Thucydides: Man's Place in History

Stahl's classic book on Thucydides is one of the most profound and widely respected modern studies of the Athenian historian. Published in German in 1966 as Thukydides: Die Stellung des Menschen im geschichtlichen Prozess, it has, until now, not been available in English. For this new edition, the original has been revised and enlarged by two chapters which reflect the author's subsequent work. Stahl's achievement is, first, to free Thucydides from the nationalist limits which modern interpreters imposed, then to demonstrate the technique whereby Thucydides constructs his work as an interplay, using narrative to comment on the speeches of politicians, to confirm or, more often, to refute his speakers' analysis. The author is Mellon Professor of Classics at the University of Pittsburgh.