This splendid book, a collection of previously published essays by Richar Clogg, could serve as a primary source book for those of us who consider ourselves second or third order students of modern Greece. Clogg's work is of course first rate and extremely important. The main concern is intellectual history. There are articles on the millet system, the Megali Idea and its origins in Byzantium, the influence of French thought in pre-revolutionary intellectual life, the wonderful Adamantios Korais, anti-clericalism among Greeks, culture and nationalism, and a large number of other topics. It is amzing that no other Amazon(.com) customers have reviewed this extraordinary book. Rhigas is mentioned and discussed throughout, but there is no separate article devoted to him (but you can't expect everything, I guess). Clogg writes interesting, well organized articles. I believe that everyone who has an interest in Greece should have this book on his or her shelves.

Now in an expanded second edition, A Concise History Of Greece by Richard Clogg (Fellow of St. Anthony's College, Oxford University, England) is a straightforward, scholarly chronicle of the modern history of Greece, ranging from the Ottoman rule of the late 1700's, to the pressures of Balkan strife and political modernization of the present day. Deftly written and carefully researched, supplemented with tables, short biographies, as well as a listing of the royal houses of Greece, A Concise History Of Greece is an excellent and scholarly survey of the modern growth of the nation which is a strongly recommended addition to academic World History collections in general, and Hellenic History supplemental reading lists in particular.

This is a great book for both an introduction as well as an on-going reference source on modern Greece.
Highly recommend it to students or anyone interested in learning the history of the modern state, without getting bogged down with boring details.

Richard Clogg is a renowned international scholar who has been writing about Greek history for decades. This work is a popularization (from footnotes deliver me) that should prove very helpful to the layman with more than a casual interest in Greece. It invites comparison with C.M. Woodhouse's also famous history, but I must declare myself incompetent to decide if one is better than the other.

Clogg's section on the Ottoman period is blessedly brief and his discussion of the Nazi occupation and Communist insurection are to-the-point yet incisive.

Perhaps the most exciting feature of the work is the great bunch of pictures gracing nearly every page and showing the days of glory in Modern Greece as well as some of the saddest. The maps are also helpful.

There are no footnotes but the selective bibliography will be useful to most readers. There is also an appendix giving thumbnail biographies of some luminaries in modern Greek history.