Reviews

Paul Anthony Cartledge made a noble attempt at the difficult task of creating a short history of Ancient Greece, by telling that story through the history of select Ancient Greek Cities at certain times respectively. It was a great idea and approach, but Cartledge's attempt fell short. The book is a tiresome and slow read, and the cut up and brief structure made it confusing and difficult to follow. The Very Short Introduction was so densely written, it failed to have a purpose, as it was too dense for beginners to the subject and too brief for those with a background in the subject. He bounced around through history too much and would often mention important historical events and pieces of literature without elaborating on them (the intro format and small size was partially to blame for this). He also failed to make the use of cities a convincing way to tall the story. It was a good try, but it failed.