The rise and fall of states according to Greek authors Book

I had to read this book for a class on Postmodern Political Thought. Our goals in that class were narrow, and generally the lesson plan revolved on Heidegger's work (whom the professor regarded as the creator, and only worthy purveyor, of modern existentialism)and Strauss' response to it. While Heidegger is a mind without equal in modern philosophy, Strauss holds his own in this introductory work.
I found the last essay, "Progress or Return?", to be particularly enlightening. One always hears how society must progress to a more just state but nobody is willing to acknowledge the existence of a metaphysical phenomenon like justice. So then what, exactly, are we progressing to? This is a grossly understated paraphrase of his argument but its difficult to summarize the work in a few seconds.
If you refuse, like some, to read Strauss because of the oft-cited relationship to Neo-Conservatism you're really missing out. Like the other reviewer I don't feel that is a treatise on conservative political thought and It would be unfortunate to ignore and engaging and insightful work simply because of your partisan political identity. And if that is such a big deal to you here's some food for thought; Heidegger, the founder of modern existential thought which seems to have influenced modern political thought more than any other, was a Nazi...