Famous Men of Greece, by John H. Haaren and A. B. Poland, is a school reader that tells the story of ancient Greece through short biographies of its gods, heroes, lawgivers, and statesmen. It opens with the Olympian gods and the old myths—Deucalion’s flood, Cadmus, Perseus, the labors of Hercules, Jason and the Golden Fleece, and Theseus—then moves into the Trojan War through Agamemnon, Achilles, and the wanderings of Ulysses. From there it turns to the historical city-states: Lycurgus shaping Sparta, Draco and Solon reforming Athens, and the rise of tyranny under Pisistratus.
The second half follows Greece’s wars and decline. Miltiades, Leonidas, Themistocles, and Aristides carry the struggle against Persia; Pericles, Alcibiades, and Lysander mark the height and ruin of the Peloponnesian War; Socrates, Xenophon, and Epaminondas stand for the intellectual and military life of the fourth century. Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great end the independence of the city-states, and the book closes with Demosthenes, the philosophers and artists of the age, and the final fall of Greece to Rome in 146 B.C. Written in plain narrative for young readers, it treats myth and history as one continuous story of famous men.
Meet the Authors
John Henry Haaren was a New York educator and writer of history for children. Born in New York City to a German father and an Irish-English mother, he studied under Nicholas Murray Butler at Columbia University from 1889 to 1891 and then spent his career in the city’s public schools. He rose to associate superintendent, where he expanded and improved the kindergartens and opened classes to teach English to immigrants. He also led the department of pedagogy at the Brooklyn Institute. After his death in Brooklyn, Haaren High School in Manhattan was named for him; the Charles B. J. Snyder building, once DeWitt Clinton High School, is now Haaren Hall on the campus of John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
With Addison B. Poland he wrote the Famous Men series that made his name: Famous Men of Greece, Famous Men of Rome, and Famous Men of the Middle Ages, all published in 1904, and Famous Men of Modern Times in 1909. Written in plain narrative rather than textbook outline, the books introduce figures from Homer and Alexander to Caesar, Charlemagne, Joan of Arc, and Washington, and they remained classroom staples long after his death. He also produced school readers, including Fairy Life (1896), and later collaborated on the Natural Method Readers.
Addison Brown Poland was an American educator and the co-author, with John H. Haaren, of the Famous Men history readers. He was born in Winchendon, Massachusetts, the son of Simon Brown Poland and Betsy Wheeler Poland, and entered Wesleyan University at seventeen. After college he became principal of the high schools at Ashburnham and Salisbury, Massachusetts, and later principal of the high school in Jersey City. In 1892 Governor Leon Abbett appointed him New Jersey state superintendent of schools. Four years later he resigned to become an assistant superintendent in New York City, then returned to New Jersey as city superintendent of the Newark public schools, a post he held for about sixteen years until his retirement in 1917.
Poland was also president of the New Jersey State Teachers’ Association and the author of school reports and addresses on public education. With Haaren he wrote Famous Men of Greece, Famous Men of Rome, and Famous Men of the Middle Ages and Famous Men of Modern Times, plain biographical readers meant to introduce children to history through its leading figures.
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