The Greek Achievement: The Foundation of the Western World (Allen Lane History S.) - Tapa dura

In this enormously enjoyable and absorbing book, Charles Freeman sets out to provide a new generation of readers with a comprehensive and accessible account of Greek history over two thousand years. Drawing on the most recent research, Freeman describes the early settlements, the wars with the Persian empire, the grandeurs of Periclean Athens, the rise of Macedonia, the glories of the Hellenistic period and the crucial influence of Greece on the Roman Empire. Interweaved with the narrative are chapters on social and spiritual life, on philosophy, drama, mathematics and science which demonstrate that it is no exaggeration to say, in Freeman's phrase, that Ancient Greece provided "the chromosomes of Western civilization".

Charles Freeman is the author, most recently, of EGYPT, GREECE AND ROME: CIVILIZATIONS OF THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN (OUP, 1996). He lives in Suffolk.