Into the Land of Bones: Alexander the Great in Afghanistan (Hellenistic Culture and Society) (Paperback)

~ Frank L. Holt (Author) "Afghanistan, the world's inexhaustible wellspring of warlords and terrorists cannot escape the crosshairs of history..." (more)
Key Phrases: ancient coins, Mir Zakah, Alexander the Great, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Explicitly echoing Afghanistan's tragic recent history, Holt explores the difficulties Alexander the Great encountered when he marched into the country, whose ancient name was Bactria. Like subsequent British, Russian, and, now, American and allied armies, the Macedonian wunderking discovered in 329 B.C.E. that invading was easier than conquering. Not persuaded by Alexander's apologists both ancient and modern, Holt narrates the campaign as an unredeeming exercise in pillage and massacre, with the twist that the Bactrians gave as good as they got: Alexander's armies received more damage invading Bactria than in overthrowing the Persian Empire. Alexander attempted to gain the upper hand through policies alternating scorched-earth campaigns with diplomacy, but the Bactrians would renege, revolt, or retreat to the mountains with frustrating regularity. Sound uncannily familiar? Holt's striking parallels between the warlords Alexander pursued and their modern Afghan avatars result in that rarity of history books: one immediately practical to current-day events. Surely, the journalists, humanitarian workers, and officials rotating into Afghanistan today would profit from Holt's insights. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"A great book... It brings the results of scholarship to a larger public. The commanders of the Coalition forces in Afghanistan should be under orders to read it." - Jona Lendering, Bryn Mawr Classical Review "Holt's striking parallels between the warlords Alexander pursued and their modern Afghan avatars result in that rarity of history books: one immediately practical to current-day events. Surely, the journalists, humanitarian workers, and officials rotating into Afghanistan today would profit from Holt's insights." - Gilbert Taylor, Booklist "Into the Land of Bones is the fullest narrative of Alexander's campaigns in Afghanistan available in English. It is informed by a comprehensive knowledge of the ancient sources, geography, and archaeology of Afghanistan. The work uses the history of Alexander to raise provocative questions about current affairs. This is one of the most important works on Alexander to appear in the last ten years." - Stanley Burstein, author of Outpost of Hellenism: The Emergence of Heraclea on the Black Sea"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (September 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520249933
• ISBN-13: 978-0520249936
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #75,850 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Topical and Relevant, June 8, 2007

By	K. Busby - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I think this book's greatest strength (and weakness) is its constant comparison of Alexander's invasion of Afghanistan and later occupations by the British, the Russians, and the Americans. For today's audience, there are many references to culturally well-known people and events such as when he compares Roxanne, Alexander's Bactrian bride, with Sharbat Gula, an Afghani girl made famous on the cover of National Geographic in one of that magazine's most famous photos and later revisited by the magazine.

The weakness of this lies in the fact that many of the current references will quickly become dated, and future readers won't identify with his comparisons nearly as well.

It was a well-written, fast-paced look at one small part of Alexander's conquests. I'm glad I read it and would recommend it to others. My one hesitation is that he follows a book written in detail on not only the events, but the motives and feelings of the individuals, with an appendix on his sources which states that there is so little factual data remaining about Alexander's reign -- and most of that contradictory -- that it raises the question of how reliable his conclusions are. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book, and will undoubtedly reread it.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A History of Campaign with Modern Comparisons, January 2, 2006

By	Wade C. Barnes - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Into the Land of Bones: Alexander the Great in Afghanistan (Hellenistic Culture and Society) (Hardcover)

This book is an interesting historical account of Alexander's campaign through Bactria (modern Afghanistan). As an added bonus, the author compares the difficulties and challenges in waging an Afghan war experienced by Alexander to those experienced in modern history by Great Britain, the USSR, and America.

Into the Land of Bones provides a much-needed insight on the continuity and change of Afghanistan's culture and history. One can only hope that US military strategists have fully familiarized themselves with the historical patterns in regional warfare described here by Holt.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Argument from history is always dangerous and dubious, February 2, 2008

By	Jonathan Rubinstein (New York, N.Y.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Professor Holt has written a superb book about Alexander the Great's sojourn in what we now call Afghanistan. It is unlikely that he would have written this incisive and careful gem if we had not been attacked by fanatical murderers who were based there. We were attacked, brilliantly and successfully, and we have yet to bring to justice those who plotted this attack. In short, we are still not winning this war we have declared. But Professor Holt is not writing about this directly. What he has done is describe Alexander's attempts to pacify the region in preparation for his assault on what we now know as Pakistan and India.

Alexander was the model of all conquerors after him, not only because he was remarkably successful but because he was audacious and brilliant, as well as remarkably brave and vicious, even by contemporary standards. As Holt shows, Alexander never did pacify the tribes of this region, in part because the geography of mountain valleys, desert and vast open grasslands were a nursery for tribalism. Holt leaves it to the reader to draw conclusions about our sojourn in Afghanistan. He does not compare our policy with Alexander's. How could he since we do not have a real policy. Half of Pakistan could as easily be in Afghanistan, Pashtuns living on both sides of the border.
What Holt does show us with economy and brilliance, that despite the passage of two millenia, dramatic changes in religion and technology, there remains a profound commitment to feud, tribal loyalty, warrior culture and the oppression of women that no democratic country such as we claim to be can bring to heel without destroying our values and self-respect.