emperor was the subject of legends and myths after his martyrdom.

This latest biography however does not focus on the legends. It focuses on the hard facts regarding Constantine. The author makes it clear he does not think Constantine was successful as either statesman or soldier. This is is true.

However, Constantine had the misfortune of rising to power at the end when the Byzantine Empire had through the centuries been ravaged and destroyed. The devastations included the battle of Manzikert, the fourth Crusade, and the various civil wars and power struggles that decimated the Empire. What could the last Constantine really do to salvage the situation?

The book is excellent in terms of history and research but one must still dissent from some points. Mr. Philippides derides the anti unionists who opposed the Council of Florence as fanatics and being uneducated. On the contrary, the anti unionists were very well educated in history and matters of faith.

The anti unionists remembered the treachery of the fourth crusade and understood the devastation of Florence in 1439. These were the realists in Constantinople. They were also the nationalists.

Regarding Constantine and the union of the Churches. Mr. Philippides argues that he supported it. The reality is that the last Emperor is a Greek Orthodox Saint as the author concedes. If the Church makes someone a Saint that person was Orthodox.

This book is an excellent read and recommended. It is an important viewpoint regarding the martyred Emperor even if one does not agree with all points being made.

Book Review

The Greeks A Global History

by

Roderick Eaton

Basic Books. New York. 2021.

Roderick Eaton’s “The Greeks” is a recommended read. It is a book for Greeks and philhellenes as well as newcomers interested in Greek history and culture. Easton is a fine historian generally but struggles in some of his views of modern Greece.

The book traces Greek history from its origins in the classical period up to the present day. Eaton covers Homer, the wars between Athens and Sparta, Alexander, Christianity’s arrival, Byzantium, the Ottoman Empire, and modern Greece. It is a great survey of Greek history.

The best parts are those covering the classical and Byzantine eras. The rest is very good also but the modern Greek period is less detailed than the earlier periods of Greek history. Beaton is a fine writer who follows in the footsteps of Christopher Montgomery Woodhouse and Richard Clogg who wrote many books about Greece (mostly modern Greece).

There are two kinds of history books. One is the kind written by Beaton which is a general history in its entirety. The other kind is a book confined to a specific era of history which is more detailed and specific. For example, Mark Mazower’s, “The Greek War Of Independence” looks at the long and difficult struggle of the Greeks to achieve independence.

Both types of history are crucial. It is fortunate that Beaton’s book and Mazower’s were published during the same time. Both are excellent and are mandatory for public and private libraries regarding Greek history and civilization.

It is fortunate that Greece still attracts talented academics who write about Greek history. The book is very well written and is highly recommended.

Book Review

The Greek Revolution 1821 And The Making Of Modern Europe

By

Mark Mazower

Penguin Press.

2021

This excellent new book on the Greek War Of Independence is a must read. This is fine history that recounts the good and the bad. Mazower recounts the founding of the Filiki Etaireia by Greeks who were planning revolution against the Ottoman Empire.

There was no sympathy for Greeks in Europe. Even the Russians believed it was not the time. The Europeans made clear they would not support the breakup of any Empire and there was no room for the formation of new countries.

The Greek uprising becomes more remarkable for the climate in which it occurred. The Greeks fought the Ottoman Turks directly, but indirectly they were fighting the world. In the end they defeated the world.

There are some fascinating new insights here. The Greeks revolted and manage to drive the Turks from territory. After centuries of oppression, the Greeks could not be stopped once the fighting began.

The Greek cause attracted the great powers who had no choice but to intervene. Philhellenes in America and Europe volunteered to fight with the Greeks. Regardless, the war was cruel and vicious and acts of slaughter resulted from Turkish reprisals.

Mazower writes much about the way the Greeks were perceived in America and Europe. The Great Powers had to concede that they could not stop the Greeks. The Great Powers proposed autonomy for Greece, but Turkish intransigence made it inevitable that Greece would become fully independent.

There is great information about the provisional government in Greece. The provisional government in Greece carried on very effectively despite all the hardships and difficulties. When Independence was achieved, a foreign King was imposed on Greeks and Greece has been under foreign influence ever since.

Greek Independence was a magnificent achievement. Greece lives as a result of its heroes and people. The provisional government of Greece should be the basis of what Greece still has the potential to be. There were distinguished leaders such as Alexandros Mavrokordatos, Petros Mavromihalis, and others.

This is a terrific book about the Greek War Of Independence on sale in bookstores and online.

Christopher Hitchens died ten years ago this month. Hitchens was a militant atheist. He was also a very fine journalist and writer. On matters pertaining to faith, he was completely wrong and never understood faith.

On matters of politics he was a must read writer. He was always interesting and always intelligent and articulate. He was a man of the left but never hesitated from excoriating the left when he believed matters of principal were at stake.

He had no tolerance for the left if its representatives attempted to serve as apologists for jihadism post 9-11. Even though he was wrong for supporting the Iraq war, one could appreciate his arguments about the horrors of the regime of Saddam Hussein. Hitchens was a man of principal.

He was truly democratic and espoused the cause of democracy. One could respect his support for regime change in Iraq which was based on genuine support for democracy while disagreeing with the conclusions Hitchens reached. Hitchens was a true intellectual.

I first learned about Hitchens when I read his book “Hostage to History” about Cyprus. A superb book and Hitchens was a philhellene which I truly appreciated. Aside from espousing the cause of Greece and Cyprus, Hitchens supported justice for the Armenians, Kurds, and Palestinians.

He was the enemy of racism and anti-semitism and quite passionate on all subjects. He was usually lucid, but on matters of religion he demonstrated ignorance. This display of ignorance was rare for Hitchens.

Two other great books he wrote were “No one left to lie to” and “The Trial of Henry Kissinger”. When Hitchens was good, he was great. His condemnations of Bill Clinton and Henry Kissinger were Hitchens at his very best denouncing the evils that both of these villains were responsible for.

I have missed the writings and journalistic works of Christopher Hitchens. In the aftermath of his death, two volumes of articles written by Hitchens have been published and are worth reading. It would have been interesting to see what Hitchens who was opposed to political correctness would have thought about the wokeness.

Hitchens was once married in the Greek Orthodox Church. A pity he did not understand Orthodoxy.

His memory be eternal

There are two new books on Greece that have appeared in bookstores. One is “The Greeks” by Roderick Beaton that covers the history of Hellenism from classical times to the present day. Looks very good.

The second book is “The Greek Revolution 1821 And The Making Of Modern Europe” by Mark Mazower. Mazower has previously written “Inside Hitler’s Greece” about the era under Nazi occupation. An excellent book.

Mazower also wrote “Salonika City of Ghosts” which was a less positive but still informative book. Looking forward to reading both books which will be reviewed upon completion.