“This is a magnificent work, a triumphant combination of exhaustive research and fine narrative writing. The story of the Greek Connection to the Watergate saga is told through a sweeping biography of a compelling figure who captures our attention from beginning to end.“
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Author of “Leadership: In Turbulent Times”
Mitchell Zuckoff, New York Times bestselling author of Fall and Rise and 13 Hours
“The Greek Connection is a marvelous book, a biography that illuminates an essential yet nearly forgotten figure who navigated some of the most important events of the 20th century. In Elias Demetracopoulos, author James Barron has vividly portrayed a real-life character as remarkable as any fictional Cold War hero. In our own era of political and journalistic skullduggery, this is a must-read.”
“[A] page-turner… Highly Recommended.” Read the full review.
“Barron offers an even handed portrait of a complex man . . . a deeply researched life of a man in the crossroads of history.“ Read the full review.
Kathimerini, Sunday Cultural Review, August 8, 2020
“The fascinating life of an uncompromising man.
The author who would undertake to write the biography of the journalist and opponent of the junta Elias Demetracopoulos would have to decode an enigmatic personality…” Read the full review by Achilles Paparsenos (in Greek).
September 13, 2020
“Barron, a journalist and lawyer, delivers a richly sourced work….The story that emerges is at times cinematic, starting with a moving account of 12-year-old Elias’s resistance efforts during the Nazi occupation of Athens….This tension between journalism and activism sits at the heart of the book’s inquiry into a corner of the Watergate story…. ambitious.” Read the full review.
-Ann Marie Lipinski, director of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard
Tim Weiner, author of Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
“Barron brilliantly brings to life a Cold War story of international intrigue—and unravels one of the last mysteries of Watergate.”
John O. Iatrides, author of “Revolt in Athens. The Greek Communist ‘Second Round’ 1944-1945”
“The Greek Connection” is a masterful biography of a remarkable… journalist, political activist, and controversial operative…meticulous work and fine narrative… (It’s) exhaustively researched, historically balanced and highly readable. Read the full review.
“absorbing …a fascinating study of a newsman whose commitment to democracy led him to political activism….serves as a sobering reminder that the survival of democracy depends on freedom of the press and on fearless journalists willing to test its boundaries.” Read the full review.
-Kathryn Olmsted, author of “Challenging the Secret Government: The Post-Watergate Investigations of the CIA and FBI.”
Joe Bergantino, Co-Founder & Executive Director Emeritus, The New England Center for Investigative Reporting
“Jim Barron has done the world a great service by chronicling the fascinating life of Elias Demetracopoulos. Through exhaustive research and interviews, Barron tells the compelling story of a dogged journalist and defender of democracy dedicated to exposing the truth and holding the powerful accountable through multiple means—while incurring the wrath of some of the most politically powerful men of his time. Nothing deterred Demetracopoulos from pursuing his mission. We all can learn valuable lessons from this superbly written biography that should be a must read for anyone seeking to understand the role journalists play in a complex world where the survival of democracy as we’ve known it is now uncertain.“
“Barron’s excellently-researched and well-crafted biography of a man whose pursuit of the truth despite the potential cost of that pursuit is an inspiration in an era when the truth is all too often lies.” Read the full review.
Constantine Arvanitopoulos, Professor, Karamanlis chair in Hellenic and European Studies, at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.
“Barron’s book on Elias Demetracopoulos is an excellent tale of an able journalist with a knack for a good scoop. Elias, a gentleman to his friends but mysterious and enigmatic to his enemies, was always into the fray of important events. More importantly, the book tells the story of a devoted democrat that proved to be a decisive force in the struggle against the Greek dictatorship.”
July 12, 2021
Greek democracy’s gadfly: the journalist who carried the fight to the junta
“A story of many dimensions covering a watershed time in Greek history that is fit for a movie or a television series.” Read full article.
-Alex Economou
July 21, 2021
Biography of enigmatic journalist sheds bright light on dark period of Greek and US history.
“…a much-acclaimed book that more than accomplishes the seemingly impossible task of weaving the stories of post-war Greece, Cyprus and America through the life of the enigmatic and charismatic Greek journalist and anti-junta activist Elias Demetracopoulos.” Read the full review.
-Alex Economou
July 9, 2021
“… a riveting book that .. gives an astonishing glimpse intο American policy towards Greece in the latter part of the 20th century and a portrait of corruption, lies, vilification, skulduggery and pernicious conduct on a scale that I can only describe as jaw-dropping….Barron’s book shows meticulous research on every page and reads like a thriller even for events that one is familiar with.” Read the full review.
Evangelos Louizos, author of “My Father Had This Luger…A true story of Hitler’s Greece”
“Outstanding job…reads like a Cold War novel….With every page, persons and events came back to me, day by day, and I cringed with anger at recalling them. It was when democracy was being slowly strangled… Barron’s book gave my personal experiences details and depth and I thank him for it. I found the “Watergate” reference in the title is too limiting, because the content of the book goes well beyond that episode.” Read the full review.
November 18, 2020
Watergate, ethics, a mirror to now
“A monumental, painstaking effort at historical reconstruction and narration… has the pacing, richness, and intrigue of an irresistible adventure novel…When is it acceptable, or necessary, for journalists to become partisan political actors…” Read the full review.
-Richard Hertzberg
October 11, 2020
Greek Fire
“An exciting, deeply researched tale of international and national corruption… one of the most exciting and mysterious of the 20th Century. Demetracopoulos …lived a turbulent life at the center of … ferocious times. Mr. Barron’s book is an addictive way to read about them.” Read the full review.
-Robert Whitcomb
January 7, 2021
“This painstakingly researched and written book covers the life of one of Greece’s most politically astute independent-minded … journalists, who became the bugbear of virtually any Greek or American politician with something to cover up….The book is as much about Greek and American political skulduggery as about Demetracopoulos…anybody interested in the real backstage of relations between states, in American foreign policy, as well as Greek… needs to read Barron’s book.” Read the full review.
-William Mallinson, author “Kissinger and The Invasion of Cyprus”
“… an amazing work depicting good and evil, and the struggle that defines ‘philotimo’.”
– Stamatis Astra, Host, Astra Report
“Gripping. It’s a great book! A riveting account of a Greek journalist who fearlessly and relentlessly fought the Nazi occupation, the Greek military dictatorship, the dirty tricks of the Nixon Administration, and faceless American bureaucrats who twisted the truth to serve short-term political objectives. This is a biography of a people’s lobbyist, a species all but extinct among today’s Washington power brokers. I am amazed by the amount of research Barron conducted to get the story.”
– Elias Vlanton, author, Who Killed George Polk: The Press Covers Up A Death in the Family
Sam Roberts, New York Times reporter and author of The Brother: The Untold Story of the Rosenberg Atom Spy Case
“Dogged probing and flair for narrative … James Barron has produced a gripping you-can’t-make-this-up profile that belatedly lifts the veil on a mysterious Watergate figure and on Cold War political hijinks that reverberate across two continents.”
January 7, 2022
“Greece, Nixon and the man who almost made Hubert Humphrey president” Read the full review.
“Superb biography of a real-life hero (and) an impactful exposé of the dirty business of politics in general. …It is dense with information which is so deftly presented, it is a page-turner. Barron manages to masterfully pull the story out of history and in so doing compromises neither.” Read the full review.
-Marina Parisinou, Associate Producer, “Jerusalem, We Are Here” interactive documentary
Seymour M. Hersh, Investigative Journalist
“James Barron has done history a favor by telling the incomparable life of the amazing and indefatigable Elias Demetracopoulos, who spent his teenage years fighting against fascism in World War II and suffering, after the war, as America threw in against those inside Greece who had stood off the Nazis.
Elias, having seen it all in his youth, became a real life Zelig as an investigative reporter, committed to the telling of truth and the making of trouble for Presidents from Jack Kennedy through the post-Nixon years. There is much new history in this book, especially about the beginnings of the Watergate scandal.”
Stephen Kinzer, author of Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
“The hero of this story, Elias Demetracopoulos, was a freedom fighter in the fullest sense, both in battle trenches and in confrontations with powerful political adversaries. His story, deftly woven together here for the first time, is a lens through which we can see 20th-century history in a new light.”
“The Greek Connection is such a compelling book… The story of a journalist and patriot who lived a life of courage, commitment and surprising intrigue. Elias Demetracopoulos worked to save his country by writing the truth. James Barron tells his story with compassion and flair.“
George Stephanopoulos, Chief Anchor, ABC News
Christopher Hitchens
“Elias Demetracopoulos is an illustration of how much can be achieved by a determined and courageous individual.”
Michael S. Dukakis, former Massachusetts Governor
“It’s terrific! …an outstanding book that should be made into a movie.“
Nicholas Gage, author of seven books including “Eleni” and “Greek Fire.”
“The Greek Connection” is a fascinating biography of a remarkable gadfly, Elias Demetracopoulos, who influenced the modern history of both his homeland, Greece, and his adopted country, the United States, to a degree not yet fully measured. Packed with revelations about John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Spiro Agnew, Richard Nixon, and the real reasons behind the Watergate break in, it is a meticulously researched and absorbing chronicle of one of the 20th century’s most powerful political sagas.”
Pappas Post, August 14, 2020
The Odyssey of a Fighter for Democracy: The
Struggle of the Journalist, Elias Demetracopoulos
“A stunning feat of biographic storytelling, sweeping from World War II to the Cold War, Watergate and beyond, The Greek Connection is about a lifetime of standing up for democracy and a free press against powerful special interests. “
-Gregory Pappas, Publisher of the Pappas Post
“Barron’s biography of Demetracopoulos is a carefully documented cradle to grave chronological narrative… Reading this book was an enriching experience and it will undoubtedly become a required text for anyone wishing to understand U.S. – Greek relations between 1967 and 1974.” Read the full review.
-Alexander Kitroeff, author of “The Greeks and the Making of Modern Egypt” and “The Greek Orthodox Church in America: A Modern History”.
“The Odyssey of a Fighter for Democracy: The
Struggle of the Journalist, Elias Demetracopoulos.” Read the full review (in Greek.)
Robert Dallek, author “Nixon and Kissinger,” “Camelot’s Court”
“What makes Elias’s story relevant and interesting are the revelations about the skullduggery his clashes with these three administrations reveal, laying bare the secret side of manipulative politics. Elias’s importance rests, I believe, on how he struggled to pressure these presidencies into honest dealings in their foreign policies and how they aggressively responded to him. Two lessons from his history are that administrations don’t like to have their secret dealings revealed and that they try to punish, if not ruin, those who criticize them. This was especially true of the Nixon White House.
He has been a force for honest government and investigative journalism. We are all the better for his many years of effective work.”
November/December 2020
“...engrossing, richly detailed book…..the story of one of America’s first complex, controversial, and powerful émigré residents. Like the late Saudi exile Jamal Khashoggi, Demetracopoulos became a dedicated critic of his home country’s authoritarian regime and a player in his new country’s politics…. Both men were attacked by other powerful Americans who considered their work meddlesome. And both were targeted by their home states for abduction and assassination—successfully in one case, unsuccessfully in the other.” Read the Full review
-Stan Draenos, author of “Andreas Papandreou: The Making of A Greek Democrat and Political Maverick”
Volume 13 | Spring 2022
“a fine book, exhaustively researched and beautifully written.” Read the full review.
The Greek Connection Spotlights Elias Demetracopoulos and Watergate.
“…seeks to put together… ‘the Demetracopoulos puzzle'”
September 19, 2020
Elias Demetracopoulos: The Perils of Committed Journalism.
“A detailed and candid account of his fascinating personal life, his foibles, financial sources, Washington insider politics, and Greek political wrangling…”
-Dan Georgakas, November 3, 2020
Harold C. Pachios, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s associate press secretary; former chairman, U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy
“Once I spent 15 minutes reading it, I couldn’t put it down. James Barron is a terrific writer. ” The Greek Connection” is the best political history of Greece during the second half of the 20th Century I have ever read . Several Englishmen who served in Greece during WW II have written learned histories of this period. But Barron’s book brings it alive because it is told in the context of a suspenseful thriller, and through the eyes of a fascinating man.
–
“James Barron has made an absorbing contribution to the history of U.S.-Greek relations during an important phase of the Cold War. Elias Demetracopoulos’ battle against the military dictatorship, and how that made him a target of the Nixon administration, is a story that needed to be told and Barron’s thorough research puts a bright light on it.”
-Dr. William Burr, The National Security Archive
Richard Clogg, author of A Concise History of Greece
“Clearly a major resource for any historian/political scientist working on this period.”
“An impressive book about the great man who with his passion and obsession for democracy and love of his country brought to light the inhuman abuse of the lieutenant Spiros Moustaklis, by the Greek military Junta, for the whole world to know and the United States leadership to finally accept the fact that tortures took place in Greece….I learned a lot from this book and … hope a glamorous movie will come out of it … “
-Natalie S. Moustakli, daughter of torture victim Lieutenant Spiros Moustaklis
“This is a magnificent and serious history book that reads like a spellbinding novel…. a compelling and superbly written biography… Barron has a gift for storytelling. …Too often books taste like Angel’s Food Cake; this one is like New York Cheesecake—rich and deep.” Read full the review.
– Jose M. Vadi, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA
September 23, 2020
“The Fascinating Life of the Greek Journalist Who Rubbed Shoulders with America’s Powerful.” Read the full Review.
-Tasos Kokkinidis
Robbyn Swan, co-author of THE ARROGANCE OF POWER: The Secret World of Richard Nixon
“James Barron does justice to a man whose dogged pursuit of a neglected corner of the Watergate story might otherwise be forgotten. “The Greek Connection”, combining meticulous research with lucid storytelling, is a truly remarkable book.”
Evi Gkotzaridis, author of A Pacifist’s Life and Death: Grigorios Lambrakis and Greece in the Long Shadow of Civil War
“…the fascinating life of high-profile journalist and whistle-blower Elias Demetracopoulos, so painstakingly, skillfully and dramatically told. … read this amazing book …. This story absolutely needed to be told!” Read the full statement.
June 3, 2021
“American Meddling in Greece”
“(T)imely and important book, …(weaving) Demetracopoulos’ life and Greek history…Read this wonderful and riveting story, written well and with passion.”
It’s by far the best book on American and Greek history during the dangerous decades of the Cold War.
-Evaggelos Vallianatos, author of The Passion of the Greeks: Christianity and the Rape of the Hellenes
January 28, 2022
“How Nixon Flexed CIA Muscle to Destroy Reporter Who Discovered He was Taking Illegal Campaign Contributions from Fascist Greek Junta.” Read the full review.
The Book Lovers Guide
“A fascinating biography of an intriguing personality….The reader is consumed by the subject’s love of his country and his desire for truth. This is a book that matters… ” Read the full review.
September 9, 2020
“The Greek Connection’s Untold Watergate Story.” Read the full review.
May 11, 2022
“The Greek Connection Discussion, Greek Language Edition” Read the full review.
February 11, 2022
“Past OPC member…storied life and career…”
“This looks great.”
The Greek Connection 