Thomas G. West
Plato's "Apology of Socrates": An Interpretation, with a New Translation.
Cornell University Press, 1979. First edition. 0801411270 243 pages.
Volume, measuring approximately 6" x 9", is boundin brown cloth, with black lettering to spine. Book is like new, with label affixed to front flyleaf reading "With the compliments of Cornell University Press, Ithaca." Dust jacket displays smudge to upper outside corner of front panel and sunning to spine. 
"The "Apology of Socrates," probably the most widely read Platonic dialogue, holds a central position in the body of Plato's works. This book offers the first book-length commentary in English on the "Apology," as well as a new, literal translation, accompanied by notes that elucidate important Greek terms and identify  contemporary political events and personages referred to by Socrates.
Following the example of Leo Strauss, Professor West treats the dialogue as a highly unified and thoroughly coherent work of literary art. His interpretation consists of a section-by-section discussion of the text that places each part in the context of the work as a whole. "Plato supplies us through his words with most of the information needed to understand the work, " he writes. "Its parts are bound to one another with the same rigorous necessity as are the part of a living being. Every sentence, every word, seems endowed with significance in the elaborately fashioned whole." 
In the course of his commentary, the author addresses broader questions relating to Plato's political philosophy. He shows that the "Apology" conveys a comprehensive view of the nature of political life, attempting to answer the crucial questions of who rules and who ought to rule. "Close study of the "Apology"" he says, "affords an appropriate introduction to Platonic thought generally, as well as being indispensable to anyone seeking adequate knowledge of the ancients."