Roderick Beaton

The Greeks: A Global History is a fascinating, comprehensive study of the 35-century history of the Greeks that spans from the Bronze Age to 2021. Roderick Beaton, Professor Emeritus at King's College, claims that the book is not the study of a place but an examination of the " global reach" of Greek history and culture. The book tells the story of Greek speakers who have inhabited lands associated with the modern nation of Greece and those who have settled in various locations during show more different historical periods. Beaton describes his work as a chronicle of an " interconnected series of civilizations": Minoan, Mycenean, Classical, Hellenistic, Byzantine, Ottoman, and the modern Greek nation-state. A significant theme throughout the text is Greek identity. Beaton investigates how identities are " created, perpetuated, modified or reinvented over time."

I really liked the book. It is an ambitious historical investigation that met its goals overall. In addition, I was impressed by the depth and sheer volume of Roderick Beaton's knowledge. One of his specializations is the Byzantine Empire, and I found his analysis of this period and the empire's subsequent fall to the Ottomans eye-opening. Beaton's writing is clear and concise, and like any good teacher, he knows how to make his material accessible to his audience. I would recommend The Greeks: A Global History to anyone interested in history or visiting Greece. show less

To call the story of European history familiar would be an understatement. From early childhood young Europeans are taught to see its stages – Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and so on – as the narrative superstructure of history itself. New events certainly occur and in time are inscribed into the history books, but rarely are they really so dramatic as to change the entire narrative thrust of European history.

Understandably then, Roderick Beaton begins show more Europe: A New History with a pre-emptive justification for its very existence, knowing that many readers will be picking it up with the same questions in mind: ‘Why a “new” history? Why might we need one? And what makes this one new?’ Perhaps a better question would be: how ‘new’ does the story of thousands of years of cataclysmic wars, febrile revolutions, apocalyptic plagues, transformational technologies, and social upheavals really need to be to be interesting? Beaton need not apologise for weighing down the nation’s bookshelves with another history of Europe. It is a great book, the kind of top-down grand-sweep history that can all too easily descend into drudgery when inelegantly handled. He follows a familiar enough sequence of events but plays with it enough that it does feel fresh.

Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/review/europe-new-history-roderick-beaton-r...

Luka Ivan Jukic is the author of Central Europe: The Death of a Civilization and the Life of an Idea (Hurst, 2025). show less

A history of the Greeks placed within the history of the world, of humanity, of the West. At times a bit of a stretch in the assumptions, especially how it all relates to modern day (in my humble opinion), but well written and certainly thought provoking. I learned quite a bit about some of my ancestors, especially in relation to the Roman Empire and Italy. I would probably give it 3.5 for density, but a unique perspective and a worthy read.

A good, fairly concise overview of the history of ancient Greece, but remarkably up to the 15th century AD. Roderick Beaton (born 1951) is actually more of a specialist in Byzantine and more modern Greek history. However, he provides a good introduction, focusing primarily on political, military, and cultural history, with little or no coverage of economics and religion. And honestly, I don't understand the word "global" in the title either, unless it's for commercial reasons. More on that show more in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6881081190. show less