Jacob Burckhardt, one of the most outstanding historians of classical and Renaissance art, architecture and culture, was also the inventor of a new approach to history 'cultural history'. His famous lectures are here available in English for the first time, translated by Sheila Stern and introduced by Oswyn Murray's long essay which places his ideas in their historical context. In 'The Greeks and Greek Civilization', Burckhardt rejects idealized descriptions of Greek culture, revealing instead a tyrannous state with minimal personal freedom; that Athenian democracy provided a forum for demagogues and the individual was powerless against decisions of the 'demos'. A brilliant account is also given of Greek pessimism, despair and attraction to suicide. 'The Greeks and Greek Civilization' is the greatest work of nineteenth-century cultural history and the most convincing portrait of the Greeks in the modern age. "This is certainly, in one sense an old book but Oswyn Murray's introduction and Sheila Stern's fresh translation make it new and supply a wonderfully fat and vivid reminder of the splendour and miseries of Hellenism…enlightened and enlightening, a joy to read, delicious with anecdotes and a manifest labour of love, candour and openmindedness."Frederic Raphael, 'Sunday Times' "A volume of great significance…Burckhardt's lively intelligence and massive learning create ideas that shoot off the page like fireworks, some illuminating the scene with impressive clarity…a fascinating summation."Peter Jones, 'Sunday Telegraph' "Stimulating, a heady cultural brew…Burckhardt has long been an icon.

This vigorous translation by Sheila Stern will bring his analyses to a new generation of readers…A hero to conservative scholars of today, he believed that he could gather together his own significant reports from the Greek world and thus display the true spirit of Greece. To achieve this end requires both an extraordinary range of reading in the ancient texts and a rare capability to construct cultural edifices from the best pieces. Burckhardt had both and many of his constructions have lasted. A challenging writer…he had the best pessimist's sense of frailty of human civilization."Peter Stothard, 'The Times'.