Alexander the Great: A Reader [Hardcover]

Ian Worthington (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0415291860 | ISBN-13: 978-0415291866 | Edition: 1

This exciting new volume is an indispensable guide for undergraduates to the study of Alexander the Great, showing the problems of the ancient source material, and making it clear that there is no single approach to be taken.
The eleven thematic chapters contain a broad selection of the most significant published articles about Alexander, examining the main areas of debate and discussion:

• the sources
• Alexander's background
• Alexander's aims
• Alexander and the Greeks
• Alexander and Asia
• Alexander, India and the Final Years
• Alexander as General
• Alexander and "The unity of Mankind"
• Alexander and Deification
• Alexander and Conspiracies
• Alexander: The 'Great'?

The Reader has the distinctive feature of translating a substantial number of the more inaccessible primary sources; each chapter is also prefaced with a succinct introduction to the topic under consideration.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Alexander's reign is the focus of a rich scholarly literature, but bringing the results of that scholarship into the classroom is difficult because it is not easy for students to access. All teachers of ancient history, therefore, will welcome this book. This excellent source book belongs in all university and college libraries. Essential.
–S.M. Burstein, Choice

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (February 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415291860
• ISBN-13: 978-0415291866
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,732,359 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars unbalanced, February 21, 2004

By 

Nick Welman (Eindhoven, NBr Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alexander the Great: A Reader (Paperback)

This volume contains some interesting articles. Some submissions (Brunt pages 45-51; Narain pages 161-167) are truly rewarding and interesting. But others (Worthington pages 303-316) are just a waste of paper and ink. In general, the editor of this compilation of academic articles seems to lack empathy with the Ancient world to truly understand what he is dealing with. So the whole collection is unbalanced - in quality, perspective, scientific approach. Only readers who are already very familiar with academic studies about Alexander should be able to make a sharp distinction between the worthwile articles and the rubbish.

What annoys me is that of all the published articles, no single one is has a proper date. There is a long article by J.F.C. Fuller, who died in 1966. Fuller was born in 1878 (!), took up interest in Alexander in 1917 (!) and wrote his major works about Alexander around 1957. But Fuller's article in Worthington's reader is published without any proper dating, confusing readers to expect that it might be especially written for Worthington's 2003 edition of "A Reader". That can't be true. Mister Fuller would have been 125 years old!

So Worthington's edition - to me - seems like a hoax.

That doesn't mean that 'some' of the articles aren't truly worthwile. That's why there are still 2 stars in my rating. But in general: I fear that books like this tend to downgrade the overall reputation of a scientist / editor in the long run.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars great price, January 20, 2011

By 

R. RODRIGUEZ (NEW JERSEY, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alexander the Great: A Reader (Paperback)

this book is alittle dry and boring but when you need it for a class you do what you got to do. the price was also great comnpared to the book store and fast shipping.

3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent collection of material, December 29, 2004

By 

John Williamson (Berkeley, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alexander the Great: A Reader (Paperback)

Everything you could want to know about the problems and controversies affecting Alexander will be found in this book. A gem of a book, a must for anyone interested in Greek history.