Barry S. Strauss (born November 27, 1953) is an American historian. He is a professor of history and humanistic studies at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, and a visiting Corliss Page Dean Fellow at the

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and formerly The Hoover Institute and Library on War, Revolution, and Peace) is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic ...

Life and work

Strauss is an expert on ancient military history and has written or edited numerous books, including ''The Battle of Salamis'' (2004), ''The Trojan War'' (2006), ''The Spartacus War'' (2009), ''Masters of Command'' (2013), ''The Death of Caesar'' (2015), ''Ten Caesars'' (2019), and ''The War That Made The Roman Empire'' (March 2022). His books have been translated into nineteen languages. Strauss holds a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

from

Cornell Cornell University is a private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson White in 1865. Since ...

and a Ph.D. from

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

(advised by

Donald Kagan Donald Kagan (; May 1, 1932August 6, 2021) was a Lithuanian-born American historian and classicist at Yale University specializing in ancient Greece. He formerly taught in the Department of History at Cornell University. Kagan was considered am ...

) and has been awarded fellowships by the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

, the

American School of Classical Studies at Athens The American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA; ) is one of 19 foreign archaeological institutes in Athens, Greece. It is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC). CAORC is a private not-for-profit federat ...

, the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome, Italy. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History 19th century In 1893, a group of American architect ...

, the MacDowell Colony for the Arts, the

Korea Foundation The Korea Foundation (KF; ) is a Nonprofit organization, non-profit public diplomacy organization established in 1991 to promote a better understanding of Korea and strengthen friendships in the international community. The foundation carries o ...

, and the Killam Foundation of Canada. He is an honorary citizen of Salamis, Greece. He is Director of Cornell's Program on Freedom and Free Societies and past Director of its Peace Studies Program.Cody, Paul (July 9, 1998)
"Classicist and historian studies that elusive thing called peace"
''Cornell Chronicle''. Strauss is editor of ''Turning Points in Ancient History'', a series of books from

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

. He sits on the editorial boards of '' MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History'', '' Historically Speaking: The Bulletin of the Historical Society'', ''The International Journal of the Classical Tradition'', and ''Strategika''. At Cornell, he teaches courses on the history of

ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

, war and peace in the ancient world, history of battle, introduction to military history, and specialized topics in ancient history. Strauss is an avid rower. In 1999, he published ''Rowing Against the Current: On Learning to Scull at Forty'' (Scribner). He has appeared in more than a dozen television documentaries. He has published op-ed pieces in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'', and ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'', been interviewed on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, and has been quoted on the front page of ''

'' and in other major newspapers. He lives in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

Books

; Author or co-author * ''Athens After the Peloponnesian War: Class, Faction, and Policy, 403–386 B.C.'' (1987);

Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University, an Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. It is currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, maki ...

. * ''The Anatomy of Error: Ancient Military Disasters and Their Lessons for Modern Strategists'' (1990); Co-author: Josiah Ober. * ''Fathers and Sons in Athens: Ideology and Society in the Era of the Peloponnesian War'' (1993);

. * ''Rowing Against the Current: On Learning to Scull at Forty'' (1999); Scribner * ''The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece—and Western Civilization'' (2004);

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

* ''The Trojan War: A New History'' (2006);

. * ''The Spartacus War'' (2009);

. * ''Western Civilization, Beyond Boundaries, Volume 2: Since 1560'' (6th edition, 2009); with Thomas F. X. Noble, Duane Osheim, Kristen Neuschel, Elinor Accampo, David D. Roberts, and William B. Cohen. * ''Masters of Command: Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, and the Genius of Leadership'' (2012);

. * ''The Death of Caesar: The Story of History's Most Famous Assassination'' (2015);

* ''Ten Caesars : Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine'' (2019);

* ''The War that Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium'' (2022);

; Editor or co-editor * ''Hegemonic Rivalry: From Thucydides to the Nuclear Age'' (1991; Series: New Approaches to Peace and Security); Co-edited with

Richard Ned Lebow Richard Ned Lebow is an American political scientist best known for his work in international relations, political psychology, classics and philosophy of science. He is Professor Emeritus of International Political Theory at the Department of War ...

. * ''War and Democracy: A Comparative Study of the Korean War and the Peloponnesian War'' (2001), East Gate Books. Co-edited with David R. McCann.

References

External links

Barry S. Strauss website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strauss, Barry S. 1953 births 20th-century American historians 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American classical scholars American male non-fiction writers American military historians Classical scholars of Cornell University Cornell University alumni Living people Scholars of ancient Greek history Historians of ancient Rome Yale University alumni