The Story of Civilization, Vol II: The Life of Greece by Will Durant.

From the Publisher

The Life of Greeceis a large, generous survey of ancient Greece whose scope and style recalls the golden age of historical writing, before specialization. Durant, in this second volume of The Story of Civilizationtells the whole story of Hellas, from the days of Crete's vast Aegean empire to the extirpation of the last remains of Greek liberty, crushed under the heel of an implacably forward-marching Rome. The dry minutiae of battles and sieges, torturous statecraft of tyrant and king, are given less emphasis in what is pre-eminently a vivid recreation of Greek culture, written in a supple and vigorous prose