History, political philosophy and constitutional law were born in Athens in the space of a single generation - the generation that lived through the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE). This remarkable age produced such luminaries as Socrates, Herodotus, Thucydides, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and the sophists, and set the stage for the education and early careers of Plato and Xenophon, among others. The School of History provides the fullest and most detailed intellectual and political history available of Athens during the late 5th century BCE, as it examines the background, the context and the decisive events shaping this society in the throes of war. This narrative ultimately leads to a fresh understanding of Athenian democratic culture, showing why and how it yeilded such extraordinary intellectual productivity.