Important Thinkers
Wikipedia on Edward N Luttwak.
Luttwak’s body of work as listed on Google Scholar.
Articles of Interest by Luttwak.
Book Reviews by Luttwak of Interest
But even though no human culture should be alien to us, and curiosity about the past, regardless of what ensued from it, needs no justification, it is simply foolish to deny that the history of the Greeks before, during, and after the Peloponnesian War is of incomparably greater significance than the deeds of Aztecs, African tribes, Moguls, or ancient Chinese—and precisely because of what ensued from that history. Instead of surviving only as a passive residue, of great scholarly and antiquarian interest perhaps but no more, the record of what a few Greeks said and did so long ago still resonates vibrantly in our own day—and not least for Latin Americans, Africans, Indians, and Chinese. The comedies of the Greeks make us laugh and their tragedies make us weep, we know their names and even their feelings as we share in their great events, glorious victories, crushing defeats, or agonized debates. But it is above all the ideas of those 5th-century Greeks that are so completely alive for us.
This is above all a wonderfully attractive work. Once the reading begins, the four volumes seem not too long but too short; it was in the middle of the second volume that I began to dread the parting to come. Given the interest of the subject, only a poor style could dissuade, but Kagan’s style is light and perfectly lucid, always elegant, never intrusive. For all its care and completeness, Kagan’s careful scholarship does not at any point deprive us of the dramatic excitement which makes the reading of Thucydides himself as stirring as it is instructive.
It seems most unlikely that the fate of Kagan’s four volumes will be settled once and for all by their current publication, for he too has written a work that will attract the continuing attention of future generations. In the meantime, to read these volumes is a delight not to be missed: seldom is such profound education so amply pleasurable.