Rating: 
Summary: Seminal Greek history
Review: Ignoring this book in a study of the Greeks is like ignoring "Buckaro Banzai" in a study if Science Fiction movies. Old? Yes. Dated? Of course. Seminal? Without a doubt.Read it right after you read "The Birth of Tragedy" or Campbell's "Occidental Mythology", that should make for a good one-two punch. A must for anyone trying to understand Greek Tragedy, Greek & Roman religion, democracy, or why old dead white guys get all the press.
Rating:
Summary: Seminal Greek history
Review: Ignoring this book in a study of the Greeks is like ignoring "Buckaro Banzai" in a study if Science Fiction movies. Old? Yes. Dated? Of course. Seminal? Without a doubt. Read it right after you read "The Birth of Tragedy" or Campbell's "Occidental Mythology", that should make for a good one-two punch. A must for anyone trying to understand Greek Tragedy, Greek & Roman religion, democracy, or why old dead white guys get all the press.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible history book, but a fond memory!
Review: It's been almost twelve years, but I have not forgotten reading H.D.F Kitto's "The Greeks." This was a text for one of my college courses, and I still recall the terribly dry writing style of this book. It's quite simply the kind of book that gives history books a bad name. I'm a lifelong history buff, but this book helped make me understand why so many people think history is boring. I was a history major so I read scores of books during college, and "The Greeks," the book I most detested, remains the clearest memory of my academic college life. Why? The class for which this book was assigned was taught by a very old Jesuit priest. Every week we had to read one or two chapters of this book and then take a fill-in-the-blank quiz on the reading. The old priest allowed the students to grade their own quizzes while he announced the answers. Of course, two thirds of the class cheated like crazy. I was one of the few who didn't cheat. I read and re-read "The Greeks" before each quiz, but did very average. As the semester went on, I grew quite angry that my grade would be harmed by the quizzes while the cheaters benefited, and all because this kindly priest was too old to know what was happening. Of course, not being a rat, I kept my mouth shut. However, near the end of the semester, after the last quiz had just been completed, the priest announced that we didn't have time to grade them so the class should turn them in. You must have seen the faces of the cheaters! Some of them were so stunned that they even turned in their blank quizzes with their names on the top. The smarter ones, knowing they had just been caught, didn't even bother turning theirs in. I turned mine in- completed. Despite how lousy I did on those quizzes, I got an A in that class. I like to think that old Jesuit planned that all along as a test of honor, and that he picked H.D.F. Kitto's "The Greeks" simply because it was unreadable and that the quizzes would be very tough. That story is the reason why I recall my memory of "The Greeks" with fondness.
Rating:
Summary: A critical and well-weighted analysis of the Greeks
Review: Kitto's work was invaluable not in that it recounted the accomplishments and history of this ancient civilization, but rather that it gave the audience an actually glimpse into the mind-set of these ancient people. We get to know at bit about their character, their sense of idealism and intellectualism which were all paramount in creating a society that gave rise to the likes of Socrates and many others. Kitto shows us how the Greeks saw themselves as dignified people who valued their sense of freedom above all else. It was this sense of freedom, self-reliance and honour which the Greeks held so close to their psyche as recounted in the epics of Homer, and it was these characteristics which they thought differentiated them from their non-Greek neighbors. Kitto also tried to explain how these values became slowly eroded during the fourth century by a new sense of individualism and cosmopolitanism that had been spurred on by numerous factors including the loss of "freedom" wrought by the new imperial age of Alexander the Great and later the Roman Empire.
Kitto is a philhellene to be sure, as one can perceive from his enthusiasm and admiration for these long gone people. However, he does not blindly go about praising their accomplishments by any means. Kitto does not hesitate to take up the more distasteful elements of antiquity such as slavery. By no means is he an apologist nor does he make feeble attempts to justify any improprieties, yet at the same time he sees fit to qualify excessively disparaging views put forward by other authors on the status of women and slaves for example. Ultimately one gets the sense that he makes a critical analysis of the subject at hand and presents well-weighted arguments.
Rating: 
Summary: valuable and valued
Review: Now - after having read this book sometime ago I can look back and review my opinion. My knowledge of Greek History and Classics is expandeding (one would hope) and I consider, sadly, that Kitto's version is rather dated one. From historical point of view he has few interesting ideas and fails to sustain educational interest of the reader and continuity of the knowledge that his research offers is equally slow - the book lacks innovative ideas.
However what this book does offer, in my view, is its gentle and old-fashioned style of writing - very English and very charming, you may find reading certain chapters with a smile on your face. If you want a solid introduction to the Classics don't bother - but if you are after some good fun and education - this is the one to fullfill your desire.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting introduction to Ancient Greece, and Greeks :)
Review: The author of "The Greeks", a well-known professor who devoted a great part of his life to the study of Ancient Greece, wrote this book with an aim: help others to understand better the subject that he taught. In my opinion, H. D. F. Kitto fulfilled his self-imposed task marvelously.
Kitto doesn't pretend to write an exhaustive history of Ancient Greece, but rather an introductory book that touches upon many subjects without delving too much into any of them. As a result, after reading this book you will end up with a general idea of the culture, art, literature and historical facts regarding Ancient Greece, but you won't be able to say you know all about it. On the other hand, you will know much more about the Greeks, and the values that shaped them and motivated their actions. That is probably more than enough to recommend this book :)
I want to point out that even though the author doesn't oversimplify the subject at hand to the point of distorting it, he highlights so much certain central ideas that even those who read the book without paying it due attention will understand them. For instance, Kitto emphasizes the great divide that existed for the Greeks between themselves and the others, the barbarians. According to the Greeks, that divide was undeniable because only they had mastered the way of being truly "free". That certitude, and their consequent feeling of exceptionalism, marked all their actions.
Kitto says, in the introduction, that he strove to allow the Greeks to speak for themselves, and the reader gets exactly that impression from time to time. I don't know much about Ancient Greece, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I guess that is a good indication that even those who just want to dabble in the subject are likely to enjoy it...
I believe that "The Greeks" is a very well-written book, something that combined with the fact that it isn't overly long makes it the kind of reading material that almost everybody might be interested in. All in all, I highly recommend this book to you :)
Belen Alcat
Rating:
Summary: Humor and insight makes ancient Greece *very* relevant today
Review: The self-described "last Victorian" writes of a culture which is at the root of everything we hold dear, yet was vastly different. His humor, wit and insight brings the world of the Ancient Greeks to light, with a relevance to our times almost unparalleled.
Rating:
Summary: a very good introduction.
Review: This book is a good source for an introductory glimpse of the 'Greek context'. Possibly not the best book for classics students because many statements are made without reference to sources of information. Kitto keeps the pace going fast enough to maintain interest in those not so versed in this area.
Rating:
Summary: "Nostoi is a-comin'...their sails are in sight!"
Review: This is a classic work about a classical civilization
written by a classical scholar with very definite opinions,
as well as his being very oriented to talking with a
British, a.k.a, English audience. [He describes Athens
as being in the the territory of Attica, "which is
slightly smaller than Gloucestershire, and in their
greatest period were about as numerous as the inhabitants
of Bristol."]
To an American, a "modern American," this work, first
published in 1951, may sound a bit quaint. But-cha
has to work with him -- not a'gin' him. Listen to him.
Don't be no "barbaros" - baa, baa, baa...git them sheeps
outta here!
This work is divided into 12 chapters -- half the number
of chapters [24] apportioned to the Books of the epic
poems of the Hellenes, _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ -- so we,
as "moderns" might salute him for his brevity. The
chapter titles are: Introduction; The Formation of
the Greek People; The Country; Homer; The Polis;
Classical Greece: The Early Period; Classical Greece:
The Fifth Century; The Greeks at War; The Decline of
the Polis; The Greek Mind; Myth and Religion; Life
and Character.
From the opening foot step out of the starter's
block, Kitto sets the tone. For he says that the
Greeks emerged as "a people, not very numerous, not
very powerful, not very well organized, who had a
totally new conception of what human life was for,
and showed for the first time what the human mind
was for." Ka-boom! I'm listenin'; I don't know
about you!
Kitto says that the Greeks [a name applied to them
later by the conquering Romans -- and still applied to
them today--are they still a "conquered people?" Do
we love the Roman culture more than we revere the
Hellenic culture? After all, who civilized the Romans?]
quite simply and naturally felt that they were different
from the peoples who surrounded them. Kitto says that
the difference which the Greeks felt was not just one
of language (because the foreigners did not speak
Greek), but also because the foreigners did not "live"
as Greeks, nor "think" as Greeks, either. Of course,
Kitto does not address what effect a language has,
psychologically and culturally, on the thinking and
living of its speakers - as well as the programming
of the writing pattern of the language on the thinking
and analyzing patterns of its users.
Kitto says that if we asked the ancient Greek what
distinguished him from the barbarian (any and all non-
Greeks), he would not point out the triumphs of the
Greek mind, nor the fine temples, statues, or plays...
he would say, "The barbarians are slaves; we Hellenes
are free men." Kitto goes on to point out that this
"eleutheria" was more than political freedom, or
freedom from Fate and the gods [which the Greeks did
not have] -- though they did have "the dignity of
being a man" even in the face of these trials...
it was because the Greeks "developed a form of
POLITY [relation between the citizen and his state]
which both stimulated and satisfied man's higher
instincts and capabilities."
Immensely satisfying...so sit down with a cup of
wine, some goat cheese, and some grapes...and slowly
savor this man and his analysis of ancient Greece.
* * * * * * * * *
Rating:
Summary: The Greeks, these forgotten guys
Review: Who were the Greeks? Why there was such a noise about them for about 1900 years? Where did the western civilisation emerge from?
All these questions are to be answered through the pages of this book.You don't have to be a classicist,a mere interest into history is enough.
A really good introduction to understand modern Greece and its politics, as well.
Firstly read this one and then 'Who killed Homer' by Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath and you will get a good grasp, not of the actual history of ancient Greece, but of its mentality and the reasons for its influence over the history of mankind.
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