In 1821, after four centuries under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the Greek people rose in revolt. Seven years later, with battles lost and battles won, the first Greek state became a reality with the help of the great European powers of the day ? England, France and Russia. The new state covered only a small part of the lands inhabited by Greeks but in the next 150 years, the frontiers of the initial state were expanded as other sections inhabited by Greeks were liberated. It was not an unbroken process. Other Greeks were forced to leave their ancestral homes and seek refuge in the free country. Within Greece, progress was an uneven enterprise, with moments of success and achievement and with dark days of failure, desperation and internal strife. In the pages of this book, the author unfolds this fascinating story in a vivid prose, with the authority that comes from solid scholarship and from the personal knowledge of one who lived through some of the events he describes. Read More