Thucydides' military and diplomatic acumen, his understanding of human psychology, and his narrative skill have shaped the writing of history for over two thousand years. Backgrounds and Contexts provides supplementary selections from Xenophon, Herodotus, Plato, Machiavelli, Hobbes, and twentieth-century journalist, Walter Karp. Interpretations includes richly varied assessments of Thucydides by Theodor Gomperz, Francis M. Cornford, Charles N. Chochrane, R. G. Collingwood, Albert Cook, Cynthia Farrar, Adam Parry, Glen Bowersock, Robert Gilpin, Michael Doyle, and Gregory Crane.

The edition also includes fourteen maps, a chronology, a glossary, a selected bibliography, and an index.