The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War [Hardcover]

Robert B. Strassler (Editor), Victor Davis Hanson (Introduction)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0684828154 | ISBN-13: 978-0684828152 | Publication Date: September 18, 1996

The most lucid, reader-friendly, and comprehensive edition of this classic text ever published -- beautifully and intelligently presented with a huge array of supportive material.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War is one of the great books in the Western tradition, as well as its first true historical narrative. Editor Robert Strassler has annotated this classic text to make it more accessible to modern readers and added dozens of maps for easy reference. A helpful introduction places Thucydides in proper historical context and a series of short appendices focus on particular aspects of life and war during the period. But the bulk of the book itself, where Thucydides chronicles the long struggle between Athens and Sparta, enjoys an unexpected freshness on these pages--partly due to Strassler's magnificent editorial labors, but mostly because it's a great story resonant with heroes, villains, bravery, desperation, and tragedy. Every library should have a copy of Thucydides in it, especially libraries on military history, and The Landmark Thucydides is without question the best version available.

From Library Journal

Strassler, an unaffiliated scholar of classical studies, has remedied many of the flaws of Richard Crawley's 1874 translation of The Peloponnesian War. He has added descriptive paragraph-by-paragraph synopses, topic headers on every page, numerous maps keyed to the adjoining text, explanatory footnotes, an extensive index, an excellent introduction by Victor Davis Hanson (California State Univ.), and 11 appendixes (by various scholars) on politics, warfare, and society in the Greece of the fifth century B.C.E. What the editor has done he has done well, creating a valuable basic reference for students of ancient history. His work has only two flaws: it lacks a substantial bibliography, having only a two-page "concise" one; and the price will put it out of reach of many institutions. For academic libraries and others with large history collections.?James F. DeRoche, Alexandria, Va.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 711 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (September 18, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684828154
• ISBN-13: 978-0684828152
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #719,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

123 of 123 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive to the nth Degree, July 14, 2001

By 

bibliomane01 - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War (Hardcover)

Robert B. Strassler's edition of the famous Richard Crawley translation of Thucydides is a remarkable work, not only because of its intrinsic merit but also because it is quite simply unique. Mr. Strassler has provided the ultimate in critical apparatus, an exhaustive series of tools with which to understand and appreciate one of the great books of world civilisation. I have never seen anything like it. First of all, there is the index; if an index can be said to be a work of art, the Strassler index is a work of art in the way it organises and informs the text. Next there are the maps - dozens of them - not clumped together in the middle of the book or hidden away at the end, but strategically placed throughout the appropriate points in the text, right at the reader's fingertips when he or she needs them. The footnotes (yes footnotes, not those pesky and inconvenient endnotes!) would fill a small volume of their own and add immeasurably to one's understanding. And as if this were not enough, there are 11 appendices - short essays by prominent classical scholars on different aspects of the Greek world in the time of Thucydides, from "Athenian Government" and "Trireme Warfare" to "Religious Festivals" and "Classical Greek Currency." As far as I am concerned, the only problem with Mr. Strassler's edition is that is has made me greedy for more of the same - a similar edition of the Mahabharata, say, or Gibbon! Any takers?

82 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Shame on the Publisher!, April 21, 2008

By 

Dale W. Boyer (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War (Paperback)

This is a superb edition of one of the greatest books ever written. However, there is a MAJOR CAVEAT: the paperback edition has a TERRIBLE BINDING, and will fall apart on you as you read it, guaranteed. This happened to every student in our class. Such a fantastic edition of a classic should obviously be sewn, rather than glued, but the publisher has apparently tried to cheap it out with an inferior glued binding which, I repeat, WILL NOT LAST. We wrote the publisher as a group, but did not receive an adequate reaponse. By all means, use this edition, but if you want to keep it, BUY THE HARDCOVER.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Would Strassler only edit more......., August 31, 2001

By 

nto62 (Corona, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War (Hardcover)

Robert Strassler has done a remarkable editing job with Thucydides' Peloponnesian War. He has included three key features which provide the reader much luxury:

One, he has provided maps throughout the text, to the extent of repetition, to ensure that textual geographic references are always accompanied, in close proximity, cartographically.

Two, he has provided paragraph summaries on the margin throughout the work so that a reader, who has put the edition down for any length of time, may refresh their memories quickly by reading as many of these one to two sentence summaries as necessary.

Three, as Thucydides provides his narrative in chronological order, he must often leave one narrative to begin another. Strassler has provided a thread to follow each narrative through to its' end by way of footnotes.

These editorial enhancements greatly enrich the reading experience and would be a welcome addition to any historical text.

Thucydides, himself, presents the reader with a narrative unromanticized, strictly adhering to the events of the Peloponnesian War. His work possesses many passages that rivet the reader, but also contains areas where the sheer and voluminous recitation of fact can render one foggy. This is not a book for the light-hearted, though Strassler's editorial enhancements make for a pleasurable experience. It is, in short, a classic which has been classically edited.