The Greek Way

By: Edith Hamilton

Narrated by: Nadia May

"What the Greeks discovered, how they brought a new world to birth out of the dark confusions of an old world that had crumbled away, is full of meaning for us today who have seen an old world swept away."

Based on a thorough study of Greek life and civilization, of Greek literature, philosophy, and art, The Greek Way interprets their meaning and brings a realization of the refuge and strength the past can be to us in the troubled present. Miss Hamilton's book must take its place with the few interpretative volumes which are permanently rooted and profoundly alive in our literature.

©1958 Edith Hamilton (P)1994 Blackstone Audiobooks

Greatest and Most Important Book in my life

Like Robert Kennedy after the death of JFK, I found this book in a time of suffering and was introduced to the Classical Athens. This book has soul.

Awesome

Wonderful exploration of classical Greek culture, mindset, art and literature compared to modern European/ British culture, art and literature. I thought it was excellent and very entertaining

The Greek Way - The Ancient Greek Mind

This is a must buy for study the Golden Age of Greece. As with all study or simple enjoyment of history, context is important. This book provides a good insight to the ancient Greek mindset and then an understanding how / why they reacted.

Interesting as a product of its time

Edith Hamilton was born in the Victorian Era and published this book in 1930—and it shows. The field of history no longer accepts the Ancient Greeks as an unbiased source on themselves. And we’re also more wary of using the past as either a mirror in which to see our own (supposed) comparable excellence or as imagined past ideal we believe we’ve fallen short of.
The book is brimming with one scholar’s deep love of her field and as such will always be worth reading. Hamilton is also frankly brilliant. Much of what she theorises is thought-provoking even now.
But this isn’t a good intro to Greece anymore. Without more modern scholarship to compare to (including histories of Persia or other civilisations of what’s called the “Axial Age”), this book would only set someone up to have profoundly outdated ideas that current research has generally debunked.
Listen to appreciate her profound love for her subject and its place in the history of the field, but don’t accept anything she says as authoritative unless you can verify it against modern sources. The narrator is wonderful and makes the book a treat to listen to.

Good reader

It was a fine book with a good reader. She does talk a little slow for my taste. I just had to put the speed up to 2.5