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The Passenger: Greece
“On the Greek island of Ikaria, life is sweet . . . and very, very long. What is the locals’ secret?” from The Island of Long Life by Andrew Anthony
Few countries have received more media attention in recent years and even fewer have been represented in such vastly divergent ways. There’s a downside to all this attention: everyone seems to have something final to say about Greece. News headlines replace people’s individual stories, impressions substitute facts, characters take the place of people. In this volume of The Passenger, we chose to set those opinions aside in order to give to the stories, facts, and people of Greece the dignity and centrality they deserve.
Few countries have received more media attention in recent years and even fewer have been represented in such vastly divergent ways. There’s a downside to all this attention: everyone seems to have something final to say about Greece. News headlines replace people’s individual stories, impressions substitute facts, characters take the place of people. In this volume of The Passenger, we chose to set those opinions aside in order to give to the stories, facts, and people of Greece the dignity and centrality they deserve.
192 pages, Paperback
Published May 7, 2020
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126 people want to read
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If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.
Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 12, 2021
THE PASSENGER: GREECE consists of a very interesting collection of original essays and pieces of investigative journalism about Modern Greece.
No fiction is included in this book, however, crime writer Petros Markaris writes about the last days of the traditional taverna and Christos Ikonomou, a brilliant short story writer, muses about the "lost generation": the story of a dejected generation which has been deprived of their future as a result of the Greek crisis. Also there are essays on Athens' architecture, the island of Ikaria and its long-living residents, Giannis Antetokounmpo, the basketball star of Nigerian descent, Yorgos Lanthimos and the new Greek cinema, to name just a few.
This is not really a travel guide, but a hybrid magazine/book with lovely artwork and photography and excellent writing which is both informative and entertaining.
No fiction is included in this book, however, crime writer Petros Markaris writes about the last days of the traditional taverna and Christos Ikonomou, a brilliant short story writer, muses about the "lost generation": the story of a dejected generation which has been deprived of their future as a result of the Greek crisis. Also there are essays on Athens' architecture, the island of Ikaria and its long-living residents, Giannis Antetokounmpo, the basketball star of Nigerian descent, Yorgos Lanthimos and the new Greek cinema, to name just a few.
This is not really a travel guide, but a hybrid magazine/book with lovely artwork and photography and excellent writing which is both informative and entertaining.
November 19, 2020
this is my first time hearing about the passenger series by europa editions & the first country that i came across is about greece. for someone that is not familiar with greece, this is such an enjoyable read and i learnt a lot of facts & interesting places through personal stories.
the format of the book reminds me of reading indie magazines - with some lovely photographs & similar paragraphing styles. i felt that this is not like a typical travel guide that we have seen before, its definitely something new for me.
overall, i felt that its really well curated and now im even more curious about the world. cant wait to read others in the series!
the format of the book reminds me of reading indie magazines - with some lovely photographs & similar paragraphing styles. i felt that this is not like a typical travel guide that we have seen before, its definitely something new for me.
overall, i felt that its really well curated and now im even more curious about the world. cant wait to read others in the series!
August 28, 2020
Somewhere between a book and a magazine, I was so excited about Europa's The Passenger series. The mix of material was interesting and varied, the design and construction is just very well done, and I can't wait to follow this series on a world tour, off the beaten path. I only wish there had been a few pieces of short fiction perhaps, something to show a bit of the Greek literary tradition.
July 12, 2023
Shipping magnates, the migrant crisis, malfunctioning bureaucracy, tavernas, austerity, it’s all here. But what stood out for me the most was the article on the Greek Freak, Giannis Antetokounmpo, because normally I’m accustomed to reading about athletes rise from the streets and how beautifully they struggled to achieve everything, a trope much to the delight of big business and splashed all over the sports pages, whereas this one didn’t preach that whatsoever, instead it lambasted the whole country and politicians for having the gumption to use him as a posterboy, because in fact as a migrant you are the worst piece of shit in Greece, worse than any five-hour frappe consumed from a government hand out Greek.
From what I gathered here, the EU basically wipes its ass with Greece, in conjunction with the World Bank, IMF and a third that I can’t remember, austerity is implemented - for me that translates to cutting every possible public service imaginable, I guess in an effort to privatize, companies that will be bought for a pittance by, you guessed, the people of the World Bank, IMF and the third that I can’t remember. In the event that doesn’t work, tax money is siphoned off to feed these three in the form of national debt. And there you have it, that’s why Greece, by and large is shit. I suppose what you see on Instagram, Thessaloniki and Mykonos is largely owned by either foreigners or relatives of the oligarchs, who apparently do big business with Russia.
It’s all a big pile of shit. I suppose you could go off the grid and live on one of the hippie islands. There’s an essay about Ikaria, the famous blue zone of centenarians who somehow have managed to escape the harsh measures and live long simple lives off their land.
When I say it’s shit, I’m not just referring to Greece, because this is the kind of shit you find the world over. So which side will you be on? I already know, I’ve been spoon fed the Chicago School of thought rhetoric since the age of three. So much so, that as I am currently unemployed, the words below from one of the essays struck me, struggling with a loss of identity even though I spend my days challenging myself, finding meaning in my hobbies, thinking, but it is simply not functional or contributing to the magic GDP.
“Identity is a reward for being functional, for being useful. It is not a state of being, a fact of existence, a right to self definition”
“It is merely a method of segregation. Let us think of identity in reverse and separated from nationality; let us think about gender, sexual choice, aesthetics, moral or political positions. If you are not deemed functional according to the priorities of certain institutions you are stripped of all definition, every aspect of your existence ends up being something relative.”
But none of this really applies if you’re already wealthy. I think that most days, this is why I’m pissed off with the world. So I’m not in Greece, but once I finish this frappe I’ll be back behind a laptop slaving away on bullshit, because that’s deemed useful and then I can become a consumer/person again.
From what I gathered here, the EU basically wipes its ass with Greece, in conjunction with the World Bank, IMF and a third that I can’t remember, austerity is implemented - for me that translates to cutting every possible public service imaginable, I guess in an effort to privatize, companies that will be bought for a pittance by, you guessed, the people of the World Bank, IMF and the third that I can’t remember. In the event that doesn’t work, tax money is siphoned off to feed these three in the form of national debt. And there you have it, that’s why Greece, by and large is shit. I suppose what you see on Instagram, Thessaloniki and Mykonos is largely owned by either foreigners or relatives of the oligarchs, who apparently do big business with Russia.
It’s all a big pile of shit. I suppose you could go off the grid and live on one of the hippie islands. There’s an essay about Ikaria, the famous blue zone of centenarians who somehow have managed to escape the harsh measures and live long simple lives off their land.
When I say it’s shit, I’m not just referring to Greece, because this is the kind of shit you find the world over. So which side will you be on? I already know, I’ve been spoon fed the Chicago School of thought rhetoric since the age of three. So much so, that as I am currently unemployed, the words below from one of the essays struck me, struggling with a loss of identity even though I spend my days challenging myself, finding meaning in my hobbies, thinking, but it is simply not functional or contributing to the magic GDP.
“Identity is a reward for being functional, for being useful. It is not a state of being, a fact of existence, a right to self definition”
“It is merely a method of segregation. Let us think of identity in reverse and separated from nationality; let us think about gender, sexual choice, aesthetics, moral or political positions. If you are not deemed functional according to the priorities of certain institutions you are stripped of all definition, every aspect of your existence ends up being something relative.”
But none of this really applies if you’re already wealthy. I think that most days, this is why I’m pissed off with the world. So I’m not in Greece, but once I finish this frappe I’ll be back behind a laptop slaving away on bullshit, because that’s deemed useful and then I can become a consumer/person again.
November 25, 2020
I still love this series!! Like getting to know a country intimately.
June 6, 2024
This might be my new favorite travel book series. While it’s definitely not a guide of things to do or see, it’s a collection of important cultural moments that helps give context to what people in Greece (or whatever country in the series you’re reading) are experiencing. I don’t like to go into traveling somewhere with no knowledge of the current culture, and this fits the bill, though I wish it had a little more fiction or poetry.
March 5, 2022
Una lettura interessante e preziosa che permette di assaporare tradizioni e cultura popolare di un paese come la Grecia, in cui le credenze e consuetudini di un popolo dalla storia "importante" si fondono con gli eventi più recenti, generando inaspettate contraddizioni.
July 13, 2023
Interesting book to read before a trip to Greece.
March 30, 2024
This is a compilation of various opinion pieces around Greece. Most are very interesting, but some need a bit more localized knowledge to fully appreciate.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews