Cambridge concise histories

"All countries are burdened by their history, but the past weighs particularly heavily on Greece. It is still, regrettably, a commonplace to talk of 'modern Greece' and of 'modern Greek' as though 'Greece' and 'Greek' must necessarily refer to the ancient world. The burden of antiquity has been both a boon and a bane. The degree to which the language and culture of the ancient Greek world was revered throughout Europe (and, indeed, in the United States...

This concise, illustrated history of Portugal offers an introduction to the people and culture of the country, to its three empires in Asia, America and Africa, and to its search in Europe for economic modernisation, political stability and international partnership. After a short introduction to Portugal's two-thousand-year history before the restoration of 1640, the book studies the effects of the vast wealth mined from Brazil, of the growth of...