Barry Strauss is the Corliss Page Dean Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor of Humanistic Studies Emeritus at Cornell University. Strauss is a classicist and military and naval historian with a focus on ancient Greece and Rome and their legacy. He is dedicated to liberal education and to Western civilization, a subject about which he has long taught as well as co-authored a textbook. Strauss is a recognized authority on leadership and the lessons that can be learned from history’s greatest political and military leaders.
At Cornell Strauss was co-founder and Director of the Program on Freedom and Free Societies, which aims to enhance understanding and appreciation for constitutional liberty by working with students and by bringing distinguished speakers to campus who focus on the challenges to liberty in our time. At Hoover, Strauss is working on projects on classical leadership and on military deception from the Trojan War to the age of AI. Previously, he served as Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School.
Strauss’s latest book, Jews vs. Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion Against the World’s Mightiest Empire (Simon & Schuster), will be published in August. His previous books, several of them bestsellers, have been translated into twenty languages. His War that Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium was #1 on Amazon ‘s bestseller list and was named to four best books of the year lists. Three of his earlier books have also been named on lists of the year’s best books. Strauss is also Series Editor of Princeton’s Turning Points in Ancient History. Strauss has appeared on The History Channel, Netflix, CNN, PBS and The Discovery Channel and is host of the popular podcast, ANTIQUITAS: Leaders and Legends of the Ancient World.
Strauss has received fellowships from, among others, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Korea Foundation, and the American Academy in Rome. He received the Clark Teaching Award for his devotion to teaching from Cornell. He is a member of the advisory boards for the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship and the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History. In recognition of his scholarship, he was named an Honorary Citizen of Salamis, Greece.