The volume continues the late Peloponnesian War, tracing Athens' recovery after the Sicilian disaster, the political upheavals that led to the short-lived oligarchy of the Four Hundred, and the polarizing role of Alcibiades whose shifting alliances with Sparta and Persia affect Greek strategy. It analyzes Persian satrap Tissaphernes' policy of balancing Athens and Sparta, recounts naval actions and the aftermath of Arginusae, and supplies extended chapters reassessing the Sophists and offering a substantial portrait of Socrates, arguing for a reinterpretation of their influence on Athenian thought and institutions.