Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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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
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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8 of 8 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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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Fractured but Recognizable Alexander, May 14, 2002
Why did Alexander and his men risk their lives across so many continents and seas to mingle with the exotic peoples of Africa and Asia? The question intrigues most of us but British journalist and filmmaker Michael Wood takes a more active approach by brushing aside the texts and retracing Alexander's itinerary with a BBC camera crew. Illustrious scholars like Sir Aurel Stein had done it before, albeit for only a part of the route, but unattended by any Media hype. Another Englishman, Thomas Coryat (AD 1616), thought he had seen relics of Alexander in India. He was greatly impressed by a magnificent (Asokan) pillar and presumed that it must have been erected by Alexander the Great 'in token of his victorie' over Porus. Wood does not know that Coryat was right, that the Delhi-Topra Pillar was indeed brought from the Beas area where Alexander had come.
Wood's overflowing energy leaves us stunned - he retraces Alexander's journey by car, on horseback and camel, by boat, and at times on foot, yet his hyperbole often betrays a rather obtuse prognosis. He naively accepts the negative views of some Greeks and of the people conquered by Alexander but remains suspicious of any pro-Alexander view, labelling these as propaganda. Ignoring the Sanskrit or Pali sources, he tries to reconstruct Alexander using only the Greek and Roman texts. He rightly says "Alexander's conquest of most of the known world was a crucial turning point in history which opened up contacts between Europe and Asia, paved the way for the Roman Empire and the spread of Islam, and unleashed astonishing historical energies that continue to affect the world today", but misses probably the most important component - Buddhism. Toynbee noted the close links between Buddhism and Hellenism and Tarn gave the clue that the Brahmans(the priestly party opposed to the Buddhists) always fought with Alexander. Moreover wood misses that the real name of Calanus, Alexander's Guru, was Sphines which is the same as Aspines or Asvaghosa, the great Buddhist scholar. As Coryat realized, some of the Asokan pillars were in fact altars of Alexander. Wood has not understood why Plutarch wrote that Alexander's altars were considered to be sacred even by the Mauryas.Ignoring the usual Dionysius-Semiramis stories Wood boldy ponders why Alexander took the most dangerous route through Gedrosia, suffering huge casualties (both civilian and military) from lack of water, food, and the extreme heat. He plays with the theory that Alexander may have been exploring whether cities could be founded along the coastline for trade between the India and the Persian Gulf. The simple answer here is that Alexander was chasing the mighty Moeris who was in fact Chandragupta Maurya of Prasii ([another website]). Wood does not even dream that part of the Gulf area in those days could have been part of India. Why did Alexander celebrate his victory over the Indians at Kahnuj? Interestingly, although Wood does not recognize Moeris, unlike most modern writers and even Tarn, he suspects that both Hephaistion and Alexander may have been poisoned by a group of Alexander's 'exasperated and disillusioned' senior officers (p. 230). He describes a Zoroastrian temple in Iran where he learns that Alexander is regarded as a devil and called Iskander Gujaste but does not realize that Alexander's enemies united under an anti-Buddhist Zoroastrian nationalist platform. The successes of both Perdiccas and Seleucus were due to the backing they got from Zoroastrian nationalists. Although Wood fails at the end to piece together a convincing real life Alexander, the book remains enjoyable on the whole.
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