The Greeks, Crucible of Civilization by Paul Cartledge

Greek history has always fascinated me, so when I stumbled across an intriguing PBS documentary by the above title, I just had to have the accompanying book. Unfortunately this is one of those rare cases when the movie is better than the book, although not by much. Actually the book is very interesting, full of facts and information worthy of note. But I was not particularly fond of the format, which was arranged by personalities rather than the actual flow of history and events. The result was, in effect, 15 short biographies of famous (and a few not so famous) Greeks from Homer to Alexander the Great. Along the way you will find numerous wonderful pictures that will help bring the times alive.