SOCRATES, THE MARTYRED MESSIAH
[AN ESSENTIAL HISTORY OF CLASSICAL ATHENS]

Concerning the philosopher Socrates, everyone should become well-acquainted with this extraordinarily ethical, courageous, and eccentric person. No more unusual or worthy human being ever lived.

I have tried to be as objective as possible, to evaluate as justly and keenly as I can the Athenian democracy and Socrates’ activity within it. My views are strongly held and candidly written, yet I think all the facts are there for you to decide for yourself the relative merits of Socrates and the democracy which killed him.

Then there is the matter of sheer chance and coincidence. It enters the equation, unwanted and complicating. Also, as I see it, unfairly. Such is life, sometimes quite complicated, and unfair.