The Greek Military Dictatorship: Revisiting a Troubled Past, 1967–1974 ed. by Othon Anastasakis and Katerina Lagos (review)

Abstract

to various autocrats across the globe. In the case of Greece, American strategy was tied to Greek local priorities through influential mediators with Greek or Greek-American surnames, among them Tom Pappas, Spiro T. Agnew or CIA Chief of Station in Greece Thomas Karamessines. Several US and Greek documents enrich the authors’ narrations. In Papahelas’s book they build up a voluminous body of primary sources while avoiding the image of a scholastic analysis through the use of new technologies. In particular, the extensive application of printed QR codes allows the portability of the book as well as the scanning of rich archival material that helps reveal the complexity of research into the rather recent and cryptic period of the Greek dictatorship. Amply documented, meticulously indexed, and remarkably well written, these two works contribute significantly to the historiography of Greek-American relations and their rocky path during the Cold War.