GREECE UNDER MILITARY RULE

by Richard & George Yannopoulos -- Eds. Clogg ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 9, 1972

A collection of articles on the state of politics, education, and the press -- conditions in general under the current military dictatorship in Greece. Most of the contributors, ""experts in their fields,"" adhere to conflicting strands of anti-juntaism, giving the book a certain inconclusive patchwork quality but enhancing its liveliness. From a pro-junta position, a London Economist commentator thinks the Colonels' did not sufficiently acknowledge the rotten state of pre-coup Greece. C. M. Woodhouse, a former Churchill emissary who played a big role in Greece's anti-Communist history, describes blow-by-blow the events leading to the coup, only to conclude superciliously that the crisis was ""the product of temperamental indiscretions"" by George Papandreou, ""compounded by errors of judgment on the part of the young king."" Professor Zaharopoulos examines the coup in terms of the army's right-wing activism. More valuable are the articles about specific aspects of military rule. Helen Vlachos, the exiled ""queen of Greek publishing,"" describes the censored press: ""Because of the danger in touching on [internal affairs]. . . the newspapers chose to dwell on foreign politics, foreign scandals, foreign elections. . . even foreign serials and reviews of foreign books and foreign shows."" Of special interest is Yannopoulos' essay on the Greek economy which provides empirical substantiation of Premier Papadopoulos' statement that ""the Greek people must eat less, work more and demand less."" Though the book falls short of the editors' claim to comprehensiveness, many of the contributions are brisk, informative, and devastating in their limited way.

Pub Date: July 9, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Basic Books

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1972

Categories: NONFICTION