The Greek Way

By: Edith Hamilton

Narrated by: Nadia May

Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

"What the Greeks discovered, how they brought a new world to birth out of the dark confusions of an old world that had crumbled away, is full of meaning for us today who have seen an old world swept away."

Based on a thorough study of Greek life and civilization, of Greek literature, philosophy, and art, The Greek Way interprets their meaning and brings a realization of the refuge and strength the past can be to us in the troubled present. Miss Hamilton's book must take its place with the few interpretative volumes which are permanently rooted and profoundly alive in our literature.

©1958 Edith Hamilton (P)1994 Blackstone Audiobooks

Engaging Narration & Fantastic Content

The narrator, Nadia May, did a fantastic job speaking clearly and poignantly to engage the listener in this audiobook, which could otherwise be a difficult listen.

May’s talent as a narrator shines forth most clearly when she must read poetry or theatrical dialog. These passages would entangle most readers of the printed book. With May’s narration, however, these passages come to life with vigor.

This classic work published in 1930 by Edith Hamilton is still worth reading. The only parts that aged, I feel, are the first chapters which contrast Greek civilization with Eastern and Egyptian civilization, and Hamilton puts down the foreigners so as to build up the Greeks. That didn’t hold up for me in the 21st century. But after those passages, once she gets into the historians and tragedians of classical Greece, this book delivers a lyrical and profound synthesis of this civilization. The result of reading this is that it makes you reflect on yourself, your own heroism, tragedy and pursuit of arete. This book of history is, in the end, a book of philosophy and self-improvement. It’s a classic that still delivers a punch!

Always liked Edith Hamilton

Book is beautifully read. The audio has some slight recording issues (nothing substantial). Overall a great read.

The Greek Way - The Ancient Greek Mind

This is a must buy for study the Golden Age of Greece. As with all study or simple enjoyment of history, context is important. This book provides a good insight to the ancient Greek mindset and then an understanding how / why they reacted.

Interesting as a product of its time

Edith Hamilton was born in the Victorian Era and published this book in 1930—and it shows. The field of history no longer accepts the Ancient Greeks as an unbiased source on themselves. And we’re also more wary of using the past as either a mirror in which to see our own (supposed) comparable excellence or as imagined past ideal we believe we’ve fallen short of.
The book is brimming with one scholar’s deep love of her field and as such will always be worth reading. Hamilton is also frankly brilliant. Much of what she theorises is thought-provoking even now.
But this isn’t a good intro to Greece anymore. Without more modern scholarship to compare to (including histories of Persia or other civilisations of what’s called the “Axial Age”), this book would only set someone up to have profoundly outdated ideas that current research has generally debunked.
Listen to appreciate her profound love for her subject and its place in the history of the field, but don’t accept anything she says as authoritative unless you can verify it against modern sources. The narrator is wonderful and makes the book a treat to listen to.

Good reader

It was a fine book with a good reader. She does talk a little slow for my taste. I just had to put the speed up to 2.5

A great sampler of Hellenic thought

This work stands together with “Greek as a Treat” by Peter French as sampler boxes of Hellenic thought. Both serve as a broad overview of the wellspring of western thought. From here you can deepen and broaden your appreciation of Greek authors beginning with the introduction that sparks your interest and moving outward with more and varied reading. This can start you along a lifetime of enrichment that has been eclipsed and neglected in modern college education. Either or both of these books will be the first among many others in a growing library of entertaining, enlightening and enriching books. Bon voyage!

Honest comparison of east and west world views..

being a person profoundly interested in the history which resulted in the oposing directions that eastern foundational world view and the western christian mysticism world view had come about,this book is a treasure..let me explain....Our world today labels anyone who publicly compares one culture[if western] as being higher or more true or correct IN TRUTH over another ,as a bigot and uncompationate...If the comparison is IN FACT correct then this political correctness actualy destroys any acces to TRUTH..it may be kind to someones feelings but the hight of cruelty to all who seek reality...this being said,I simply could not understand why the eastern religions all have at root this terrible world view of non cosmic reality and the evil of personality and so forth,,I know these men and women are not bad or evil people..so Why give in to this wretched view...my attempts in modern writers to find the history of these nations resulted in there cowardly hiding any comment at all on this.....until edith Hamiltons great histoical books...Being she wrote before todays tyranical political correctness and her obvious love of western attitudes,clear and honest insights flow wonderfuly.I have found this and her other books the finest written on early western civilisation as compaired to the poor eastern civilisations.please understand,it is all the countlesss people who have had to live in these fatalistic civilisations that my heart weeps for.thank God they are begining to be freed from the terrible spiritual bondage that pantheism inevitably results in..For all the westerners who Chose to run to the east for spiritual reality I can only say enjoy the fruits of your choices.....Anyway, all who love the joy of creation and personality and life lived to its full with all its colors,you will love this and all this writers books....enjoy

Liked it; but I have mixed feelings

I heard of this work in a quite different audible book, Landslide by Jonathan Darman, about Reagan and LBJ in the mid-1960s. In that book it was related that, after JFK was shot, brother Robert found much solace in The Greek Way. (I'm fascinated by the whole Kennedy saga, though by no means a fan of the main characters.) What the heck, thought I, I can always use a bit of solace, and a bracing visit with my western heritage, etc., by an unapologetic author, as a contrast to the cheap shots constantly heard nowadays. And I suppose this fills the bill. It is in its way probably a mirror of the sort of Homeric, heroic tone one might have heard directly from these intensely enthusiastic Greeks. And there is much artistry and beauty in it, if a big helping of that is what is desired. It depends on what a listener wants. Edith Hamilton was no slouch at composing a sentence or bringing some uplifting sentiment or sparkling and inspiring image to these scenes. I guess I am spoiled at present though, preferring a less strident ease of declaring what is what (and leaving out various troubling facts known better to more modern scholarship); I want the whole story and a balanced one, and I like a more patient scholarship that builds its case with implacable logic.
But I do consider it vital that, in my own university days, I had at least a few great professors of this sort. Because that energizes everything else, all the later paths that can open to a person who has exulted in these sorts of things. A LOVE of scholarship, I owe to earlier exposure to people like this.

Greatest and Most Important Book in my life

Like Robert Kennedy after the death of JFK, I found this book in a time of suffering and was introduced to the Classical Athens. This book has soul.

Awesome

Wonderful exploration of classical Greek culture, mindset, art and literature compared to modern European/ British culture, art and literature. I thought it was excellent and very entertaining