The History of the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics?series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences?biographical, historical, and literary?to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.?A monumental work unsurpassed for its brilliant description, accuracy, and penetrating insights, Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian Waris a spectacular eyewitness report of the war between Greece’s two most powerful city-states, Athens and Sparta, as it unfolded during the fifth century B.C.The first recorded political and moral analysis of a nation’s war policies, the Historyis a tragic story of virtue, ambition, and failed deterrence. All aspects of the conflict?from the battlefield strategies and the political landscape to the peoples’ thoughts and feelings as the long war dragged on?are presented in startlingly vivid detail.?From the treachery of Alcibiades and the disastrous invasion of Sicily to the plague that devastated Athens and Pericles’ famous funeral oration, Thucydides has written more than a mere account of war. His Historyis nothing less than a classic Greek drama about the rise and fall of Athens. More than two thousand years have passed since the Historywas written, but its impact on modern politics, military strategy, and foreign relations has been timeless.?Donald Lateinerteaches Greek, Latin, Ancient History and Comparative Folklore in the Humanities-Classics department at Ohio Wesleyan University. His scholarship focuses on Homer and Herodotus, and he has published a book on each. He also researches nonverbal behaviors in ancient literature.