Greek to Me: A Memoir of Academic Life

The 1960s was a tumultuous period in the history of Greece, as its democracy fell under the forced establishment of a military dictatorship. The regime of the colonels was the culmination of national division and hostility between communist forces and right wing militants. It was in these extraordinary times that British historian Richard Clogg witnessed the 1967 coup, while living in Athens and researching modern Greek history. Following his abrupt immersion in Greek politics and political activism, Clogg went on to a joint appointment at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) and King’s College, London. At SSEES, he uncovered the contested history of nationalist funding in academia and postings. After publishing his controversial book Politics and the Academy, Clogg moved to St Antony’s College, Oxford. Greek to Me: A Memoir of Academic Life is an engrossing tale of academic and political intrigue, spanning Clogg’s time in Greece and in the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies at King’s College London. Through extensive personal archives of his fascinating adventures, Clogg exposes the secretive fields of academia and university politics as well as providing unique eyewitness accounts of modern Greek history.