Since the revelation of its massive hidden deficit in late 2009, Greece
has been at the centre of the world's attention. Observers around the
globe have watched with morbid fascination as the country has repeatedly
flirted with political and financial chaos, as one failed rescue
programme has followed another, as extremism spread and its official
creditors bickered about the causes of its inability to recover. How did
a prosperous, seemingly advanced economy in the heart of Europe
collapse so precipitously? And why has it proved so hard for it to stand
on its feet again? These are the central questions running through The
13th Labour of Hercules. Through a series of compelling stories - from a
cancer sufferer depending on charitable health care, to the Financial
Minister charged with clearing up tax evasion, to the union bosses
fighting mass unemployment and the workings of a prejudiced, corrupt
government - it brings to life the social, cultural and political forces
that left Greece defenceless when the global economic hurricane came,
and the vicious interplay between economic depression, institutional
failure and social breakdown since the country's Great Crisis began.
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