Bullheaded Black Remembers Alexander: The Story of Alexander the Great's Invasion of the Middle East [Paperback]

J. L. Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2006

This is the story of Alexander the Great's preemptive strike in the Middle East to defend the new ideas and institutions of the Greeks from Persian tyrants.

Product Details

• Paperback: 178 pages
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing (July 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1412032865
• ISBN-13: 978-1412032865
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,338,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A history lesson for pre-adolescents, May 26, 2008

By 

Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bullheaded Black Remembers Alexander: The Story of Alexander the Great's Invasion of the Middle East (Paperback)

Bucephalus (Greek: "Ox-Head") was Alexander the Great's warhorse, which accompanied the conqueror from Macedonia to the portals of India.

BULLHEADED BLACK REMEMBERS ALEXANDER is author John Taylor's severely summarized account (74 pages of the volume's 163 pages of text) of Alexander's campaign against Persia and beyond to the Indus River. Taylor's name for Bucephalus is "Bullheaded Black."

On page 1, the reader encounters a winged Bucephalus sitting on a cloud with Pegasus, the winged horse-god of Greek mythology. In the first four chapters, the two get acquainted. While Pegasus maintains that the Greek pantheon of gods is where the action's at, Bucephalus extols the virtues of humans and life on the ground. The two then set off to visit Mt. Olympus, followed by a brief aerial tour of the known world high above the Mediterranean. Retiring for the night, Bucephalus begins telling Pegasus the story of his master, Alexander.

Well before the end of chapter four, it was apparent both from the format and tone of the story that this isn't a work for the adult reader. To appreciate the book, one must revert to age 10 or so. And, I don't mean this as a criticism.

In the subsequent ten chapters, Taylor, through the first-person narration of an anthropomorphized Bucephalus, introduces the reader to the friendship between the young Alexander and Hephaestion, the boys' teacher Aristotle, and the pair's entry as cavalrymen into the army of Alexander's father, Philip. Then, in quick succession after Philip's assassination, come the Delphic proclamation of Alexander as the son of Zeus, Alexander's solution to the Gordian knot, the first defeat of the Persian King Darius, the capture of Tyre, the conquest of Egypt and the foundation of Alexandria, the second defeat of Darius and the taking of Babylon, the burning of the Persian capital of Persepolis, the discovery of the body of the fugitive Darius, the campaign in Afghanistan, the marriage of Alexander to Roxana, and the invasion of Pakistan and India.

Sprinkled throughout the book are lessons and observations perhaps instructive for the young. As examples:

Aristotle advises: "... the written word is valuable and it is ancient and it is powerful, but that doesn't make a book completely true. Let no person and no book ever close your mind to reality ..."

After his visit to the Egyptian oracle at Siwah, Alexander states to his companions: "It seems the principal gods are one. God is one. It matters not the name."

Camping before Jerusalem, Alexander finds the Jews "a sad, forlorn people who longed for the past", and he observes: "(The Jews) could use, however, I am sure, a new religious leader, maybe someone who could help them believe that there is life after death, you know, like the resurrection the Egyptians believe in. The right man could give these people some hope that there may be a kingdom for them somewhere else, if not in this world." (If I was Jewish, I'd feel patronized, but it should be noted that Taylor was once a Mormon missionary.)

After capturing Babylon, Alexander volunteers: "I envision a collection of states, loosely held together by one protective central government. Peace would be the primary objective. War would be eliminated in the civilized world, and under the new system everyone's customs, traditions and beliefs would be protected and respected ... I can imagine a government that accepts every race and every religion and that is open to new and exciting political experiments."

In the final chapter, Bucephalus and Pegasus soar off again to find Alexander, whom they discover with Roxana carving the name of the former on a large, stone monument.

Bucephalus was fatally wounded at the 326 B.C. Battle of Hydaspes, during which Alexander defeated the Indian King Porus.

BULLHEADED BLACK REMEMBERS ALEXANDER contains a single one-page map of the Greek colonies along the western and central rims of Mediterranean, a map that seems curiously irrelevant since Alexander's conquests were along the eastern Med, and in Asia Minor and the Middle East. There's no map showing the route of Alexander's army. There's also a 9-page timeline showing the crucial dates in European and Middle Eastern history from 9000 B.C. to 1492 A.D., which seems of little use unless the reader could benefit from the general enlightenment.

Alexander's long and arduous slog from India back to Babylon, where he died at age 32, is given short shrift over two brief paragraphs.

I'm awarding four stars as an historical primer, but on the stringent condition that the target audience be pre-teen. I would be much less generous for an adult readership. For the latter group, either one of two books are infinitely more worthwhile, both of which are also minus the author's not-too-subtle political and religious predilections: Alexander of Macedon 356-323 B.C.: A Historical Biography by Peter Green, or The Nature of Alexander by Mary Renault.

The casting here of a warrior's horse as the book's narrator isn't unique. One previous volume that comes to mind is the novel Traveller by Richard Adams, Traveller having been the favorite mount of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Alexander's Life Through the Eyes of Bucephalus, August 7, 2008

By 

Lonnie E. Holder "The Review's the Thing" (Columbus, Indiana, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bullheaded Black Remembers Alexander: The Story of Alexander the Great's Invasion of the Middle East (Paperback)

Bucephalus was one of Alexander the Great's war horses. J.L. Taylor has taken the few things we know about Bucephalus and built a story around events that Bucephalus might have witnessed. The story has some weaknesses, but it is creative and imaginative.

We meet Bucephalus shortly after his death in battle. Bucephalus is conversing with Pegasus, a conversation that takes interesting turns as the two creatures compare their knowledge of life and the afterlife. Throughout the conversation Bucephalus, called Bullheaded Black by J.L. Taylor, keeps turning to events surrounding Alexander the Great. Eventually, after about page 50, the story turns to Bucephalus's remembrances of Alexander.

The story pauses quite a while on activities that occurred during Alexander's youth. We meet his teacher, Aristotle, and his best friend Hephaestion. Though the actual period of time covered by this portion of the book is short, it consumes another 31 pages of text. The final 80 pages of the book cover Alexander's exploits in conquering most of what was considered by westerners to be the known world at the time. Included are encounters with the Oracle at Delphi, the Gordian Knot, conquering Egypt, taking Babylon and making it his western capital, his marriage to Roxana, and the invasion of India.

Some portions of Alexander's vision of the world are included. Though Alexander was a brutal and vicious warrior, he practiced religious tolerance and envisioned a world where all countries were states. Alexander thought that all men should be equal, as long as they were working for the same goal; of course, that had to be Alexander's goal.

This book has a map of the western Mediterranean Sea, which is curious since most of the story takes place from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to India. Also curious is the timeline in the back of the book, which extends from the settlement of Asia Minor by farmers to the voyages of Columbus. Though Alexander is well-known, the length of time that Alexander affected the world was relatively short and the timeline further enhances the mere blink of an eye in which Alexander was a force in the western world.

I was relatively unenthused about the opening of the book. I thought Taylor could have spent less time on the conversations between Bucephalus and Pegasus and more time on Alexander. Once Taylor got into Alexander's story, the book moved along briskly and held my interest. However, one significant proviso: this book is oriented toward pre-teens and teens who are relatively unfamiliar with Alexander the Great. Readers who have already read about Alexander will find that this book covers ground covered better and in more depth in other books.

Taylor also submits interesting comments that border on insulting. One such example is his description of Jews as a "sad, forlorn people" who "still hold to the ancient idea that the written word is sacred..."

J.L. Taylor has provided an interesting fictional perspective of Alexander the Great. Though Taylor spends too much time on reaching Alexander's story, once there the book is a good overview of Alexander's life. However, anyone needing more depth or comprehensive information regarding Alexander's life should seek more comprehensive books.

Good luck!

5.0 out of 5 stars History & Mythology-a great combination, February 7, 2012

By 

R Owens - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bullheaded Black Remembers Alexander: The Story of Alexander the Great's Invasion of the Middle East (Paperback)

What a wonderful way to learn history! J.L.Taylor uses Alexander the Great's horse, Bucelus (also known as bullheaded black) to teach us mythology from Pegasus, philosophy from Aristotle and the history of Alex's campaigns all over Europe, Africa and the Middle East and going into Asia. We learn how areas and religions got their names while we tour the Ancient Wonders of the World. I'm not a fan of travel books, but this simple book tells me things in ways that stick. If I had to complain, it would be that each chapter needs to be fleshed out with more character development and more details of each event. The book is short and simple enough for YA and some children to understand. My favorite fun fact was learning that Alex didn't die in battle, but rather from a mixture of malaria and a night of hard drinking. My thanks to the author for providing my copy of his book with congratulations on his fine work.