This book compares Thucydides' presentation of warfare and war materials in the narrative portions of his History to Pericles' statements about Athenian warfare and war materials in the History. It argues that Pericles is an historical character in Thucydides' History, and that Thucydides does not share his views, but composed Pericles' speeches to display Pericles' character and views to the reader; moreover, it argues that Thucydides carefully introduced and surrounded Pericles' speeches with contrasting narrative illustrations.

One important reason to review the relationship between the two is that Thucydides is frequently identified with Pericles' intransigent imperialism. Many scholars hold that Pericles speaks for Thucydides, or that Thucydides was dependent on Periclean ideas. Many hold that after Athens lost the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides rewrote his History to justify Pericles' policies. Others argue that the first part of the History displays devotion to Periclean imperialism, but that the latter part of the book shows disappointment with this ideal. All of these arguments condemn Thucydides to a longer or shorter association with Pericles' fundamental chauvinism: an attitude that Athens deserved to rule whatever lands and peoples she had won through acquisitive warfare. The ethical implications of this association have not gone unnoticed, and Thucydides has been associated not only with Pericles' imperialism, but also with his materialism. Well-known scholars argue that Thucydides' monetary interests in Thrace made him a partisan of Periclean politics, or more broadly, that Thucydides was a defender of Athenian greed.