...to the extent that the 'deconstructive' historical school develops and establishes itself, it will have to contend with the combative/competitive element of the pre-revolutionary and revolutionary years. The secret school, March 25th, Tripolitsa, the Orlov Revolt, and the very 'klephts' must be 'demystified'... ...the revolutionary events that precede the Revolution must be silenced or downgraded. Because these precisely demonstrate that its starting point was not exclusively the scholars and the 'French Revolution'; another decisive component was the armed assemblies of the Greeks, from Krokodeilos Kladas in the 15th century, to the Souliotes, the Maniots, the klephts. Especially, the Souliotes occupy a central role due to their long struggle, over two centuries, against the Turks and their participation in the Revolution. The deconstructive school attempts, therefore, to demonstrate, if necessary, even by distorting historical facts, that the Souliotes were nothing more than primitive clans of Albanian origin and language, who did not possess any national or even proto-national consciousness. If it succeeds, then it will have added another stone to its fundamental ideological proposition: national consciousness is absent from the Greeks before the Revolution, while the Greek nation is formed mainly through the state. The Souliotes 'are not' Greeks, but 'Hellenized' later! Therefore, it is necessary to 'demystify' and distort milestone events in the history of the Souliotes, as well as in the modern historical consciousness of the Greeks: The self-immolation of Samuel at Kougi never happened; it is doubtful whether Despo blew herself up at 'Dimoula's Tower'; above all, the dance of Zalongo is not only a 'nationalistic myth', but it is likely that the Souliote women fell into the chasm pushed by the Souliote warriors themselves! Crowded in Smyrna, crowded in Zalongo! [Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]