Strauss grew up in and around New York City. He received bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in history from Cornell and Yale. He has lived and studied in Greece, Germany, and Israel and has traveled extensively in Italy, Turkey, Croatia, Cyprus, Jordan, and other countries with classical sites; he has also taken part in archaeological excavations. He speaks and reads seven foreign languages.

Aside from a brief stint as a newspaper reporter, he has made his career as a college teacher. Back at Cornell, he is professor of history and classics. A former director of Cornell’s Peace Studies Program, he is currently director as a well a founder of its Program on Freedom and Free Societies. He considers himself the luckiest person alive to be able to spend his time reading, writing, and teaching.

He is the author of six books, including The Battle of Salamis, named one of the Best Books of 2004 by the Washington Post and The Trojan War: A New History, a main selection of the History Book Club. His most recent book, The Spartacus War, appeared in March, 2009. The books have translated into six languages. He is co-author of two other books, and co-editor of still two other books. He has written many scholarly articles, reviews, and book chapters. He is Series Editor of the Princeton History of the Ancient World. His newspaper articles have appeared in the L.A. Times, the Washington Post, and Newsday. He has written on the history of warfare for MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, Naval History, and Parameters: U.S. Army War College Quarterly. He has been interviewed for A&E, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, the National Geographic Channel, the BBC and PBS and he has spoken at many universities, institutes, and war colleges here and abroad. His fellowships and honors include the Heinrich Schliemann Fellowship at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for University Teachers, and Cornell’s Clark Award for Excellence in Teaching.

He loves to hike, especially in Mediterranean countries, especially in the spring when wildflowers blanket the fields around the ruins. He has long been looking for his favorite island but he expects that the process will take many more years of research.

He lives in Ithaca, New York with his wife and two children. He rows single and double sculls on Cayuga, practices yoga, and sings jazz. His children are teaching him how to draw, fish, and throw a curve ball and his wife is teaching him how to cook. •

Simon and Schuster Author Site
includes video clip