With this edition, we fulfill an old ambition of ours to deliver to the Greek reading audience one of the most important works of history and historical self-awareness, which concerns the epic long journey of the Greeks towards the conquest of their self-determination. [...] Our choice of this work was not accidental. And this, regardless of the various objections and recommendations that have been formulated over time, for two main reasons. Firstly, because Fotakos, as a direct participant in our events, gives us in simple language, with conciseness, liveliness, a sincere intention, genuine historical material, and secondly, because as the first defender of Theodoros Kolokotronis, he gives us the most tangible and reliable testimony of the actions of this man who was the mind, the soul, and the ultimate embodiment of what the poetry of 1821 means for the Greek Nation. [...] (from the edition's note)