Best Selling Books by Peter Green

This is a reissue, with a new introduction and an update to the bibliography, of the original edition, published in 1970 as The Year of Salamis in England and as Xerxes at Salamis in the U.S. The long and bitter struggle between the great Persian Empire and the fledgling Greek states reached its high point with the extraordinary Greek victory at Salamis in 480 B.C. The astonishing sea battle banished forever the specter of Persian invasion and occupation. Peter Green brilliantly retells this historic moment, evoking the whole dramatic sweep of events that the Persian offensive set in motion. The massive Greek victory, despite the Greeks'' inferior numbers, opened the way for the historic evolution of the Greek states in a climate of creativity, independence, and democracy, one that provided a model and an inspiration for centuries to come. Green''s accounts of both Persian and Greek strategies are clear and persuasive; equally convincing are his everyday details regarding the lives of soldiers, statesmen, and ordinary citizens. He has first-hand knowledge of the land and sea he describes, as well as full command of original sources and modern scholarship. With a new foreword, The Greco-Persian Wars is a book that lovers of fine historical writing will greet with pleasure.

Until recently, popular biographers and most scholars viewed Alexander the Great as a genius with a plan, a romantic figure pursuing his vision of a united world. His dream was at times characterized as a benevolent interest in the brotherhood of man, sometimes as a brute interest in the exercise of power. Green, a Cambridge-trained classicist who is also a novelist, portrays Alexander as both a complex personality and a single-minded general, a man capable of such diverse expediencies as patricide or the massacre of civilians. Green describes his Alexander as "not only the most brilliant (and ambitious) field commander in history, but also supremely indifferent to all those administrative excellences and idealistic yearnings foisted upon him by later generations, especially those who found the conqueror, tout court, a little hard upon their liberal sensibilities." This biography begins not with one of the universally known incidents of Alexander''s life, but with an account of his father, Philip of Macedonia, whose many-territoried empire was the first on the continent of Europe to have an effectively centralized government and military. What Philip and Macedonia had to offer, Alexander made his own, but Philip and Macedonia also made Alexander form an important context for understanding Alexander himself. Yet his origins and training do not fully explain the man. After he was named hegemon of the Hellenic League, many philosophers came to congratulate Alexander, but one was conspicuous by his absence: Diogenes the Cynic, an ascetic who lived in a clay tub. Piqued and curious, Alexander himself visited the philosopher, who, when asked if there was anything Alexander could do for him, made the famous reply, "Don''t stand between me and the sun." Alexander''s courtiers jeered, but Alexander silenced them: "If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes." This remark was as unexpected in Alexander as it would be in a modern leader. For the general reader, the book, redolent with gritty details and fully aware of Alexander''s darker side, offers a gripping tale of Alexander''s career. Full backnotes, fourteen maps, and chronological and genealogical tables serve readers with more specialized interests.

The Hellenistic Age, the three extraordinary centuries from the death of Alexander in 323 B. C. to Octavian''s final defeat of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium, has offered a rich and variegated field of exploration for historians, philosophers, economists, and literary critics. Yet few scholars have attempted the daunting task of seeing the period whole, of refracting its achievements and reception through the lens of a single critical mind. Alexander to Actium was conceived and written to fill that gap. In this monumental work, Peter Green—noted scholar, writer, and critic—breaks with the traditional practice of dividing the Hellenistic world into discrete, repetitious studies of Seleucids, Ptolemies, Antigonids, and Attalids. He instead treats these successor kingdoms as a single, evolving, interrelated continuum. The result clarifies the political picture as never before. With the help of over 200 illustrations, Green surveys every significant aspect of Hellenistic cultural development, from mathematics to medicine, from philosophy to religion, from literature to the visual arts. Green offers a particularly trenchant analysis of what has been seen as the conscious dissemination in the East of Hellenistic culture, and finds it largely a myth fueled by Victorian scholars seeking justification for a no longer morally respectable imperialism. His work leaves us with a final impression of the Hellenistic Age as a world with haunting and disturbing resemblances to our own. This lively, personal survey of a period as colorful as it is complex will fascinate the general reader no less than students and scholars.

The Hellenistic Age chronicles the years 336 to 30 BCE, a period that witnessed the overlap of two of antiquity’s great civilizations, the Greek and the Roman. Peter Green’s remarkably far-ranging study covers the prevalent themes and events of those centuries: the Hellenization, by Alexander’s conquests, of an immense swath of the known world; the lengthy and chaotic partition of this empire by rival Macedonian bands; the decline of the city-state as the predominant political institution; and, finally, Rome’s moment of transition from republican to imperial rule. It is a story of war and power-politics, and of the developing fortunes of art, science, and statecraft, spun by an accomplished classicist with an uncanny knack for infusing life into the distant past, and applying fresh insights that make ancient history seem alarmingly relevant to our own times. “Spectacular . . . [filled with] Mr. Green’s critical acumen.” –The Wall Street Journal “Green draws upon a lifetime of scholarship to brilliantly sum up the three-hundred-year Hellenistic age. . . . Happily, this book’s brevity–admirable in itself, and in its concision, elegance, and authority–isn’t achieved at the expense of subtlety and complexity.” –The Atlantic Monthly “An interesting and well-written overview . . . Students of world history are in Green’s debt.” –The Philadelphia Inquirer “Marvelous . . . splendid . . . a brilliant introduction to this crucial transitional period.” –Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A masterly narrative survey of 300 years from Alexander''s conquest and empire to the triumph of Rome.

This biography portrays Alexander as both a complex personality and a single-minded general, a man capable of such diverse expediencies as patricide or the massacre of civilians. Writing for the general reader, the author provides gritty details on Alexander''s darker side while providing a gripping tale of Alexander''s career.

A lively combination of scholarship and unorthodoxy makes these studies in ancient history and literature unusually rewarding. Few of the objects of conventional admiration gain much support from Peter Green (Pericles and the "democracy" of fifth-century Athens are treated to a very cool scrutiny) but he has a warm regard for the real virtues of antiquity and for those who spoke with "an individual voice." The studies cover both history and literature, Greece and Rome. They range from the real nature of Athenian society to poets as diverse as Sappho and Juvenal, and all of them, without laboring any parallels, make the ancient world immediately relevant to our own. (There is, for example, a very perceptive essay on how classical history often becomes a vehicle for the historian''s own political beliefs and fantasies of power.) The student of classical history will find plenty in this book to enrich his own studies. The general reader will enjoy the vision of a classical world which differs radically from what he probably expects.

In this collection of sixteen literary and historical essays, Peter Green informs, entertains, and stimulates. He covers a wide range of subjects, from Greek attitudes toward death to the mysteries of the Delphic Oracle, from Tutankhamun and the gold of Egypt to sex in ancient literature, from the island of Lesbos (where he once lived) to the challenges of translating Ovid''s wit and elegant eroticism into present-day English verse, from Victorian pederastic aesthetics to Marxism''s losing battle with ancient history. This third volume of Green''s essays (several previously unpublished) reveals throughout his serious concern that we are, in a very real sense, losing the legacy of antiquity through the corrosive methodologies of modern academic criticism. This title is part of UC Press''s Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press''s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1998. In this collection of sixteen literary and historical essays, Peter Green informs, entertains, and stimulates. He covers a wide range of subjects, from Greek attitudes toward death to the mysteries of the Delphic Oracle, from Tutankhamun and the gold of E

"I hadn''t, till I really started digging, gauged the fierce intensity of the need for myth in the human psyche, of any age, or sensed the variety of motives dictating that need," writes Peter Green in the introduction to this wide-ranging collection of essays on classical mythology and the mythic experience. Using the need for myth as the starting point for exploring a number of topics in Greek mythology and history, Green advances new ideas about why the human urge to make myths persists across the millennia and why the borderland between mythology and history can sometimes be hard to map. Green looks at both specific problems in classical mythology and larger theoretical issues. His explorations underscore how mythic expression opens a door into non-rational and quasi-rational modes of thought in which it becomes possible to rewrite painful truths and unacceptable history—which is, Green argues, a dangerous enterprise. His study of the intersections between classical mythology and Greek history ultimately drives home a larger point, "the degree of mythification and deception (of oneself no less than of others) of which the human mind is capable."

An up-to-date, detailed, and fully-illustrated account of the biodiversity and status of coral reefs.

Best-selling classicist Peter Green recreates the life and times of the Greek lyric poet Sappho in this beautifully conceived, sharply detailed work of historical imagination. We meet Sappho at the age of fifty, when she is shaken by her fatal and final love affair with Phaon. She narrates her own story from the vantage point of self-questioning middle age, and her candid meditations make intimate, engrossing reading. Only fragments of Sappho''s poetry survive. In imagining Sappho''s life Green found his task "rather like that of an archaeologist reassembling some amphora from hundreds of shards—of which more than half are missing." Yet, in his synthesis of historical evidence and ebullient invention, Green produces a seamless, moving, and persuasive portrait. He recreates Sappho''s life by interweaving her surviving poetry into the narrative, not as quotations, but as her own imagined speeches and thoughts. Sappho''s life spanned one of the most exciting periods in Greek history. Green''s novel, full of details about daily life on ancient Lesbos, draws the reader into the political and social climate of her world: the civil strife accompanying the transition from aristocracy to mercantilism, the household relations between slave and aristocrat, the details of sea travel in the Aegean. Green wrote the novel while living on Lesbos, and his graceful rendering of the landscape, the rhythms of the seasons, and the varied flora of Sappho''s island pervades the narrative. Sappho''s poetry reveals a direct, spontaneous woman who eschewed artifice and embellishment. Green''s extraordinary talent captures those qualities and brings this woman of unflinching honesty very much to life. This title is part of UC Press''s Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press''s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1993. Best-selling classicist Peter Green recreates the life and times of the Greek lyric poet Sappho in this beautifully conceived, sharply detailed work of historical imagination. We meet Sappho at the age of fifty, when she is shaken by her fatal and final l

A survey of the work of Andrei Tarkovsky, the Russian film-maker who lived from 1932-1986. It is a critical examination of his films in the light of his own writings and life, his aesthetics of film, his theory of time in cinematography and an attempt to comprehend his vision.

Frank Vogel has developed a unique line of hair-care products and needs money to grow. When he runs an ad in The New York Times asking for investors, Thomas Harwood replies and agrees to invest three million dollars to get the products into the market. Harwood claims that his money is coming from a settlement with the federal government that involves a bank in Colorado and the government bailout of the Savings and Loan industry in the 1980s. He tells Vogel that he''s signed a confidentiality agreement and can''t say any more about it. Nine months later, he''s still saying the same thing, while Vogel teeters on the verge of bankruptcy. After contacting other companies in which Harwood has promised to invest, Vogel learns an interesting fact: they''re all desperate for capital and Harwood''s been giving them all the same runaround. Finally, Harwood informs Vogel that there''s been a breakthrough. The government has agreed to pay him and everyone will get their money. But before the payout date comes, Harwood is found dead on the side of the road. Is it a hit-and-run accident, or is it cold-blooded murder?

The second volume in Simone de Beauvoir’s celebrated autobiography recalls her formative years in Paris when she began to emerge as a public figure First published in 1960, The Prime of Life offers an intimate, captivating picture of Simone de Beauvoir in her twenties, thirties and forties. Beginning as a recent graduate from the Sorbonne teaching high-school girls, we see de Beauvoir revel in the freedom her new financial independence brings. We see her and Jean-Paul Sartre recognise the powerful romantic and intellectual partnership they have found in one another, as they fall in love and define their own unconventional parameters. The Second World War comes, bringing austerity, violence and questions of the reality of freedom and individual responsibility into de Beauvoir’s life. As relevant and penetrating as when first published, The Prime of Life offers rare insight into a truly fascinating mind.

During the final days of the Second World War, for 900 Allied officers, held by the Germans in Oflag IX A/H and Oflag IX A/Z, freedom was still a world away. Marched east by their captors, away from the liberating American forces, March and April 1945 was a time of great trials, at the mercy of vengeful Nazis and Allied air raids. Amongst their number were many men whose names would become well known – Desmond Llewellyn, ‘Q’ in the Bond films, Frederick Corfield, a cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher and Major Bruce Shand, father of Camilla Parker Bowles.The March East 1945 draws on official and eyewitness accounts from British, Commonwealth, American and German records, as well as over 30 diaries and memoirs. It reveals the human story that unfolded over two weeks in Hesse, Thuringia and Saxony, and explains how the prisoners lived until their final liberation. Complemented by 100 photographs and illustrations taken and drawn by PoWs, as well as the German instructions for camp evacuation published for the first time in English, this book provides a fascinating insight into the last days of the Second World War.

From the creators of Monster Circus and A Secret Sydney. Believe! Let the fairies take you on an iconic adventure through New York City''s heart and soul. Discover the secret beauty of the Statue of Liberty. Reach the mesmerizing heights of the Empire State Building. Play with the fairies of Central Park. Shop at fashionable 5th Avenue and celebrate the arrival of the New Year at Times Square. Immerse yourself in hustle and bustle of USA''s most fascinating city in a whole new perspective. Experience the wonder and joy of A Secret New York.

She could see the lights of the train and the parking lot, but where she was standing was pitch black. She took out her silver vial and unscrewed the top. She scooped out a pile of cocaine with the little spoon and snorted it up one nostril, then the other. It was an exquisite moment as the drug charged through her brain like a stampede of white lightning. Hot damn, she whispered, and gave her head a little shake as she exhaled. She felt so good. So perfect. Because of the deal she''d just pulled off . And the money she was going to make. And handsome Marc, waiting for her in the City with all of that cocaine. A spasm of euphoria coursed through her body in a delicious wave of pleasure. Neurons and endorphins danced in her brain like fi reworks on the Fourth of July. She''d never been so happy. She''s about to light a cigarette when the lights start to dim. It happens so quickly there''s no time to react. Th ere''s just a hint of pain, but it''s too brief to register. Th en there''s nothing. Only blackness. And just like that Sandra Ellison''s life is at an end. Like someone reached in and turned off the set. Her set. Th at''s how quickly it happened. She was dead before she hit the ground.

''Exams tend to corrupt; final exams corrupt finally.'' This novel is about exams, literature, sex, cancer and time. Part 1: 1961: Examining a mind. Pembroke College, Cambridge. Peter Green and his friends Jack (big, dangerous) and Casey (small, sinister) face final examinations in English. Keen, they discuss their literary ideas. Peter, whose main study-aid is sexual pleasure, discards lissom Arabella, one of his two girlfriends. Competitive exams apparently subvert left-wing ideals. He alienates a don, Haggerty. Discoverer of literary ''covert plotting'', Peter overlooks real-life covert plots. Part 2: 1969: Examining a campus. Sussex University. Jack, tricked by Haggerty, lectures there. Peter quarrels with radical students. Part 3: 2011: Examining a body. Hospitals in and around London. Peter undergoes intimate examinations. Death makes incursions. Now what use is the study of literature?

And now for something completely different - Simon Callow, theatrical treasure extraordinaire, reprises a success from early in his career. The writer, Juvenal born circa 55AD, wrote sixteen satires that attacked the decadence of Rome in its heyday. Here adapted by Richard Quick we are given a view into the moral decline that is as relevant now as it was back then.

The Handbook provides a detailed evaluation of what can realistically be achieved by remote sensing in an operational coastal management context. It takes the user through the planning and implementation of remote sensing projects from the setting of realistic objectives, deciding which imagery will be most appropriate to achieve those objectives, the acquisition, geometric and radiometric correction of imagery, the field survey methods needed to ground-truth the imagery and guide image classification, the image processing techniques required to optimise outputs, through the image interpretation and evaluation of the accuracy of outputs. Linked to the Handbook is a computer-based remote sensing distance-learning module: Applications of satellite and airborne image data to coastal management available free of charge via www.unesco.bilko.org

As in her Tony Award–winning Metamorphoses, Mary Zimmerman transforms Greek mythology—here the story of Jason and the Argonauts—into a mesmerizing piece of theater. Encountering an array of daunting challenges in their “first voyage of the world,” Jason and his crew illustrate the essence of all such journeys to follow—their unpredictability, their inspiring and overwhelming breadth of emotion, their lessons in the inevitability of failure and loss. Bursts of humor and fantastical creatures enrich a story whose characters reveal remarkable complexity. Medea is profoundly sympathetic even as the seeds are sown for the monstrous life ahead of her, and the brute strength of Hercules leaves him no less vulnerable to the vicissitudes of love. Zimmerman brings to Argonautika her trademark ability to encompass the full range of human experience in a work as entertaining as it is enlightening.