Rating: 
Summary: A difficult era brilliantly described
Review: ...Green has taken an EXTREMELY complex moment in history and written a magisterial (for once this word is aptly used!) chronicle - - political, military, cultural, and artistic - - of astounding astuteness. His writing on every aspect of the era manifests a sense of judgement that is breathtaking in its maturity, experience, and intelligence. He is also utterly hilarious. The first two chapters are almost purely military and, to me, quite boring. But the rest of this thousand page book is filled with layer upon layer of insights on the philosophy, mentality, and changing cultural expressions of this remarkable period. I had the great fortune of using this as a textbook for Erich Gruen's class at UC Berkeley: there are points of disagreement between Green, Gruen, and myself, but this is a stunning work, and deserves the highest encomia.
Rating: 
Summary: Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Helleni
Review: Although this book contains much interesting information on the hellenistic age, I think it has several flaws. First, it contains too many subjective opinions to be properly 'scientific'. Second, Green's sarcasms are often so biting and his views so negative, that it is likely to kill the lay persons' fascination for the subject. Furthermore, his views on art and architecture is often at variance with most authorities. A case in point is the Laocoon, which in Green's opinion is a dreary piece of art. Great artists such as Michelangelo and Rubens clearly did not share this view. I am not saying that it is not allowed to share a few personal opinions in such a vast book, but in this case it clearly diminishes the value of the text for both the professional historian and the lay person.
Rating:
Summary: A Superb Historical Survey and Analysis
Review: Dr. Green is to be more than commended on this landmark work. The sheer volume of history, deftly and precisely covered, would be enough to earn the work praise. However, Dr. Green adds to this his elegant style, making for both an irreplaceable reference source and a tremendously readable narrative. In fact, his decades of experience in translating and writing positively glow such that writers in other areas would be wise to take notice.
Rating:
Summary: A Superb Historical Survey and Analysis
Review: Dr. Green is to be more than commended on this landmark work. The sheer volume of history, deftly and precisely covered, would be enough to earn the work praise. However, Dr. Green adds to this his elegant style, making for both an irreplaceable reference source and a tremendously readable narrative. In fact, his decades of experience in translating and writing positively glow such that writers in other areas would be wise to take notice.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book
Review: From Alexander to Actium is in many ways a remarkable book. It is normal for historians to fall in love with their time and to present their subject as important or of particualar worth. This book is unusual in that the writer is aware of the weaknesses of Greek Culture in the successor kingdoms. The fact that manual work and commerce were frowned upon, the lack of development of science, the represive nature of the Greek Monarchies and the lack of any conception of government being for the broad welfare of the subjects. Yet at the same time he has an interest in his subject which makes the book readable and ineresting.Tom Munro
Rating: 
Summary: Ho-hum
Review: Green is a stuffy self-important bore, judging by this tome. He writes with a certain grace, but has a knack for making the interesting dull.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I would highly recommend this book to any student of the Hellenism, or antiquities. Mr. Green writes engagingly. While parading you the history of the period, he displays a simply astonishing depth of knowledge of the culture, science, techne, and customs of the period. At the same time, he engages you into debate with his opinions and observations. He is never reluctant to take a clever if somewhat sarcastic posture on any issue. This is part of the charm of the book. My only question is would he be as critical of our mainstream culture as he is of the Greeks in the Hellenistic period. Would he be as critical of Thomas Aquinas's "long perspective gambit" as he is of the Stoic's? Would he criticize Buddha's teaching of the "connectedness of all things," as he does the Stoic's? My guess is that we would thrill in "slicing and dicing" them as well, although it comes closer to home for us all. When you read this book, note chapter 11 "Critic as Poet." Peter Green's daimon is Callimachus of Alexandria: clever, sharply witty, and extremely familiar with his material.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I would highly recommend this book to any student of the Hellenism, or antiquities. Mr. Green writes engagingly. While parading you the history of the period, he displays a simply astonishing depth of knowledge of the culture, science, techne, and customs of the period. At the same time, he engages you into debate with his opinions and observations. He is never reluctant to take a clever if somewhat sarcastic posture on any issue. This is part of the charm of the book. My only question is would he be as critical of our mainstream culture as he is of the Greeks in the Hellenistic period. Would he be as critical of Thomas Aquinas's "long perspective gambit" as he is of the Stoic's? Would he criticize Buddha's teaching of the "connectedness of all things," as he does the Stoic's? My guess is that we would thrill in "slicing and dicing" them as well, although it comes closer to home for us all. When you read this book, note chapter 11 "Critic as Poet." Peter Green's daimon is Callimachus of Alexandria: clever, sharply witty, and extremely familiar with his material.
Rating:
Summary: Peter Green Trying To Impress His Peers
Review: It is hard to believe this ponderous tome was written by the same Peter Green who wrote the engaging "Alexander of Macedon 356-323 B. C.: A Historical Biography."
Obviously written to impress and withstand the criticism of a small group of his academic peers, there is very little in this weighty volume to recommend it to the average reader, unless he is an insomniac. It is virtually guaranteed to put you asleep, head swimming in the names of minor characters of the Hellenistic age, included not so much for completeness as to avoid criticism from those nit-picking pretenders who find it easier to tear down a work than write an original one of their own.
While undoubtedly important in the academic retinue that delights in debating minutia and cutting other authors down to size by finding minor faults, there is no value in this work to any outside the cloistered halls of Academe.
Peter green does not display the ability of Eugen Weber of UCLA to bring the Hellenistic age to life for the average student. This book belongs, along with the Dead Sea Scrolls, in a cloister devoted to its lifelong study to the exclusion of all else.
Save yourself [the money], unless you are a history professor who wishes to catch Peter Green in some minor error, and thereby justify your tenure by writing a scathing review. This book was written for academic scholars only, and written in such a way as to render it bullet proof from attack. A big disappointment and a crashing bore for the average student!
Rating:
Summary: Monumental Work
Review: Peter Green's writing is not only about accuracy. One thing I admire in this work, just as much as in Alexander of the Macedon, is his honesty in regards to his conclusions. He does not claim to know the truth. His testimony is the outcome of a series of logical inferences and from the combination of tremendous material of previous authors. But it doesn't stop there. The man can write! My worse fear when I dared open this huge volume was that I would fall into the jungle of names and unimportant events. I was happily surprised to find a solid history book with the elegance and entertaining effect of a novel. This book brought me so close to the post-Alexander Hellenistic Period in terms of its history that I became an amateur scholar of the period myself. One last virtue of peter Green's is that he does not demand or even expect the reader to agree with his conclusions. He opens the way for further inquiry by suggesting alternative courses and interpretations and by referring to a large amount of academic references for each disputed event. The author also manages to bridge with us the Hellenistic experience by noting several similarities of that world with today's administration and academic environment. In brief, Peter Green added to the legacy of the Hellenes, a testimony that even Alexander would bitterly have to accept as objective.
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