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How to Think about War

Audiobook
Nonfiction: Social Science
Unabridged   3 hour(s)
Publication date: 03/19/2019

How to Think about War

An Ancient Guide to Foreign Policy

Available from major retailers or BUY FROM AMAZON
Audio CD ISBN:9781684571246
Digital Download ISBN:9781684571253

Summary

An accessible modern translation of essential speeches from Thucydides's History that takes listeners to the heart of his profound insights on diplomacy, foreign policy, and war.

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Product Description

Why do nations go to war? What are citizens willing to die for? What justifies foreign invasion? And does might always make right? For nearly 2,500 years, students, politicians, political thinkers, and military leaders have read the eloquent and shrewd speeches in Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War for profound insights into military conflict, diplomacy, and the behavior of people and countries in times of crisis. How to Think about War presents the most influential and compelling of these speeches in an elegant new translation by classicist Johanna Hanink, accompanied by an enlightening introduction.

Thucydides intended his account of the clash between classical Greece's mightiest powers—Athens and Sparta—to be a "possession for all time." Today, it remains a foundational work for the study not only of ancient history but also contemporary politics and international relations. How to Think about War features speeches that have earned the History its celebrated status—all of those delivered before the Athenian Assembly, as well as Pericles's funeral oration and the notoriously ruthless "Melian Dialogue." Organized by key debates, these complex speeches reveal the recklessness, cruelty, and realpolitik of Athenian warfighting and imperialism.

Author Bio

Thucydides (c. 460 BC–395 BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His History of the Peloponnesian War details the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens.