Tyler Hudgeon

4 Star, unfairly reviewed IMO.

Revisado: 02-01-18

I love Charlton Griffin. Great reader. As for the book, it is solid. For some reason, however, the book is played back to back. It starts over at chapter 16 (or around there). I found it to be entertaining from start to finish. Much more difficult read than something like The Great Courses. Reminds me of Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples in many aspects., which would have been written around the same time period. It probably helps that the author often makes comparisons between ancient Greece and England. That said, I don't feel like I am being lectured, I feel like I am listening to a story. Love it. Some of the information contained within may not have survived the test of time, but in my opinion the book deserves credit for covering such an immense period of time with so many documented events within a reasonably sized book. It covers Greece from prehistoric times to the end of the Peloponnesian war. It focuses mostly on Athens and Sparta, and dedicates a healthy amount of time to exploring the founders and reformers of the Athenian Democracy. The author cites the usual sources - Herodotus, Plutarch, Thucydides - and spends some time discussing Homer's work. I would recommend this book to anyone with a strong interest in history who is looking for a somewhat condensed version of the early history of Greece. It is a great starting point.

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Not what i expected

Revisado: 02-01-17

Any additional comments?

Not what I expected at all. The book has a lot of opinion in it. Also has quite a bit of poorly sourced references. In many cases, the author will make his case and then use a newspaper snippet containing no evidence or statistics to back up his claim.

At one point he also makes comparisons between the US health care system and countries with free health care, such as Canada, concluding that the US system is better because the waiting lines are shorter. But he fails to provide any actual statistics (Seriously) to support his claim. I was a bit shocked by this.

The truth is, I am OK with all of that, normally, and would take the book for what it is and rate it a bit more liberally. However, my issue is that at the start of the book you are promised facts based solely on statistics and hard evidence. I feel like the reader is being taken for a fool, because in many instances, the evidence just isn't there (or completely clear). I was hugely disappointed in this book and have a hard time understanding why it is so highly rated.

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