joubrooks

The city now called Thessaloniki already had me completely fascinated before I read this book. I'd visited once in 1994 and still dream of going back. When I do make it there again, it will be a hundred times more interesting to me for having read this book. The subtitle "City of Ghosts" will feel especially apt if you ever go there to experience the modern, thoroughly Greek, city, and consider that until the 20th century it was hardly Greek at all. A cosmopolitan mix of religion and nationality that bears little relation to what one sees now. You'd have been as likely to hear Spanish or Ladhino on the street as you would Greek, or maybe Turkish. The book is readable and fascinating throughout, with some great pics. I had the wildly unexpected pleasure of meeting the author (and his charming Egyptian wife, also a scholar) at a party in Boston. A nice, normal guy, in case an author's niceness matters to you.

2022-11-14 14:04