The Greek historian Thucydides is not only the preeminent historian of the ancient world but in many ways a remarkably modern political analyst and reporter. Book I contains his statement of methodology, his account of the build-up to war and especially the speeches giving the motivations of the combatants. It is constantly cited not only by classicists, but also by political and military thinkers in general. Although unjustly denigrated as "chaotic", it contains experiments in different kinds of historical writing…