Existing accounts of life under the Colonels’ dictatorship (1967-1974) contend that cultural activity in Greece was all but eradicated due to repression and censorship. However, our research uncovers exactly the opposite, nothing less than a cultural Big Bang. I outline the evidence and address two questions: First, what made this development possible--and, more generally, which conditions facilitate the development of cultural life under authoritarianism? And second, why was this cultural boom erased from collective memory?

Alex Patelis discusses insights from his book “Η Μεγάλη Έπιστροφή” (The Great Return), offering an inside account of the policy choices, economic reforms, and credibility signals that opened the road for Greece to return to investment grade, attract foreign capital, and rebuild trust with markets, institutions, and partners after a decade of crisis.