Andreas Papandreou: The Making of a Greek Democrat and Political Maverick - Hardcover

'[Stan Draenos] has done a marvellous job of research on Andreas Papandreou and has brought him back to life.' Dale Jorgensen, Harvard University 'I am most impressed with [Stan Draenos's] record of this very complex history and [his] amazing capacity for evoking the surrounding sense of drama. For one who witnessed the events, or some of them, [this] is an invaluable documentation of what went on.' Louis Lefeber, York University 'Draenos has chosen a difficult and elusive topic-Andreas Papandreou-and has managed admirably to walk the tightrope of objectivity balancing between hagiography and demonization. He highlights the ambivalence of a brilliant man torn between the lure of academia and the charm of politics and between the vastness of America and the primordial call of a return to his roots.' Ted Couloumbis, University of Athens 'Draenos has produced the first serious attempt in English to analyze the career and personality of one of the most fascinating and complex Greek political leaders of the 20th century, Andreas Papandreou. During his long tenure as prime minister, Papandreou infuriated his western allies, but also played a major role in transforming Greece into a modern European state. This book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to know how and why.' Monteagle Stearns, US Ambassador to Greece, 1981-85 'All who study Greek politics owe [Draenos] a debt of gratitude for his remarkable accomplishment. He has produced a political biography that is highly readable, penetrating, and rich in detail and analysis. To be sure, the serious portrayal of Andreas Papandreou's life and times is just getting started; other volumes are sure to follow. But Draenos' work is bound to remain the bench mark against which the efforts of future biographers will be measured.' John O. Iatrides, Southern Connecticut State University 'The rich detail in this book produces an extraordinary sense of the man' Landon Thomas of the New York Times.

Greece in the 1960s produced one of Europe's arguably most controversial politicians of the post-war era. The contrarian politics of Andreas Papandreou grew out of his conflict laden re-engagement with Greece in the 1960s. Returning to Athens after 20 years in the US where he had been a rising member of the American liberal establishment, Papandreou forged a social reform-oriented, nationalist politics in Greece that ultimately put him at odds with the US foreign policy establishment and made him the primary target of a pro-American military coup in 1967. Venerated by his admirers and despised by his detractors with equal passion, the Harvard-educated Papandreou left in his wake no clear-cut answer to the question of who he was and what he stood for. Andreas Papandreou chronicles the events, struggles and ideas that defined the man's dramatic, intrigue-filled transformation from Kennedy-era modernizer to Cold War maverick. In the process the book examines the explosive interplay of character and circumstance that generated Papandreou's contentious, but powerfully consequential politics.