Books like The History of the Peloponnesian War — picked by fans

If, like me, when you read a history book, you want to learn something new both about a crucial period or personage in history and about how they reflect more generally on the human condition, then look no further than Jennifer T. Roberts’ magisterial study of the ancient Greek world between the Persian Wars and the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War (490-360 BCE).

It thrilled me and informed me alike from its first page to the last. At the start of her chosen timeframe, the Greek world was at risk of being overwhelmed by the Persian Empire. Had the Persians won… no Greek democracy, no Athenian theatre or philosophy, no Hippocratic medicine? Possibly. But did the Greeks make the most of their freedom from foreign conquest and control? Possibly not.

War between Greeks—of Greek state against Greek state, and between Greek citizens of the same state—was a plague, a metaphorical… show more.

I loved this book, by a brilliant younger French scholar, because it’s simply one of the best books around on the life and times of the Athenian democratic leader and, no less, his fluctuating reputation in and after antiquity right up to the early 21st century.

Being a prominent politician in a direct democracy that lacked political parties and any means of mass communication except face-to-face interaction meant a precarious, topsy-turvy life for would-be ‘demagogues’, leaders of the people, like the great Pericles.

I loved how Dr. Azoulay explored all the facets of Pericles’ multiple interactions during his generally brilliant career, including the more scandalous ones such as his eccentric love life. I loved, too, how he traced all the ups and downs of Pericles’ reputation over 24 centuries, showing expertly just how foreign a country the past can be—our past no less than that of the ancient Greeks.

In case it hasn’t yet become rather obvious, I love the history of ancient Greece and especially the city of democratic Athens during the 5th century BCE and the lifetime of Pericles (c. 495-429).

To help explain why, I could just reel off a list of famous names—famous not only in their own time but also still in our own day: playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, philosopher Socrates, historian Thucydides, architects Callicrates and Ictinus, and, not least, master sculptor Pheidias, Athenians all.

The last three were united together with Pericles by their involvement in, indeed, the creation of, one of the greatest buildings of the entire Western tradition: the Parthenon, a temple of Athena the Virgin unique in its aesthetic adornment and refinement.

History, however, should not only celebrate but also educate and even warn, as does independent scholar David Stuttard in his totally gripping cultural history. Hubris has become… show more.

I love Cambridge (University Press) Companions—over 900 have been published so far, including many in my own field of ancient Greek history.

There is even a Cambridge Companion to the Age of Pericles. But that’s not the one I’ve chosen here, partly because Pericles has—rightly—had his fair share of attention and praise in my other choices, but mainly because the city of Athens, especially during Pericles’ lifetime, was one of the great cities of the world in any age.

The volume co-edited by Professors Neils and Rogers has many virtues and strengths, but what I love about it most is its vast breadth of coverage and its tight integration both between and within its 33 chapters of literature, history, and material culture.

It’s invidious to select, but space requires me to, so I’m going to recommend just six: those on the Acropolis, on animals in Athenian life, on… show more.

Thucydides of Athens (c. 455-400 BC) was an Athenian aristocrat of supreme intelligence and a failed politician who turned his 20 years of political exile to excellent account by turning himself into the most acute analyst and historian of the great Atheno-Peloponnesian War of 431 to 404. Thucydides was born within the world’s first democratic political state but was out of sympathy with the rule of the majority, the masses – except when they themselves were kept in check and did what they were advised by a superior statesman of the unique calibre of Pericles (c. 493-429).

Thucydides outlived the end of that War, which was a major defeat ultimately for his own home city by the Spartans aided financially by the old enemy, the Persians. But he did not live long enough to complete his History, which breaks off in mid-sentence in what we call the summer of 411… show more.

Thucydides, along with Herodotus a generation earlier, created history as we know it. Herodotus added to narrative the analysis of cause: ‘why’ as well as ‘what’. Thucydides added different levels of causation: the immediate reasons for the war and the long-term causes. He studied how the dynamics of fear and power drive states into warfare. He took the gods out of history (it is hard to remember how radical that was). He studied the corruption of moral language and behaviour under the pressure of conflict. In Pericles’ Funeral Speech he set out the theory of Athenian democracy (Pericles would have denied that our own society was democratic—a challenging thought). Thucydides’ eye is not exactly cold, but it is unblinking: no historian seems so free of illusion.

Not a book about Thucydides, but a selection of the speeches – one of the most striking aspects of his approach to history is the way he includes set-piece debates, not so much as accurate transcripts of what was actually said as a means of exploring issues of war, peace, democratic deliberation and so forth. If you already own a copy of Thucydides, this may not be of much interest (unless you’re obsessive enough to compare Hanink’s translations with others), but if you’re new to the topic this may be a good place to start: the speeches are more accessible than the lengthy battle narratives, they’re the main basis for Thucydides’ reputation as a thinker about political issues, as well as the source of some memorable lines, and Hanink’s introduction does a good job of explaining all of this.

Written around twenty-five centuries ago, this remains the seminal work of history, political science, man as he is, war, and diplomacy. The author expressly intended that it be “a work for all time,” and so it remains. Moreover, it serves still as an example of a civilization ruining itself, as Europe did in the Great War. Thus, it continues to warn.

This is a timeless – and timely – account of the war between Athens and Sparta. 

Thucydides explores power, fear, security, and human nature—forces still central to international relations today. The concept of the "Thucydides Trap", where a rising power threatens an established one, is often cited in current discussions of U.S.-China relations.

While offering a foundational realist view of power politics and the cyclical nature of conflict, Thucydides also prompts us to ask whether such outcomes are inevitable. I find his work especially relevant today as we seek ways to temper zero-sum thinking and foster a more stable international order.

Understanding the neurochemical and neuropsychological drivers of dominance and insecurity is essential if we are to escape the trap – not by repeating history, but by learning from it.

This book is important, authoritative, and compelling because it demonstrates that a conservative historian can be comfortable with revisionist history. Kagan, a Yale historian noted as a leading academic traditionalist, terms Thucydides “the first revisionist historian” not because he was like today’s leftists but because he took issue with his pioneering predecessor, Herodotus. In his great history of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides threw down the gauntlet over which was the “best” and “right” way to do history. He thought its subjects should be politics, warfare, the relation between states, and—a surprise?—men. His views held the field for centuries. The Framers of the Constitution were its legatees. So were we until the late 20th century, when social and cultural subjects gained attention. This wonderful book shows why.