The Flight of Ikaros Travels in Greece During the Civil War eBook Kevin Andrews
Download As PDF : The Flight of Ikaros Travels in Greece During the Civil War eBook Kevin Andrews 
"One of the great and lasting books about Greece."—Patrick Leigh Fermor
"An intense and compelling account of an educated, sensitive archaeologist wandering the back country during the civil war. Half a century on, still one of the best books on Greece as it was before 'development.'"—The Rough Guide to the Greek Islands
"He also is in love with the country…but he sees the other side of that dazzling medal or moon…If you want some truth about Greece, here it is."—Louis MacNeice, The Observer
"One of the best and most honest books about the modern Greeks."—E. R. Dodds
"Kevin Andrews experienced the dangers of the countryside during the civil war. The Flight of Ikaros, the book he produced from his travels, remains not only one of the greatest we have about postwar Greece—memorializing a village culture that has almost vanished—but also one of the most moving accounts I have ever read of people caught up in political turmoil…Flight was first published in 1959 and last reprinted by Penguin in 1984. For too many years, this rare account has languished out of print."—Wall Street Journal
In 1947, at the age of twenty-three, Kevin Andrews received a Fulbright Fellowship to study medieval fortresses in the Peloponnese. Andrews spent the long summers of 1948 to 1951 traveling through the region and the winters writing in Athens. This opportunity to travel through little-frequented areas during Greece’s postwar civil war—and before the advent of tourism, industrialization, or easy communications—brought Andrews into immediate contact with village populations, shepherd clans, and the paramilitary vigilantes who kept their own kind of order in the provinces, as well as with the displaced peasants of the Athenian slums. The close experience of all these lives took shape in The Flight of Ikaros, first published in 1959. Paul Dry Books is pleased to return to print this modern travel classic.
Kevin Andrews (1924–1989) was a writer and archaeologist. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he attended Harvard University and then traveled to Greece on a Fulbright fellowship. In addition to The Flight of Ikaros, he wrote many other books about Greece, where he became a citizen in 1975.
The Flight of Ikaros Travels in Greece During the Civil War eBook Kevin Andrews
For millennia Greece has been a land of savage beauty and the Greeks a people of passion, valor, and viciousness. These features are at the fore in THE FLIGHT OF IKAROS, the account of a young American's travels across the Peloponnese between 1947 and 1951, most of that time pursuing archaeological studies of the ruins of castles and fortifications built by the Byzantines, Greeks, Franks, Turks, and Venetians. It was a time when Greece was emerging, ever so slowly, from the brutally harsh years of World War II and civil war - a time of depradation and recrimination, starkly yet lyrically portrayed in this book.Andrews' sojourns were mostly in the Mani, in the mountains to the west of Sparta, and around the Corinthian isthmus. Frequently he travelled by foot, arousing the suspicions of the authorities (or vigilantes, as was often the case) but also stirring the boundless generosity of many denizens. From them, he heard innumerable tales of hardship and injustice, honor and fortitude, duplicity and insanity. He also made many friends, three of whom stand out:
Nikiphóros - a tubercular youth whom Andrews met during a stay in a hospital in Athens. Nikiphóros had been condemned to death by occupying Italian forces, freed by the Germans whom he repaid by working for a communist resistance group, drafted into the national army only to be imprisoned when his tenure with the communists was discovered, and finally released from jail thanks to his tuberculosis. His epigram: "We Greeks are a vile race on the whole, but there are moments when we have honour."
Kostandí - A leader of the right-wing Security Battalions near Sparta, who claimed to have killed over 500 soldiers in guerilla fighting during WWII and the Greek civil war, and who gave Andrews lodging in the dungeon-like home he had fashioned for his family amongst 15th-Century ruins, which also served as an armory for local anti-Communist guerillas.
Andoni - A peasant from the mountainous forests near Corinth, whom Andrews met while he was trekking and Andoni was pursuing his meager livelihood collecting resin from pine trees. Andrews eventually became godfather to one of Andoni's sons, and one of the highlights of the book is the account of the extended baptism ceremony and celebration.
THE FLIGHT OF IKAROS was first published in 1959. Andrews revised it in 1984, making it a more partisan leftist and anti-American book. By that time, Andrews, totally bewitched by the country, had become a permanent resident and citizen of Greece. This admirable edition - published by Paul Dry Books, a publisher for whom I now will keep an eye out - uses the original 1959 text, in which no particular political position or ideology is embraced. They all, at bottom, appear anti-human. At one point in the book Andrews asks an old man on the road with his donkey which side had committed more crimes, the Left or the Right. His answer: "I can only tell you that the side which happens to be in power has more opportunity to commit them."
Anyone fascinated with the perversities and paradoxes of humanity probably will find THE FLIGHT OF IKAROS worth her time. For those with a specific interest in Greece, it is an excellent eyewitness portrait of the country and the Greeks at a crucial time in history. Furthermore, not only is it informative and engaging, but it is well-written, especially the descriptions of the Peloponnesian landscape. And at times it exhibits a philosophical bent: "I'll probably tell myself some day my travels have represented the famished quest for a knowledge of human beings, that prudence or common sense or indeed any economy not strictly financial only leads away from life, and that the true traveller should be the world's greatest fool."
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The Flight of Ikaros Travels in Greece During the Civil War eBook Kevin Andrews Reviews
Good read.
Very good book
I bought this to get free shipping from but finished reading it and to my surprise it has become one of my favorite books - I especially love the initial description of the time Kevin Andrews had with the family he was staying with - so beautiful!
Superb and unforgettable. Could not put it down. Great writing, interesting and/or remarkable personages. Thanks to all who recommended it.
Gary T. Klee
Really interesting portrait of post-war Greece by a gifted writer who died in a pretty stupid fashion (he drowned himself trying to swim out to an island off the coast of Kythera that was out of reach for his 63 year-old body)..
An excellent description of a traveler through Greece after WWII. Most people are not aware that the Greek people were the first to stop the Axis (Italy) invasions at the start of WWII. Not only did the Greeks suffer under the Germans, but also the Italians and Bulgarians. The Axis retreating from Greece was only the beginning of Greece's trouble. Immediately following the Axis retreat from Greece, a civil war struggle broke out that impacted and set the country back years. This story gives the reader a better understanding of what the Greek people had to endure. The civil war was an even greater calamity than the Axis invasion. Kevin Andrews making this trip took a lot of courage. He wasn’t Greek and initially learned the language on the fly which made it even more challenging. This book describes a sad event in modern Greek history that few people are aware of.
I was fortunate enough to spend 10 days in Greece in February 2001, splitting the time between Athens and the island of Hydra. In both settings, I quickly discovered that Greeks are some of the most generous, most friendly people I've ever had the pleasure of visiting. But, I also discovered that residing underneath the generosity and friendliness was a strong undercurrent of (for lack of better term) tension. To the foreigner/tourist, this tension typically manifested itself in the attitude that it was acceptable to take a bit above that which was owed. To the fellow Greek, this tension seemed to not only include the attitude depicted toward foreigners; it also had the capability to quickly manifest itself into anger, and sometimes violence. While that attitude can be found in many cultures (including American culture), the dichotomy between the generosity and the tension in Greeks with whom I interacted was stronger than that which I've found in other cultures. Hence, it was only a mild surprise to me that Kevin Andrews found and portrayed that same dichotomy in his masterful book, The Flight of Ikaros.
Residing in Athens right after the Greek Civil War in the late 1940's, Andrews originally intended to write a scholarly book on medieval castles in Greece. However, his interactions with various Greeks during his research changed his book into a travel journal/sociological study. With his sharp attention for detail, Andrews clearly depicts the characteristics of the people he met and the "split personality" embodied within their culture. Nowhere does Andrews summarize their attitude better than in his depiction of a discussion he had with Andoni, a peasant whom Andrews befriended. Andoni had arranged for Andrews to have a coat made by a local tailor. Instead of cash payment, Andoni had told the tailor and others who contributed to the making of the coat that Andrews would "pull strings" with various government offices to obtain favors for them. When Andrews protested, Andoni replied, "All I have done is tell a few lies about you.... With Greeks, you have to tell lies." Andrews also takes great care is pointing out that the emotions resulting from the Greek Civil War were amplifying the basic tendencies in Greek culture. Andrews' portrayals make it clear that while the fighting may have ceased, the grudges left over from that conflict were still shaping the actions of Greeks residing in their country.
While the book is memorable, there are some flaws with Andrews' writing. His transitions from one scene to the next are often jarring, leading one to occasionally re-read the text to see how Andrews got from one scene to another. Additionally, each Greek's stories sometimes seem so similar that the text occasionally falls into monotony. Still, these weaknesses don't overwhelm the book's strengths. Even though the book is set in the late 1940's/early 1950's, the insights that Andrews provides the reader into the Greek psyche are still relevant today. Thus, The Flight of Ikaros is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the dichotomy that is the Greek character.
For millennia Greece has been a land of savage beauty and the Greeks a people of passion, valor, and viciousness. These features are at the fore in THE FLIGHT OF IKAROS, the account of a young American's travels across the Peloponnese between 1947 and 1951, most of that time pursuing archaeological studies of the ruins of castles and fortifications built by the Byzantines, Greeks, Franks, Turks, and Venetians. It was a time when Greece was emerging, ever so slowly, from the brutally harsh years of World War II and civil war - a time of depradation and recrimination, starkly yet lyrically portrayed in this book.
Andrews' sojourns were mostly in the Mani, in the mountains to the west of Sparta, and around the Corinthian isthmus. Frequently he travelled by foot, arousing the suspicions of the authorities (or vigilantes, as was often the case) but also stirring the boundless generosity of many denizens. From them, he heard innumerable tales of hardship and injustice, honor and fortitude, duplicity and insanity. He also made many friends, three of whom stand out
Nikiphóros - a tubercular youth whom Andrews met during a stay in a hospital in Athens. Nikiphóros had been condemned to death by occupying Italian forces, freed by the Germans whom he repaid by working for a communist resistance group, drafted into the national army only to be imprisoned when his tenure with the communists was discovered, and finally released from jail thanks to his tuberculosis. His epigram "We Greeks are a vile race on the whole, but there are moments when we have honour."
Kostandí - A leader of the right-wing Security Battalions near Sparta, who claimed to have killed over 500 soldiers in guerilla fighting during WWII and the Greek civil war, and who gave Andrews lodging in the dungeon-like home he had fashioned for his family amongst 15th-Century ruins, which also served as an armory for local anti-Communist guerillas.
Andoni - A peasant from the mountainous forests near Corinth, whom Andrews met while he was trekking and Andoni was pursuing his meager livelihood collecting resin from pine trees. Andrews eventually became godfather to one of Andoni's sons, and one of the highlights of the book is the account of the extended baptism ceremony and celebration.
THE FLIGHT OF IKAROS was first published in 1959. Andrews revised it in 1984, making it a more partisan leftist and anti-American book. By that time, Andrews, totally bewitched by the country, had become a permanent resident and citizen of Greece. This admirable edition - published by Paul Dry Books, a publisher for whom I now will keep an eye out - uses the original 1959 text, in which no particular political position or ideology is embraced. They all, at bottom, appear anti-human. At one point in the book Andrews asks an old man on the road with his donkey which side had committed more crimes, the Left or the Right. His answer "I can only tell you that the side which happens to be in power has more opportunity to commit them."
Anyone fascinated with the perversities and paradoxes of humanity probably will find THE FLIGHT OF IKAROS worth her time. For those with a specific interest in Greece, it is an excellent eyewitness portrait of the country and the Greeks at a crucial time in history. Furthermore, not only is it informative and engaging, but it is well-written, especially the descriptions of the Peloponnesian landscape. And at times it exhibits a philosophical bent "I'll probably tell myself some day my travels have represented the famished quest for a knowledge of human beings, that prudence or common sense or indeed any economy not strictly financial only leads away from life, and that the true traveller should be the world's greatest fool."
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