The Cretan Runner by George Psychoundakis Paperback Book

Details

Rent The Cretan Runner

Author: George Psychoundakis

Format: Quality Paperback

Publisher: New York Review of Books

Published: Oct 2015

Genre: History - Europe

Retail Price: $19.95

Pages: 272

Synopsis

George Psychoundakis was a twenty-one-year-old shepherd from the village of Asi Gonia when the battle of Crete began: "It was in May 1941 that, all of a sudden, high in the sky, we heard the drone of many aeroplanes growing steadily closer." The German parachutists soon outnumbered the British troops who were forced first to retreat, then to evacuate, before Crete fell to the Germans. So began the Cretan Resistance and the young shepherd's career as a wartime runner. In this unique account of the Resistance, Psychoundakis records the daily life of his fellow Cretans, his treacherous journeys on foot from the eastern White Mountains to the western slopes of Mount Ida to transmit messages and transport goods, and his enduring friendships with British officers (like his eventual translator Patrick Leigh Fermor) whose missions he helped to carry out with unflagging courage, energy, and good humor.

Includes thirty-two black-and-white photographs and a map.

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