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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This is what history is about..., March 2, 2000
This review is from: In the Footsteps of Alexander The Great: A Journey from Greece to Asia (Hardcover)
Michael Woods is a journalist and historian, who in past works has shown an aptitude in taking history out of the books and conveying rather pedantic research to the average person without insulting intelligence nor overwhelming with a wealth of detail (something a lot of historians, this one included, sometimes do). He does another stellar job with this work. Mr Woods example is one worth emulating for would-be historic tour guides. History is NOT dates and names; it's people, geography and events. By literally following "in the footsteps of Alexander the Great" he not only takes the viewer/reader to the actual sites of some of the most famous places in western history-Mr Woods also gives Westerners a glimpse of vibrant, ancient, and colorful societies in Syria, Iran, and Afghanistan. Places that the Western media usually stereotype as raving Islamic lunatics. These glimpses into societies where Alexander ("Iskander") is still a folk hero/devil, are fascinating, and worth the price of the book/video alone. The trip itself was historical research in that it contributed answers to some of the mysteries regarding Alexander's campaigns. Mr Woods is also an excellent writer, the prose is lively and reflects the author's enthusiasm for the subject. Is the work an exhaustive, authoritative history? Probably not and that's why I gave four instead of five stars. As another reviewer aptly put it don't use this as your only source. But, it is an excellent introduction and secondary source to a man who literally changed western (and middle eastern) civilization by the age of 33. Highly recommended.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
An Anachronistic Approach to Alexander, July 18, 2006
Wood's book is problematic in a variety of ways, but it's predominant flaw is that it examines the actions and personality of a man who lived 2300 years ago through the prism of a thoroughly contemporary morality. Wood is fond of passing judgement, and does so with all the political correctness (and all the ancestral guilt) of a 21st century Anglo-Saxon man. To impose our world view on the world of Alexander and on the man himself is to disfigure them both. Behavior that seems odd, irrational or morally reprehensible to us had a completely different significance in Macedonian society (and Persian society) at that period in history. Alexander was acting within his reality -- he was a man of his time, and to lose sight of this leads Wood to misinterpret. He enjoys it rather too much for the account to feel balanced.
The depth of his research one cannot vouch for, but however extensive it might have been, the story he presents to the reader is incomplete and his exploration of the material is shallow. The 'facts' he presents are sometimes incorrect, and when they are events whose truth remains in doubt, he fails to mention it unless it suits his agenda. He dispatches significant events in Alexander's life in a sentence or two, yet spends entire paragraphs on his own feelings about the journey and in freely imagining for the reader what a man from another culture was feeling and thinking over 2000 years ago. He takes account of biases in the source material rather selectively, and often does not even identify his sources.
I have read better researched and better considered books on this subject. The photographs that accompany the book are excellent, and the maps quite good and easy to follow, but the content is best passed over.
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19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
This is one of the worst!, March 13, 2000
This review is from: In the Footsteps of Alexander The Great: A Journey from Greece to Asia (Hardcover)
Sloppy, inaccurate, sensationalist, poorly researched, biased, oversimplified, and hysterical; I could go on for some time in this vein. Quite simply, Woods' effort is awful. More often than not he takes Alexander out of context, and uses his sources with a selectivity that belies belief. Worst still are his glaring falsehoods. For example (and I will confine myself to only one), he speaks of the route in Egypt that he, Woods, followed from Siwah oasis to that of Bahariya (historians aren't too sure whether A himself took this path, but it seems likely that he did). He claims that the trip took twelve hours, that the 'track' is easily lost, that after 150 kms of the 450km route there is no more water to be found, and that he passed no other vehicle all day. I know the route very well indeed, and all of Woods' claims are factually incorrect. The trip takes seven hours; the 'barely visible track' is, in fact, a road and is only obscure at one point for a distance of less than two to three km; there are six military checkpoints, each located eighty to ninety km along from the previous (a fact which our intrepid danger loving explorer does not point out), and all of them have water available; four of these checkpoints are vehicled. Finally, he seems to think that he is traversing "The Great Sand Sea." He is not; that particular portion of the Sahara lies some distance to the South of his route.So much for any attempt to present the public with some facts as opposed to this self aggrandising Indiana Jones type rubbish. I need not point out to any person of intelligence that if Michael Woods can make such colossal errors when he has actually experienced that which he is writing about, his historical expertise must be even more suspect. And it is.This is tabloid journalism brought to bear on ancient history. The result is predictably twisted and distorted. He dismisses sources when they speak well of Alexander but later thinks them quite infallible when they treat of his negative aspects. The fascination with Alexander lies in the fact that beside his flaws he also has virtues - and they are not just militaristic. Woods has failed to notice this. It is obviously impossible for any modern to access with totality the mindset of the Ancients but one should at least try, if only in an effort to understand their motives. Sadly this never even occurs to Woods. He presents facts as fiction when he finds them disagreeable, and does the reverse with uncorroborated rumours when it might make for a good headline. He persistently judges ancient events and actions with his own modern ethics and, not surprisingly, creates a monster. Not content with this, he vividly colours his picture with such exaggerations as 'drunken orgies.' No source whatsoever mentions any such thing. Drink yes; orgies never. And this is only one of over a hundred stark discrepancies that I found, with increasing exasparation, before I stopped counting! One realises, of course, that he is not setting out to create the definitive last word on the Macedonian, but nonetheless this is atrocious stuff - far too selective and personalised to make for an informative account, let alone good history.If his publication has anything to offer at all, it is its illustrations which are many and, without exception, excellent. Full credit to the team who accompanied him. Hopefully, their next expedition will be headed by a person of broader and more informed abilities! Buy this travesty only if you like pictures. Otherwise, if you wish to know about Alexander's routes, I would refer you to Engels' work "The Logistics of the Macedonian Army," available on this site.
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