I found this a slightly odd book. It’s very “bitty”. It covers a lot of breadth, but with sections a short as a third of page, there’s very little in the way of depth. I often found myself wanting more information about a person, a topic or a war. On the other hand, the very breadth is very useful for someone like me who has very little knowledge of ancient Greece. If nothing else, the book got across the very fractured nature of Greece in this period very well. The way the city-states would constantly bicker with each other, and their shifting pattern of alliances as they sought to prevent one or the other gaining dominance.
For covering a large period of history, you’ve got to paint in broad brush strokes but it does feel like the dots could have been better connected here to make a more cohesive narrative. Still, there’s a lot of worth here, and the narrative voice is rather wry and occasionally throws in sarcastic asides for the reader.
