"Throughout history, readers of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War have sought to apply its lessons to the problems of their times. In that tradition, the authors of these essays explore Thucydides' observations on the human condition in an effort to comprehend their modern world more than 2,400 years later.".

"The nine contributors find that Thucydides is not only the descriptive historian he is commonly said to be, but also a sophisticated theorist of international relations who emphasized the use of history to interpret the international conditions of his day and who had a profound understanding of realism and pluralism, of the relationship between internal and international politics, and of the role of culture in world affairs."--BOOK JACKET.