'This work, by a leading authority on the political history of the Hellenistic world, represents the first phase in the replacement of W.S. Ferguson's excellent, but antiquated, 'Hellenistic Athens' by a work reflecting the advances made as a result in particular of the American excavations in the Agora. It is divided into a series of loosely connected chapters, the emphasis of which lies on the ill-documented period between 295 B.C. and the outbreak of the Chremonidean War. A chapter on the all too familiar problems of the chronology of the Athenian archons from the end of the War (261) to 230, and a brief excursus on some prosopographical matters complete the book. These studies are all marked by Habicht's usual forceful lucidity of thought and style and thoroughness of documentation and bibliography. With skill and learning he demolishes much accumulated myth, and shows clearly the true dimensions of the problem of reconstructing Athenian history in the earlier Hellnisitc period, as it now stands. (...) The chapter on the chronology is a remarkable achievement in reassessing the basic assumptions of the professional chronologists of Athens, and he leaves the reputation of several distinguished authorities in shreds; it should be compulsory reading for all compelled to participate in this dangerous field of sport. (...) As a whole, Habicht's book is an excellent specimen of the type of patient investigation into a whole range of linked problems, in the light of evidence both old and new, that has to be carried out before a 'new Ferguson', on the scale of that earlier work, can be usefully undertaken within the field of political history.' (P.M. FRASER in The Classical Review (New Series), 1981, pp.240-242). From the library of Prof. Carl Deroux.