Minoans, J. Lesley Fitton, British Museum Press 2002

To my mind this is the best general introduction to the Minoans available at the moment. Fitton is an assistant keeper at the British Museum specializing in the Greek Bronze Age, so as you can imagine the research in this book is sound and comprehensive. She sticks to archaeological facts and avoids the unsupported speculation that Rodney Castleden is prone to ("Every building was a temple! They were all doped up on opium!").

For those of us who remember the 70s tendency to portray the Minoans as some kind of isolated hippy commune, this is a good antidote as she looks at Crete in a wide geographical and cultural context (there is a lot of interesting information about trade with Egypt), and while against she doesn't fall into Castleden's fault of assuming human sacrifice and other darker aspects, she doesn't pull the punches when it comes to investigating it.

The book is aimed at a wide general readership but the scholarship is sound is enough to satisfy students and experts too. One strange and glaring omission I found is that she makes no mention of the Phaistos disc.