The Land and People Since the War

The Greeks

Professor James Pettifer is a member of the Oxford University History Faculty and St Cross College. He is a participant in the work of other academic institutions, principally the Historisches Seminar, Osteuropaische Geschichtein Zurich University,Switzerland. 
 
He was born in Hereford, UK in 1949 and educated at Kings School Worcester, Hertford College Oxford and the Free University of West Berlin. He has been a senior member of St Antony's College Oxford and Visiting Professor at the Institute of Balkan Studies, Thessalonica and was a Honorary Fellow of the Department of Greek and Byzantine Studies, Birmingham University, UK. 
 
From 2002 to 2006 he was a Visiting Professor in the State University in Tetovo,FYROM/Republic of Macedonia. In 2007 he was Stanley.J.Seeger Research Fellow at Princeton University, New Jersey, USA. From 2000 until its abolition in 2010 he also worked in the Conflict Studies Research Centre (RAB)of the Defence Academy of the UK. He is the author of a number of well known books on the Balkans and regional politics and history.

Our perception of Greece conjures up many potent images: an ancient civilization brought alive by fable, hillsides dotted with sunbaked villages, lazy beaches lapped by crystal blue waters, the warmth and humour of its people. Yet if we look behind the picture-postcard imagery, the painful contradictions of the country begin to emerge. James Pettifer's classic text on Greece, now revised and updated with extensive new material, argues that it is vital to understand this country's present by looking at the far-reaching effects of its troubled past. He surveys the roots of Greek social, economic and political realities with intelligence and convincing clarity.

James Pettifer

New Revised Edition: 2015

Penguin Specials are designed to fill a gap. Written to be read over a long commute or a short journey, they are original and exclusively in digital form. 
 
The financial and social crisis in Greece has deep roots in the country's society and history. In this new Penguin Short, the leading Balkan commentator and Oxford University historian James Pettifer explores the reasons for Greece's current situation, tracing the deep fissures caused by unresolved issues dating back to the Second World War, Greece's often difficult relationships with Turkey and the Balkan neighbours to the north, and its problematic position in the European Union. In 1981, Greece became the tenth member of what was then the European Economic Community, and for a time seemed to be making good progress in democratisation and economic development. Now that achievement is at serious risk. 
 
The author has extensive experience in Greece dating back to the time of the Colonels dictatorship in the early 1970s and its bitter aftermath. The Making of the Greek Crisis sets the scene for the country's intractable financial crisis and associated conflict with the European Union institutions in Brussels, and explains the practical, difficult choices facing the Greek people at this important turning point in their history.

James Pettifer

Books by James Pettifer

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