Rainbow in the Rock: The People of Rural Greece

The title for this book comes from a Greek legend recounting the creation of Greece and its people: the rock is the hard, enduring land, and the rainbow is the gentler, colourful people. The land and its people are the subject of this new and compelling study.

Mr. Sanders waives the security of the precise social-science procedures in favour of the more vulnerable, but equally valuable, area of personal interpretation. He gives an inclusive picture of Greek rural life as he has shared it in extended trips through the country. His emphasis is on the problems presented to a rural, slowly developing people by the demands of modernization and its social changes.

To illustrate his study, Mr. Sanders lets the people speak for themselves, and carefull reproduces the natural settings in which these conversations occur. Thses vignettes include a shepherds' camp at night, an early morning olive harvest, a crowded coffeehouse with its lively debate over agricultural problems. From the author's personal experience and interpretation, the reader gains a valuable insight into rural Greece, past and present, and develops a sympathy with the villagers, farmers, and shepherds, and the problems they face.