Caroline Has a Reading Plan for the Rest of the Summer!

I realized last year that while I know a decent amount about Ancient Greece, and some about the Byzantine Empire, I know extremely little about Greece in modern times. What little I know goes something like this:

1453: The Byzantine Empire falls (what this means, I'm not sure)- Ottoman rule begins.
1821: The Greeks declare independence.
Several years later: The Greeks actually become indepentdent.
WWI: The Greeks side against the Central powers. They get land in Asia Minor after the war ends, which sets the stage for...
The Greco-Turkish war: which happens in the 20s, and has something to do with Greeks immigrating from Turkey and rebetiko.
WWII: Greece is occupied by the Nazis. Things go badly.
After WWII: The civil war. The UK and the US were involved, and communists. My knowledge is limited.
1967: Coup d'etat. A military junta is in power, and stays there until 1974. I think the US was involved.
The 1970s: A mess with Turkey over Cyprus, at some point democracy is restored.
After that: Greece uses the euro? They're building a new Parthenon museum? Is this really history?

So, essentially, my knowledge of modern history in Greece is nil, my knowledge of modern Greek literature mostly is limited to Cavafy, Seferis, and Zorba the Greek, and my knowledge of modern Greek culture is based on a mixture of what my mom tells me and what Prof. McKirahan has told my class. I think that this is sad (pathetic, really) and I want to fix it. Conveniently, CYA has sent a list of suggested reading! So, I want to work through this. But if anyone else has any ideas, they should definitely share them. Because I'm open to suggestion.

Anyways, wish me luck. For my first book I'm reading Freedom or Death by Nikos Kazantzakis, which I chose mostly because my library had a copy of it and because one of the bits I do know about modern Greece is that the statement "Ελευθερία ή θάνατος" is the motto of the country and that it has something to do with the stripes of the flag.

I hope that everyone is well, and I apologize for the boring-ness of this post.