The Greek Way

Edith Hamilton was a life-long Greek and Latin scholar, and this book is a concise distillation of her views on Greek culture through the eyes of history, philosophy, art and theater. This is a treasure to keep - still available after more than sixty years old!

I read this book many years ago but managed to lose it during my travels and decided that is a book to be purchased again, saved and used for reference. It appears to be in pretty good shape but the format is somewhat different from my other book. Thank you.

Here's kind of the overall, optimistic, idealized POV of the book, which I found interesting to read:[quote]For a hundred years Athens was a city where the great spiritual forces that war in men's minds flowed along together in peace; law and freedom, truth and religion, beauty and goodness, the objective and the subjective--there was a truce to their eternal warfare, and the result was the balance and clarity, the harmony and completeness, the word Greek has come to stand for. They saw both sides of the paradox of truth, giving predominance to neither, and in all Greek art there is an absence of struggle, a reconciling power, something of calm and serenity, the world has yet to see again.

This is a lovely book that delves into the psychological aspects of Ancient Greeks, and tries to explain exactly why, on a tiny piece of real estate for a brief moment in time, everything that we call "Western Democracy" suddenly burst forth. No book can really explain this mystery (because the answer is extraterrestrials, duh!) but Hamilton lays out her thesis with clarity and convincing detail. Although it might be embarrassing to modern, contextualist, "there but for the grace of god" ideas about the indisputability of democracy as the best form of government, something rather exceptional took place in Greece in the years 5,000 to 0 BC, and we are still living (or failing to live up to) the societal ideals formed in Ancient Greece. Hamilton discusses convincingly the reasons why similarly "advanced" ancient cultures did not lead to democratic thought, and her ideas are exceptionally timely as we ponder WTF is happening as formerly impressive civilizations descend into religious despotism across the globe.

I could not recommend this book more highly, especially to those who can appreciate classicists. I first read it in college at Nebraska Wesleyan and, as a devotee of the art form of Gilbert & Sullivan, I flipped when I discovered a huge section devoted to William S. Gilbert and Aristophanes as the two greatest satirists of all time. To this day, I point this up to all I can, hoping to encourage interest in Hamilton, Gilbert and Aristophanes. I have delivered two-person readings of the entire section (about 45 minutes in length) to various groups throughout New England. I am about to suggest that the same be done in a monthly meeting of the N.Y. G&S Society (why didn't I think of this earlier? I'm now 82!). But many of us in CT and MA have heard the reading of these delicious excerpts from the book. And the present generation is too busy with its computerized toys to even know what a classicist is! What a great holiday gift this would be for anyone in tune with high art. Robert Cumming

Hamilton brings the Greek world to life with a prose that’s smoother than Velveeta. Give it 5-6 pages and I’m sure you’ll be convinced, as I am, that she has one of the most captivating commands of the English language you’ve ever read.As for content you’ll find no better compact guidebook for Ancient Greek culture. Witn any ancient society you really should read the primaries. As I went through “The Greek Way” I picked up and read these texts. (Aristophanes, Plato, homer, Hesiod, Herodotus, etc.) and used Hamilton’s work as a sort of umbrella text that tied everything together.This I the strategy that I would recommend for anybody interested in discovering such a great and influential society.

The book itself is very good. However, the quality of the book was not as expected. I didn't expect an old, tattered book. I have older books in much better condition.

The Greek Way is a timeless classic.Edith Hamilton has explained how the" Greek Way " is a bridge to the West in the best sense of that phrase.How the Greeks of the 4th century BC found a balance between the life of the mind and the spirit…..how the Greeks learned from tradition without yielding to superstition…how the Greeks laid the foundation for Western thought which when rediscovered during the Renaissance led to modernity as we know it.The Greek Way is truly one of the Great Books which should be read by anyone wanting to understand the essence of western civilization.Years ago one of my teacher/mentors pointed out to me that this was one of President Kennedy's favorite books.I initially read it to better understand his thinking.I have always been grateful for the recommendation.

Servizio eccellente e rapidissimo. Il libro, nonostante sia piuttosto datato, è di piacevole lettura e spinge a riflettere anche chi non abbia una gran passione per la filosofia.

Fascinating book!

An amazing work - still influential today, and absolutely revolutionary when published. Edith Hamilton changed our understanding of classical Greece. Each chapter is essentially a standalone essay and after reading this book many times over the last ten years or so, I’m still unsure which of those essays is my favourite.

Chose it because I saw it referred to in another book. I enjoyed it very much and it has inspired me to read more of the Greeks.

I have found Hamilton's style sometime very difficult to read. Sentences that go over 5 or 6 lines of printed text tend to become unreadable, well understandable anyway. Several times I had to read such a sentence 3 or 4 times before I got the meaning.There was some good stuff there but comparisons to Shakespeare seems incongruous.I am hoping 'The Roman Way' is better.