The Full Catastrophe

April 27, 2015
Journalist Angelos delivers a fast-paced, gripping survey of the problems leading to and resulting from Greece’s debt crisis. Through lively interviews and plentiful, vivid detail, Angelos draws out the contradictions in national character that make a virtue of outwitting a bloated, corrupt government apparatus through strikes, tax evasion, disability frauds, and blocking necessary reforms (such as taking jailed public employees off payroll). With an able grasp of the country’s turbulent past and “wonderfully complex amalgamation of cultures and traditions,” Angelos empathetically links Greek resistance to the severe bailout terms with long-held resentment of “foreign occupation” by foes like the Ottoman Turks and the Nazis. He also brings a tone of moral clarity, explaining how blame-shifting and lack of accountability have exacerbated Greece’s problems. Angelos takes a particularly close look at the rise of far-left groups like Syriza and the far-right Golden Dawn, and the increase in violence toward the immigrant population. As he explains, Greece’s “sacred ideological pillars” of its ancient Hellenic culture and status as the “fountainhead of Europe’s common heritage” are both necessary to its recovery and impediments to solving its current woes. Angelos’s often amusing, occasionally dismaying stories form a necessary and compelling read for anyone interested in the current crisis and its possible remedies. Agent: David Patterson, Foundry Literary + Media.