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October 2021 Vol. 59 No. 2

Despite popular support for American aid for Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire during the 1820s, US commercial interests in the Mediterranean required peaceful trade relations with the Ottoman Turks, hindering official US support. There were, however, numerous private initiatives promoting aid for Greek statehood. Philhellenes active among Christian missionaries, humanitarian and educational institutions, numerous women's rights groups, and anti-slavery societies called upon Congress to support material aid and diplomatic solutions leading to Greek independence. Greeks were even encouraged by certain US interests to use the chemical weapon Greek Fire, a Byzantine invention, to throw off the Ottoman yoke. The author correctly notes that without a formal trade treaty, merchants often took responsibility for diplomatic agreements. The US Navy's Mediterranean Squadron played a key, though limited, role in protecting merchant cargoes from pirates and guarding trade routes. In the US, romanticized Philhellenes supported Lord Byron's promotion of Greek democracy and embraced Hiram Powers's sculpture The Greek Slave, associated with abolitionism in Greece and the US. Ironically, such sentiments increased interest not only in Greek democracy abroad but also in reforming American democracy at home through women's rights and the abolition of slavery.

--S. Prisco III, emeritus, Stevens Institute of Technology

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.