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Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter (Hinges of History Book 4) Kindle Edition

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 347 ratings

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The bestselling author of How the Irish Saved Civilization takes us on a journey through the landmarks of art and bloodshed that defined Greek culture nearly three millennia ago.

“A triumph of popularization: extraordinarily knowledgeable, informal in tone, amusing, wide ranging, smartly paced.” —
The New York Times Book Review

In the city-states of Athens and Sparta and throughout the Greek islands, honors could be won in making love and war, and lives were rife with contradictions. By developing the alphabet, the Greeks empowered the reader, demystified experience, and opened the way for civil discussion and experimentation—yet they kept slaves. The glorious verses of the Iliad recount a conflict in which rage and outrage spur men to action and suggest that their “bellicose society of gleaming metals and rattling weapons” is not so very distant from more recent campaigns of “shock and awe.” And, centuries before Zorba, Greece was a land where music, dance, and freely flowing wine were essential to the high life. Granting equal time to the sacred and the profane, Cahill rivets our attention to the legacies of an ancient and enduring worldview.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this elegant introduction to Greek life and thought, Cahill provides the same majestic historical survey he has already offered for the Irish, the Jews and the Christians. He eloquently narrates the rise of Greek civilization and cannily isolates six archetypal figures representative of the development of Greek thinking. He opens with a consideration of Homer's Iliad and its glorification of the warrior way as an exemplum of life in the Greek state. Cahill then proceeds to offer an evolutionary look at the rise and fall of Greece by examining the wanderer (Odysseus), the politician (Solon), the playwright (Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides), the poet (Sappho), the philosopher (the pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle) and the artist (Praxiteles). These figures provide lessons in how to feel, how to rule, how to party, how to think and how to see. For example, Cahill contends that Odysseus reveals longing and desire for love, domestic peace and his homeland, while the rage of Achilles offers us lessons in the way to fight for one's homeland. The book is full of whimsical characterizations, such as the depiction of Socrates as a "squat, ugly, barefoot man who did not bathe too often." The author includes generous portions of the original writings in order to provide the flavor of the Greek way. Once again, Cahill gracefully opens up a world that has provided so much of Western culture's characteristic way of thinking.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School--Cahill has set himself a daunting task in Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea, in which he seeks to make the ancient Greeks accessible to a modern audience. Yet he succeeds. The author examines ancient Greek civilization through a number of specific roles that underpinned that society, such as the warrior, the politician, and the philosopher. He delves into their development and shows how they exemplified and perpetuated the different aspects of behavior and thought that defined their times. The use of specific types with whom readers can relate makes for an effective means of bridging the gap between their civilization and ours. With this common ground established, Cahill can show exactly how ancient Greece has influenced western civilization today, such as in the approach to the military and in the creation of the system by which we organize our knowledge and methods of learning. Scholars of the subject might quibble with certain of the author's pronouncements, and he seems to have an overly dismissive attitude toward the civilization of ancient Rome. Yet there can be no gainsaying the fact that Cahill has succeeded in his goal; by the end of the book, readers can thoroughly understand why the ancient Greeks matter to us today.--Ted Westervelt, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003IHC35C
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Anchor (April 21, 2010)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 21, 2010
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 7976 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 347 ratings

About the author

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Thomas Cahill
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Thomas Cahill, former director of religious publishing at Doubleday, is the bestselling author of the Hinges of History series.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
347 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book engaging and informative. They describe it as a great historical gem that brings history to life. Readers appreciate the author's writing style that speaks to them. The book provides insightful and thought-provoking content, while entertaining and making for an enjoyable adventure.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

37 customers mention "Readability"31 positive6 negative

Customers find the book readable and engaging. They say it's worth reading more than once, with an interesting approach to history. The book provides a fresh and organized perspective on ancient times.

"...My advice is don't be put off by these negative reviews. SWDS is a great read, enlightening, entertaining, and well worth the time...." Read more

"...It was also interesting to read the first few pages about his approach to history and the last pages linking Greeks to other groups he has described..." Read more

"I have enjoyed reading this book. It's written in a way that will help you understand the information and why it is important...." Read more

"...inheritance in modern forms which are certainly provocative and worth considering. I highly recommend this book and the rest in the series." Read more

33 customers mention "History"33 positive0 negative

Customers find the book provides a cogent account of ancient Greek culture and history. They describe it as an excellent history of Europe, an anchor to the Hinges of History series, and a fascinating and highly understandable book about classical Greek civilization.

"...Mr. Cahill writes a fascinating and highly understandable book about the heritage that we, who think of ourselves as Westerners, owe to the Greeks..." Read more

"This book tells of the history of the Greeks, and it is impossible not to think of parallels to our own times...." Read more

"...a broader and more comprehensive framework and appreciative understanding of Western history after a thorough reading of his remarkable series of..." Read more

"...In this volume, Cahill conducts a brief if highly readable survey of classical Greek civilization to highlight its subsequent impact on the culture..." Read more

27 customers mention "Readable"25 positive2 negative

Customers find the book readable for both scholars and the average reader. They appreciate the author's writing style, which is clear, concise, and precise. The book provides a comprehensive survey of Greek civilization and the dawn of science.

"...Mr. Cahill writes a fascinating and highly understandable book about the heritage that we, who think of ourselves as Westerners, owe to the Greeks..." Read more

"...The author writes in a friendly style for the reader. He wants to reach more than only people who are especially interested in history...." Read more

"Thomas Cahill is both a keenly accurate historian and protean storyteller...." Read more

"I have enjoyed reading this book. It's written in a way that will help you understand the information and why it is important...." Read more

25 customers mention "Insight"25 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful and informative. They say it provides a concise, cogent account of ancient Greek culture and history. Readers appreciate the author's engaging style that creates an ambiance of being one's personal guide. The book contains short phrases interspersed in scholarly passages that are well-researched and accurate.

"...the Greeks, both good and bad, and he does so in a lively and very thoughtful way...." Read more

"...SWDS is a great read, enlightening, entertaining, and well worth the time. Thank you, Thomas Cahill." Read more

"...Taken by itself, I enjoyed Cahill's insight and irreverent humor as he traced the rise and fall of the Greeks from the Minoans through Alexander..." Read more

"Well researched and accurate . Comprehensive and well organized . The Greeks have made lasting contributions in creating Western civilization." Read more

5 customers mention "Humor"5 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the humor in the book. They find it entertaining and enlightening.

"...SWDS is a great read, enlightening, entertaining, and well worth the time. Thank you, Thomas Cahill." Read more

"...Taken by itself, I enjoyed Cahill's insight and irreverent humor as he traced the rise and fall of the Greeks from the Minoans through Alexander..." Read more

"...Some humor woven into. Learned a lot and remembered what I had forgotten. Enjoyed it, good reading." Read more

"Excellent work. Both historical and at times hysterically funny. Cahill brings together the ancient past and the present by inference." Read more

4 customers mention "Pacing"4 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's pacing. They find it entertaining and informative, with a fantastic adventure that makes everything interesting and realistic.

"...Like the other volumes in this series, Sailing the Wine Dark Sea will entertain and inform." Read more

"...Read most and still reading another, but he makes everything interesting, and real. Too much history can be killed by the authors, but not Cahill...." Read more

"...are known by most peopl but the way they are told make them a fantastic adventure." Read more

"Sailing the Shallow Straits..." Read more

Shipped on time, in excellent condition
5 out of 5 stars
Shipped on time, in excellent condition
Interesting book, in seeking to understand the history and impact of Greek culture on our current society
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2007
    When I was a boy I was given a book on classical Greece. A childs book, it celebrated the virtues of Greece and passed by some of the less-glamorous characteristics.

    Mr. Cahill writes a fascinating and highly understandable book about the heritage that we, who think of ourselves as Westerners, owe to the Greeks of the classical age. I avoid the term "ancient" when I discuss the Greeks of this period, as even though they are seperated from us by 2,400 years, they are not only like us in many ways, they ARE us. Unlike earlier cultures, the contentious and divisive Greeks are our progenitors. Mr. Cahill has written an excellent narrative regarding the debt that western culture owes to the political, social, artistic, and cultural inventions of the Greeks, both good and bad, and he does so in a lively and very thoughtful way.

    This is probably not a book which will provide new information to the serious scholar, however it will cause almost any reader to stop and reflect on our heritage, where it came from, and how it evolved.
    7 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2005
    I almost didn't purchase this book after reading other customer reviews. So glad I took a chance. It's interesting that this book incites such emotional and critical responses. It's not meant to be an encylopedia or a text book on ancient Greece. As Cahill explains in the introduction, "you will find no breakthrough discoveries, no cutting-edge scholarship, just, if I have succeeded, the feeling and perceptions of another age and, insofar as possible, real and rounded men and women. For me, the historian's principal task should be to raise the dead to life." In my opinion, he succeeds beautifully in SWDS.

    Comments from reviewers regarding excessive time spent on eroticism and sex seem more a reflection of those readers own inhibitions and filters. After reading those reviews I thought this was going to be XXX-rated. Maybe in Victorian England, not in the present. Discussions of sex were more limited than expected, and sex is, afterall, an essential component of cultural mores and critical to understanding how ancient Greeks lived life. So lighten up already.

    My advice is don't be put off by these negative reviews. SWDS is a great read, enlightening, entertaining, and well worth the time. Thank you, Thomas Cahill.
    36 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2004
    I suspect I would have liked this book better if I had not had Cahill's other "Hinges of History" books to compare it to. Of the four- How the Irish Saved Civilization, The Gifts of the Jews, and Desire of the Everlasting Hills are the others- this was the least engaging to me. Taken by itself, I enjoyed Cahill's insight and irreverent humor as he traced the rise and fall of the Greeks from the Minoans through Alexander the Great. Using historical people or literary figures he shows us the development of the civilization in How to Fight, Feel, Party, Rule, Think and See from the perspectives of the Greeks. He acknowledges their limitations and their massive and amazing contributions. It was also interesting to read the first few pages about his approach to history and the last pages linking Greeks to other groups he has described. I look forward to the other books he has planned and this is well worth reading. Unfortunately for the author, (in my opinion) he is competing with his own earlier books and, as good as this is, it is not as good as the earlier three.
    17 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2013
    This book tells of the history of the Greeks, and it is impossible not to think of parallels to our own times. The Greeks indeed do "Matter", as the subtitle says, as they brought the world, and especially the West, philosophy, drama, and the first democracy ever attempted in history. It began over 2000 years ago and we learn of The Iliad and The Odyssey, and its meanings for us today. The author writes in a friendly style for the reader. He wants to reach more than only people who are especially interested in history. Perhaps your interest is politics, or the arts, the origins of Western drama, the many Greek Gods that had an assortment of human failings,or the coming of Christianity. What you will see, overall, are the Origins of Western Civilization.
    2 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2023
    Well researched and accurate . Comprehensive and well organized . The Greeks have made lasting contributions in creating Western civilization.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2019
    Thomas Cahill is both a keenly accurate historian and protean storyteller. He makes history come alive through the personal portraits of the people who significantly helped to shape Western history and the modern world while simultaneously taking us 'inside' the Judeo-Greek-Roman and European civilizations. The reader cannot help but emerge with a broader and more comprehensive framework and appreciative understanding of Western history after a thorough reading of his remarkable series of history books.
    3 people found this helpful
    Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Edmund
    5.0 out of 5 stars historical
    Reviewed in Canada on December 21, 2020
    part of a fascinating series
  • the smile man
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 26, 2019
    I have now read all four books in this collection. Brilliant books to read. I really like the fact that he tells you his sources.
  • chris brown
    5.0 out of 5 stars good
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 12, 2019
    A good read and excellent service.
  • justabozo
    5.0 out of 5 stars This was fine. A couple of underlines on pages is all
    Reviewed in Canada on August 31, 2017
    This was fine. A couple of underlines on pages is all.
  • John Giles
    3.0 out of 5 stars This is A history book not a sailing book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 14, 2021
    This is a history book not a sailing book a misleading title although a good read and well written

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