GREECE: MYTH AND REALITY
Gersh, Gabriel
GREECE: MYTH AND REALITY that greece might still be free, by William St. Clair. Oxford University Press. 412 pp. $14.95. Greece without columns, by David Holden. J. P. Lippincott. 336 pp....
...I certify that the statements made by me above are correct and complete...
...The West's love of Greece is a chronic passion, founded on a purely mythical view of ancient Greece as the source of freedom and on complete ignorance of the sordid, tortuous history of Greece and the character of the Greek people...
...B. Paid circulation...
...Editor—Morris H. Rubin, 408 W. Gorham St., Madison, Wisconsin 53703...
...Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 34,568...
...1. Samples, complimentary, and other free copies, average no...
...In her essay on the press, she illustrates the importance for Greece of the foreign press and points to the determination of Greeks to read "opposition" rather than pro-junta newspapers...
...Like the Italian revolution against the Austrians, which followed immediately afterwards, the Greek uprising succeeded largely through foreign assistance by the so-called "Philhellenes," and it is this assistance that St...
...D. Free distribution by mail, carrier or other means...
...Gersh is a free lance writer and critic...
...Like St...
...Nowhere was the difference between myth and reality more sharply underscored than in the Greek revolution...
...The Colonels simply inflicted a mercy killing...
...8.95...
...Many of the essays are well-documented, and all are written with moral passion...
...Basic Books...
...That Greece Might Still Be Free by William St...
...Signature and title of editor, publisher, business mani. unirriiitj ulliouii Circulation Manager 11...
...Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 41,000...
...The warlords hated the Turks as Moslems, fought largely for loot and massacre, and had no notion of Greece as a nation-state...
...8. Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities—none...
...copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 1,720...
...Of the 300 volunteers who died, many were killed in battles lost because the Greeks ran away, were murdered by bandits, or were reduced to beggary and succumbed to starvation and disease while trying to return home...
...On the other hand, corruption and wretchedness in Portugal, the Middle East, and Italy have usually elicited amused condescension, if not reluctant acceptance...
...This does not make these illiterate, pompous, self-righteous upstarts more attractive...
...9. For optional completion by publishers mailing at the regular rates (Section 132.121, Postal Service Manual) 39 U. S. C. 3626 provides in pertinent part: "No person who would have been entitled to mail matter under former section 4359 of this title shall mail such matter at the rates provided under this subsection unless he files annually with the Postal Service a written request for permission to mail matter at such rates...
...copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 36,195...
...Extent and Nature of Circulation...
...Some detailed analysis of the current regime's policies is provided by the essays in Greece Under Military Rule, edited by Richard Clogg and George Yan-nopoulos...
...copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 1,998...
...The subject of St...
...When the Colonels came to power, many of Greece's political institutions were in feeble condition...
...Clair tells us that the Greeks revolted in the Nineteenth Century when the West was swarming with idealists searching for a cause and with soldiers yearning to escape the boredom of peace...
...copies printed (net press run), average no...
...Clair has documented and presented with lucid scholarship and excellent writing...
...1. Title of Publication—THE PROGRESSIVE...
...They are at once skeptical and credulous, anarchic and constitution-loving...
...The present regime represents a logical extension of doctrines and practices fashioned by General John Metaxas from 1936 to 1940...
...copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 39,500...
...It is significant for the future, if not the present, that most Greek newspapers today, in spite of their misfortunes, are to their credit considered hostile to the regime...
...Hence the Anatolian disaster, the humiliations over Cyprus, and the individual arrogance of some Greek leaders...
...It is against this background, Holden says, that we must judge the Greece of the Colonels...
...In the background, preparing the necessary excuse for action, were two kinds of men without whom there would have been no revolution at all...
...G. Total (Sum of E & F—should equal net press run shown in A), average no...
...copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 39,500...
...Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 3,835...
...reviewed by Gabriel Gersh Political feelings have their own geography...
...The theme of his book—Greek character and Western misconceptions about it—occurred to the author before the arrival of the Colonels five years ago...
...But to call them "Fascists" is to fall from one false cliche, that of Greek political freedom, into another...
...A picture emerges of a handful of bigoted, philistine officers, mainly of peasant origin, who in their frustration at the mess created by the politicians have imposed a crude authoritarian rule on the country...
...T. GRIFFITTS ELLISON Circulation Manager...
...As might be expected from so authoritative a group of authors, the book contains a useful bibliography...
...The modern Greek state, brought to birth by the Great Powers, was inevitably dependent upon them...
...copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 724...
...As Constan-tine Karamanlis, Premier from 1955 to 1963, said, "One can say that democracy in Greece was murdered by a free regime...
...Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 936...
...2. Mail subscriptions, average no...
...The Greeks, Holden believes, are constantly attracted to opposite poles...
...In accordance with the provisions of this statute, I hereby request permission to mail the publication named in Item 1 at the reduced postage rates presently authorized by 39 U. S. C. 3626...
...This irked the Greeks, who were nevertheless encouraged by the West's mistaken expectations of them as the heirs of Periclean Athens to see themselves as Supergreeks...
...copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 37,780...
...5. Location of the Headquarters or General Business Offices of the Publishers—408 W. Gorham Street, Madison, Dane, Wisconsin 53703...
...Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 41,000...
...copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 34,197...
...Wisconsin 53703...
...2. Copies distributed to news agents, but not sold, average no...
...Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 576...
...A. Total no...
...F. Office use, left-over, unaccounted, spoiled after printing, average no...
...6. Publisher—The Progressive, Inc., Madison, Wisconsin 53703...
...STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION (Act of August 12, 1970, Section 3685, Title 39, United States Code...
...They are the heirs of Byzantium as well as of classical Greece...
...1. Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors and counter sales, average no...
...C. Total paid circulation, average no...
...3. Frequency of Issue—Monthly...
...4. Location of Known Office of Publication—408 W. Gorham Street, Madison, Dane, Wisconsin 53703...
...The first were expatriate Greeks who provided the Greek rebels with money and the second were intellectuals, teachers, and writers who provided the revolution with a grand theme and a flood of priceless emotion...
...Clair's book is Greek freedom—the revolution of the Greeks against their Turkish overlords between 1821 and 1832—and the 1,000 European volunteers who were willing to give their lives "that Greece might still be free," in the romantic phrase St...
...Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 40,064...
...Mr...
...Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 1,085...
...Of all the essays in this book, the best is by Helen Vlachos, a widely read practicing journalist and the leading newspaper owner in Greece before the coup...
...E. Total distribution (Sum of C and D), average no...
...7. Owner—THE PROGRESSIVE, INC., 408 W. Gorham St., Madison, Wisconsin 53703, a non-stock, nonprofit corporation...
...copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 861...
...Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 38,403...
...Clair and Greece Without Columns by David Holden are inspired by an urge to debunk this distorted and sentimental philhellenism so rife in the West from Byron's time to our own...
...7.50...
...2. Date of Filing—October 1, 1972...
...Clair borrows from Byron...
...272 pp...
...Throughout history they have oscillated between dictatorship and democracy...
...The 1,000 volunteers confronted the Greek warlords, whom the author describes as "violent, greedy, and barbarous...
...Clair, Holden takes a disenchanted view of the Greeks...
...Oppression or chaos in Spain and in Greece have always caused anxious echoes in Western Europe and the United States...
...greece under military rule, edited by Richard Clogg and George Yan-nopoulos...
...Managing Editor—Mary Sheridan, 408 W. Gorham St., Madison...
...Holden traces this dichotomy through the vicissitudes of Greek history...
Vol. 36 • December 1972 • No. 12
