Our 2020 Book Round-up.
The National Herald’s literary expert, Eleni Sakellis, reviews one book a week in the print edition of the newspaper. Out of all the books Eleni read and reviewed this year, these were her favorites. Click the titles to read her reviews/interviews with the authors and the names of the authors to purchase the books themselves.
Once We Were Here by Christopher Cosmos (author and Black List screenwriter). This book was released in honor of the 80th Anniversary of Oxi Day and in celebration of how Greece helped the Allies win World War II.
The House with the Scorpions: Selected Poems and Song-Lyrics by Mikis Theodorakis, translated by Gail Holst-Warhaft. The book is a bilingual edition and highlights a fine range of poetry by Theodorakis as well as the impressive translation by Holst-Warhaft, a gifted poet in her own right, who has spent years working with the composer as a musician, biographer, and translator.
It’s All Greek to Me: Transform Your Health the Mediterranean Way with My Family’s Century-Old Recipes by Debbie Matenopoulos. This cookbook, written by the three time Emmy-nominated TV host and journalist, focuses on getting healthy through making some simple changes in our diet and including regular exercise in our daily routine. It highlights the delicious and healthy traditional Greek recipes that have been passed down from Debbie’s family for generations.
Under the Olive Tree: Recipes from my Greek Kitchen by MasterChef UK Champ Irini Tzortzoglou. The MasterChef UK champion 2019, spoke with Eleni about her cookbook which was released in late July.
Educating Greek Americans: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Pathways, edited by Fevronia K. Soumakis and Theodore G. Zervas. For those of us who grew up in the United States as first generation Greek-Americans, everyone has a Greek School story to tell. Whether you were dragged kicking and screaming to Greek afternoon or Saturday school, or went begrudgingly because you were going to get high school credit for the Regents exam, most of us probably never thought about the history of the schools we attended or about the profound impact those institutions and the people who ran them had on the Greek-American community, how the community defines itself, its culture, and what Greek-American education across the United States might look like in the future. This book brings to mind the vast array of memories we have stored up from attending Greek school. Reading the informative and well-written essays on Greek American education was an eye-opener to say the least.
The Greek Genocide in American Naval War Diaries: Naval Commanders Report and Protest Death Marches and Massacres in Turkey's Pontus Region, 1921-1922, Edited by Savvas (Sam) Koktzoglou and Robert Shenk with a foreword by retired U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis. For those interested in the history of the Greek Genocide, eyewitness accounts offer valuable insights. Published in February 2020, this book is an impressive collection of reports and protests from the U.S. Navy archives.
The Greek Genocide 1913-1923: New Perspectives, edited by George N. Shirinian. Another book for those interested in the history of the Greek Genocide, this book includes the insights of contributors from various backgrounds on the pivotal ten years that changed the course of history for not only Greece, but for the entire world.
Kare Istorias: Agones ton Ellinon 1821-1923 (History Frames: Struggles of the Greeks 1821-1923) by Dr. Dimitra Kamarinou. (The book is in Greek, but it's mostly historic postcards). As buried treasure comes to light and reveals precious moments of the past, so a dusty album of historic postcards became the rich source material for this book written by a former columnist of TNH. Delving into the collection of historic postcards of her ancestor, the author has written an impressive history illustrated by the postcards and offering insights relevant to today. The book illustrates a century of struggles of the Greek people, to liberate territories where Greeks had deep roots.
