'To his credit, Professor Samons resolutely refuses to view Pericles with rose-colored glasses. Instead, he shatters the illusions entertained by his predecessors, emphasizing the degree to which the radical democracy in Athens fostered and was fostered by a brutal, ruthless, exploitative imperialism and exhibited a suicidal ambition for further expansion that, thanks in part to the vision of undying glory and grandeur deliberately projected by Pericles, knew no bounds.' Paul A. Rahe, Hillsdale College, Michigan