I am so glad I read Thucydides. Others have remarked that he's unique how he combines historical research and precision with a really compassionate human perspective. They are right. He completely deserves his medieval reputation for the father of historical writing. It was a major undertaking and took me about four months to get through.

I found his account of the Peloponnesian War itself applicable to current events. Humans are pretty much the same, in whatever era. In a politically contentious 2020, it was sort of encouraging and discouraging to go, ah. Athens pretty much handled disagreements equally awkwardly. I absolutely plan to assign this to my kids as part of their high school education.

I personally enjoyed this book because I would tell my husband fascinating bits, and often he was familiar with it and could tell me something contemporary military historians had done with that tidbit! It was like having my own book group.