Product Description
Culture Smart! provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts. This inside knowledge will enable you to steer clear of embarrassing gaffes and mistakes, feel confident in unfamiliar situations, and develop trust, friendships, and successful business relationships.

Culture Smart! offers illuminating insights into the culture and society of a particular country. It will help you to turn your visit-whether on business or for pleasure-into a memorable and enriching experience. Contents include


* customs, values, and traditions
* historical, religious, and political background
* life at home
* leisure, social, and cultural life
* eating and drinking
* do's, don'ts, and taboos
* business practices
* communication, spoken and unspoken


"Culture Smart has come to the rescue of hapless travellers." Sunday Times Travel

"... the perfect introduction to the weird, wonderful and downright odd quirks and customs of various countries." Global Travel

"...full of fascinating-as well as common-sense-tips to help you avoid embarrassing faux pas." Observer

"...as useful as they are entertaining." Easyjet Magazine

"...offer glimpses into the psyche of a faraway world." New York Times
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

s'ok
I was hoping for something a litte more in-depth and detailed, but over-all this was a good intro book. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is suitable for ages 9 to 10 years. Ancient Greece gave the world democracy, the Olympic games, art and architecture. With over 20 new images, "Greece the Culture" examines the cultural accomplishments of both ancient and modern Greece. The topics include: the Olympic games; ancient and modern; the Greek diaspora; apartment living in Athens; and the Greek film industry. ... Read more

Product Description
Whether you travel for business, pleasure, or a combination of the two, the ever-popular CULTURE SHOCK! series belongs in your backpack or briefcase. Get the nuts-and-bolts information you need to survive and thrive wherever you go. CULTURE SHOCK! country guides are easy-to-read, accurate, and entertaining crash courses in local customs and etiquette. CULTURE SHOCK! practical guides offer the inside information you need whether you're a student, a parent, a globetrotter, or a working traveler. CULTURE SHOCK! AT YOUR DOOR guides equip you for daily life in some of the world's most cosmopolitan cities. And CULTURE SHOCK! SUCCESS SECRETS guides offer relevant, practical information with the real-life insights and cultural know-how that can make the difference between business success and failure.

Each CULTURE SHOCK! title is written by someone who's lived and worked in the country, and each book is packed with practical, accurate, and enjoyable information to help you find your way and feel at home. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Not as good as other Culture Shock books
It does have some good information if you plan to move there, but if you are reading it for entertainment, don't bother. The author focuses on nitty gritty of the law in Greece and lawsuits and real estate transactions, might be useful but is very boring.

Somewhat useful, but desperately needs an update
The Culture Shock series describes customs and courtesies for primarily a British readership.Usually the books are written by expatriates and/or tour guides, probably the best subject matter experts one could find.Unsurprisingly, Culture Shock Greece aims to give the tourist or potential expat an overview of Greek culture and society to better assimilate.Greek culture being almost 3000 years old, certainly some aspects will change slowly if at all; this makes the "currency" of the book less of issue than, say, a travel guide.Nonetheless, although I did in fact find some of the book useful, there are some serious limitations here.

First, although my copy says "New Expanded Edition" and a copyright date of 2001, without a doubt some of the material is at least ten years old.Euros are called "ecu's", nor mention of the move from drachmae to Euros, which totally changed the pricing of commodities (crucial information for someone who may be doing business, or planning to move to Greece).Athens information is painfully inadequate and basically useless for anything except the touchy-feely impressions of the author.More importantly, zero mention of resources available on the internet.

Second, is the snide tone the author takes with American influences (considering there's almost as many Greeks living in the US and Canada as Greece he shouldn't be surprised.)Frankly, I couldn't care less what the author's views of American language and culture are-even less in a book about GREEK culture.I believe part of this attitude is present as well regarding food and drink.My experiences in Greece/Crete were that wine is considered a special treat, and the beverage of choice for most meals is beer.The author insists that wine is a standard, and beer is "outre".I've encountered wine snobbery before, and this feels like it again.Well, again, maybe ten years ago that was true-not now.The worthwhile parts of the book are the societal insights, and if one takes the infrastructure information with a huge grain of salt-is worth reading.

A Gem!
Brief and yet informative and enjoyable!

Impressing
It is impressing that the author manages to write 283 pages without giving any relevant information.

A real view of how is to live in Greece
A true view of life in Greece. I am speaking from experience as I grew up there and planning to return to retire there also. Greece is a beautiful country that offers a great life to someone who wants to retirethere and is tired of all the crime, dirty water, boring, robotic life,fake smilesetc.If LIFE is what you are looking for, then GREECE isthe place, and this book gives you a lot of instructions on how to handlethings there.Thank you. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent purchase
This book arrived within the expected time. It was in perfect condition and I am absolutely delighted with it.

An excellent book worth buying
As always, the author's expertise in early Greek art is shown throughout the book and his narration is superb. If the reader wants an easy to understand, yet very scholarly appreciation of this time period, the book is unquestionably a necessity. ... Read more

Product Description
In this highly original inquiry, John Onians argues that the study of classical art opens a unique window into the intellectual and imaginative lives of the Greeks and Romans for whom it was produced. Onians`s sweeping account, ranging from the Greek Dark Ages to the Christianization of Rome, focuses on the impact upon ancient peoples of a constantly changing physical environment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Gripping and fascinating reading

Onians brilliantly re-contextualizes, from an organic grounded perspective, the way in which one looks at the so-called Classical worlds of ancient Greece and Rome, which not only lends insight into the impetus and meaning behind the beauty and power of their artistic achievement, but challenges the generalized ways of looking at art in our world.In reading the Amazon/Reed review above, I can only imagine the reviewer expected something geared towards a less mature readership, as this is truly an incisive and thoughtful book that held my interest throughout, and as good books do, it not only gave me something new to look at, but also gave me a new way of looking at things.

Bravo, John Onians!

A Single-Volume Classic
This is a magnificent achievement. Here in a single volume, in the English language, is a definitive introduction to the origins of contemporary culture. The reader is provided with a wealth of information but also witha wealth of illustrations...all of which, explained by Onians withcompelling eloquence,but also answers to questions such as "What are thefoundations of western civilization?" and "What is the human fabric ofthose foundations?" The material is organized as follows:

Chapter One The Culture of the Greek Workshop

Chapter Two Greek Art and theCulture of Conflict

Chapter Three Greek Art and the Culture ofCompetition

Chapter Four Hellenistic Art and the Culture ofCharacter

Chapter Five Roman Art and the Culture of Memory

ChapterSix Rome and the Culture of Imagination

Chapter Seven TheCulture of the Christian Church

According to Onians, "The power of Greekart over Rome, and then of Greek and Roman art over later generations,resided less in the multiplicity or complexity of that art than in itsembodiment of a limited number of traits, traits such as the hardness,mathematical regularity, lifelikeness, uniformity, physical energy andemotional expressiveness of Greek art, or the memorability, monumentality,personality, material and formal richness, flexibility and simplicity ofthat of Rome." What Onians has accomplished is nothing less than a cohesiveand comprehensive analysis of Classical art and of the cultures of ancientGreece and Rome.

Some (very few) books serve as a "magic carpet" whichtransports their reader to ancient experiences which would otherwise beinaccessible. This one of those books. Remarkably, without in any waycompromising his scholarly standards, Onians functions as a congenial aswell as knowledgeable companion. His seems to be an intimate as well asthoroughly familiar with everything and everyone he discusses.

What is the diference between a Greek and a Roman?
The book provides fresh insights into the Classical arts, by approaching the topic from the viewpoint of culture and environment.In fact, the book could be more appropriately titled "How the physical environment ofGreece and Rome created the character and culture of their civilizations,and ultimately their art".

For example, the physical environment ofGreece determined the military strategy of the Greeks. The point is thenmade that their emphasis on their rectangular military formation ( thephalax? )led to the Greek interest in mathematics, and conversely that theascent of Sparta is related to the migration of mathematicians to thisregion. This flows over into architecture, with the form of the templeactually being a representation of this formation.

The book reads well,especially when Onians discusses Roman culture beginning with the dilemathat the Greeks prouded themselves on their minds and their classicalcompleteness as men, and yet the Romans who had none of these qualities conquered them in about 40 years. He then discusses how the Romans, whoalthough trying to emulate Greek culture, were only really culturetourists, and therefore their Greekness was only superficial.

Hisexplanation for the decline of the Roman empire makes fascinating reading,and explains a lot about the success of Christianity. For each ideapresented, Onians provides substantial evidence, and the reasoning followsa consistent logic. The skill of writing is evident form the fact that eachtopic is self-contained without references to other sections of thebook.

My only criticism is that a shortage of commas does make somereading a bit difficult, however despite the academic nature and content ofthe book, it is very easy reading. ... Read more

Product Description

The Parthenon. Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. Homer's epic poems. Gods and goddesses lounging around, indulging in pleasures on Mount Olympus. All of these images bring to mind the traditional icons of Greece, the cradle of Western Civilization. But what do we know of modern Greece? The answer to that question and more can be found in this comprehensive look at contemporary Greek culture. This one-stop reference source is packed with illustrative descriptions of daily life in Greece in the 21st century. Ideal for high school students and even undergraduates interested in studying abroad, this extensive volume examines topics such as religion, social customs, leisure life, festivals, language, literature, performing arts, media, and modern art and architecture, among many other topics. Woven into the text are beautiful and accurate vignettes of Greek life, helping to illustrate how it is people live.A crossroads between Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, Greece is fighting to hold on to the culture of yesterday, while still looking toward modernity. Culture and Customs of Greece is a must-have volume for all high school and public library shelves.

Product Description

Product Description
The story of the ancient Greeks is one of the most improbable success stories in world history. A small people inhabiting a country poor in resources and divided into hundreds of quarreling states created one of the most remarkable civilizations of antiquity. Comprehensive and balanced, A Brief History of Ancient Greece: Politics, Society, and Culture, Second Edition, is a shorter version of the authors' highly successful Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History, Second Edition (OUP, 2007). Four leading authorities on the classical world offer a lively and up-to-date account of Greek civilization and history in all its complexity and variety, covering the entire period from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic Era, and integrating the most recent research in archaeology, comparative anthropology, and social history. Using physical evidence from archaeology, the written testimony of literary texts and inscriptions, and anthropological models based on comparative studies, this compact volume provides an account of the Greek world that is thoughtful and sophisticated yet accessible to students and general readers with little or no knowledge of Greece.
A Brief History of Ancient Greece, Second Edition, is concise enough to be used alongside other books in courses in Greek Civilization, Greek and Roman Civilization, Ancient Greece, or Western Civilization. It is enhanced by text boxes featuring excerpts from ancient documents, an extensive glossary, and a timeline and general introduction that provide a bird's-eye view of Greek history.

New to the Second Edition
* New sections on childhood and on marriage and burial rituals
* An expanded treatment of religion
* A revised art program that includes a new 8-page full-color photo insert, 125 black-and-white photographs and illustrations, and 17 new and improved custom-drawn maps
* Key terms--in boldface type when they first appear in the text and listed at the end of each chapter
* Selective, up-to-date recommendations for further reading
* A companion website featuring student self-quizzes, discussion questions, flashcards of key terms, chapter summaries, a pronunciation guide, links to useful websites, and PowerPoint lecture outlines ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Ancient Greek History
This book is absolutely fantastic. It's been very informative and is written in a very comprehensible manner. The only problems I have with the book is that not all of the "key terms" found throughout the book are defined in the glossary.

Good Book!
fantastic condition, delivered within four days, good value. I would buy from this seller again.

Great for an overview
This book's principle virtue is that it is short, but complete. It gives a good sense of the larger trends in Greek history; it is especially good at showing how changes in society relate to the "big" dates and political events. Greek history emerges as an interconnected process, instead of "one thing after another."

Each chapter has a really thoughtfully compiled bibliography. These bibliographical lists are not comprehensive; they are a reliable guide to readable, high quality material that fleshes out, and complicates some of the ideas advanced in the text. Any reader, from layperson to an expert in some aspect of the ancient world can count on these lists to point them to consistently rewarding further reading, and this in my opinion is much more useful than a guide to detailed scholarly arguments about the dating of a single group of potsherds. I got this book when I was quite pressed for time, but the short chapters left me ample time to explore the rich works suggested in the bibliographies.

The book is also refreshingly free of old-fashioned unqualified assertions about the "triumph" of Greek civilization. Ancient Greece is explored as a territory and a culture in its own right, and not merely as the beginnings of some vague "Western Civilization".

Presents history in an easy to read way
I bought this book for History of Ancient Greece. Unlike some boring history texts, it is quick reading and easy to understand.

As Far as Greek Texts go this one is greart!
Ok I love this text. I used this and its sister text on Romans for my ancient history classes. I find that the only down fall of this particular text is that Pomeroy tends to push her agenda in the beginning. However as far as texts on Greek History go, this is the best. ... Read more

Product Description
Introduces the geography, history, economics, culture, and people of the Mediterranean country of Greece. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Greek culture and society
Greece is a very interesting country to learn about for several reasons: Religion wise in Greece: Christianity (Greek Orthodox)98%, Islam 1.3%,and others inlcude Protestants, Catholics, and Jews.

Greek Cuisine is very good with the Gyros, Greek Salads, Olives, Souvlakis, Spanakopitas, Lamb, Stuffed Grapeleaves, Kebabs, and Tyropitas.

Greek Language is not used only in Greece, but also in parts of Cyprus, Turkey, and Southern Albania. ... Read more

Product Description
Classicists have been slow to take advantage of the important advances in the way that literacy is viewed in other disciplines (including in particular cognitive psychology, socio-linguistics, and socio-anthropology). On the other hand, historians of literacy continue to rely on outdated work by classicists (mostly from the 1960's and 1970's) and have little access to the current reexamination of the ancient evidence. This timely volume attempts to formulate new interesting ways of talking about the entire concept of literacy in the ancient world--literacy not in the sense of whether 10% or 30% of people in the ancient world could read or write, but in the sense of text-oriented events embedded in a particular socio-cultural context. The volume is intended as a forum in which selected leading scholars rethink from the ground up how students of classical antiquity might best approach the question of literacy in the past, and how that investigation might materially intersect with changes in the way that literacy is now viewed in other disciplines. The result will give readers new ways of thinking about specific elements of "literacy" in antiquity, such as the nature of personal libraries, or what it means to be a bookseller in antiquity; new constructionist questions, such as what constitutes reading communities and how they fashion themselves; new takes on the public sphere, such as how literacy intersects with commercialism, or with the use of public spaces, or with the construction of civic identity; new essentialist questions, such as what "book" and "reading" signify in antiquity, why literate cultures develop, or why literate cultures matter. The book derives from a conference (a Semple Symposium held in Cincinnati in April 2006) and includes new work from the most outstanding scholars of literacy in antiquity (e.g., Simon Goldhill, Joseph Farrell, Peter White, and Rosalind Thomas). ... Read more

Product Description
The landmark developments of Greek culture and the critical works of Greek thought and literature were accompanied by an explosive growth in the use of written texts from the sixth through the fourth centuries B.C.E. The creation of the "classical" and the perennial use of Greece by later European civilizations as a source of knowledge and inspiration would not have taken place without the textual innovations of the classical period. This book considers how writing, reading, and disseminating texts led to new ways of thinking and new forms of expression and behavior. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is suitable for ages 9 to 10 years. Greece is home to 11 million people, but just as many people living abroad regard Greece as their homeland. With over 20 new images, the revised "Greece the People" studies the what life is like for people in modern Greece. The topics include: traditional Greek kafeneions and modern "platies"; family life; school; nameday traditions; and city and village life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

not what I'd hoped
This is a book I would have found back in my elementary school classroom. It's been written for a very young reader, not how it came off in the book description here. ... Read more

Product Description
"Fascinating myths, legends, festivals, and stories help students experience the rich heritage of ancient cultures around the world. Detailed maps and vivid illustrations demonstrate how various people lived and what they accomplished. Each book in this s" ... Read more

Product Description

In this revised edition Matthew Dillon and Lynda Garland have expanded the chronological range of Ancient Greece to include the Greek world of the fourth century. The sourcebook now ranges from the first lines of Greek literature down to the death of Alexander the Great. As for the previous editions of this text, this sourcebook will be markedly different from others in that the authors are aware of the wide range of ancient sources which can be utilized.

Product Description
The Israelites and the Greeks formed "the first free societies, cultivating rain-watered fields around a fortified citadel, recording their words about the human situation in a widely-accessible alphabetic script." With a keen eye for both comparisons and contrasts, John Pairman Brown investigates relationships between ancient Israel and Greece. In this intriguing and engaging work, he addresses historical, religious, linguistic, and cultural connections between these Mediterranean cultures. With erudition and humility, the author illuminates both Israelite and Greek writings and cultures. He brings a vast knowledge of the ancient Mediterranean and its languages to these studies, which will startle and entice the reader back to the ancient texts. ... Read more

Product Description
An introduction to the geography, history, economy, culture, and people of Greece. ... Read more