I originally purchased this book when I started college to prepare for my Senior Oral Exam, I skimmed but didn't really retain much of each writer's style save perhaps Herodotus. After thoroughly reading the excerpted selections for these four writers, I can say the my decision to skim it originally was the correct one. If M. I. Finley, the selector of this volume, gave an accurate representation of each writer through the excerpts he chose then Herodotus and Xenophon are the best readings while Thucydides gets bogged down in speeches and Polybius in the discourse of governmental comparisons. However if the excerpts aren't representative of each writer than the fault is with Finley. ( )

Edition: // Descr: vi, 501 p. 18 cm. // Series: The Viking Portable Library Call No. { 948 F43 2 } Selected and Edited by M.I. Finley. // //

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A Penguin collection of extracts from Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon and Polybius, showing the start and early evolution of historical writing. As I am less familiar than I would like with the historical background, a lot of this sailed over my head (I would have liked more footnotes and maps), but I appreciated the raw approach of Herodotus, the critical attitude of all of them to other writers (not that this stopped them making stuff up themselves) and the closing passage from Polybius comparing the Roman constitution with the constitutions of less successful states (he singles out Rome's institutionalisation of religion as a key factor). ( )

One of my favorite books from college. ( )