“Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter” is the fourth in a series of books author Thomas Cahill calls the “Hinges of History.” These volumes trace 'the story of those who entrusted to our keeping one or another of the singular treasures that make up the patrimony of the West.’ Cahill adds that these books are also 'the story of the evolution of Western sensibility,' how we came to think and feel the way we do. He uses the word 'hinges' to indicate that moments about which he writes were times when 'everything was at stake,' and the process of history could have taken numerous other directions.

The previous three books in the series deal with the history of the Jews in the times covered by the Hebrew scriptures, the early development of Christianity and how Irish monks barely clinging to the outer edge of Europe in the Dark Ages preserved many of the works of earlier civilizations and reintroduced them to the European continent.

The latest book in the series discusses the wide range contributions the ancient Greeks made to Western civilization from the Homeric epics through the development of drama, from the beginnings of Greek philosophy through the advent of Athenian democracy. Cahill also covers art and science along the way. The author provides an introduction to classical civilization in a style that will appeal to those who missed such an introduction in school. This is no dry exploration of times past. Cahill's writing is lively. Toward the end of the volume Cahill shows how Greek thought and Judeo-Christian belief, the two main rivers of Western Civilization, came together and blended. Cahill rounds out his book with a pronouncing glossary and a bibliographic essay for those who want to delve deeper into this fascinating subject.