Barry Strauss papers

Barry S. Strauss was born on November 27, 1953. He completed his undergraduate studies at Cornell University, earning a B.A. in 1974, and later obtained his Ph.D. from Yale University. Strauss began his academic career at Cornell University in the 1980s, teaching history and classics, and served as the Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor in Humanistic Studies.

Over his career, he has taught courses on ancient Greece, war and peace in the ancient world, the history of battle, and military history. Barry Strauss’ nine books on ancient history include The Battle of Salamis (2004), The Trojan War: A New History (2006), The Spartacus War (2009), Masters of Command (2012), The Death of Caesar (2015), Ten Caesars (2019), The War That Made the Roman Empire (2022), Jews vs. Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion Against the World’s Mightiest Empire (2025).

He was awarded the 2025 Bradley Prize for his contributions to the understanding of Western civilization and the principles of American exceptionalism. His books have been translated into multiple languages and have appeared on various best-seller lists. He has also been recognized for his excellence in teaching with awards such as Cornell’s Clark Award for Excellence in Teaching. Strauss has served in various leadership roles at Cornell, including chair of the Department of History and director of the Peace Studies Program Cornell’s Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, where he studied modern engagements from Bosnia to Iraq and from Afghanistan to Europe. He also served as Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School. He is an expert on military strategy. He is currently director as well as a founder of Cornell’s Program on Freedom and Free Societies, which investigates challenges to constitutional liberty at home and abroad. He is also the Corliss Page Dean Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.