The author, a historian and novelist at the University of Texas, presents a highly readable biography of Alexander the Great. Due to the author's work as a novelist, the book is a page-turner and, although stuffed with information, is not dragged down by overly academic prose.
Macedonia was a "barbarian" feudal on the northern borderlands of the Ancient Greek world. This began to change under Alexander's father, Philip, who had spent his youth as a hostage in Thebes and learned a lot from that city-state's military expertise. Upon becoming king, Philip united the Macedonians and subjugated the Greeks. Philip also pushed Macedonian culture in a more Greek direction, with Alexander even being tutored by the legendary Aristotle.
Philip was eventually murdered, perhaps with the involvement of Alexander. Before his death, Philip had planned an invasion of modern-day Turkey, at that time ruled by the Persian Empire, to "liberate" the Greek populations of the region. Alexander immediately commenced this invasion, but he did not stop there. He moved into Egypt, which he "liberated" from the Persians (much to the joy of the local populace). From there, Alexander marched his forces into the Iranian heartland of the Persian empire and killed the Persian king.
After killing the Persian king, Alexander marched his forces into Afghanistan, where they spent several years fighting a brutal guerrilla war in the mountains (something the Soviets and the Americans would do thousands of years later). When he finally subjugated the remaining Persian forces in Afghanistan, Alexander took his troops to Pakistan, where they defeated several local kingdoms. Alexander hoped to reach the "Ocean" which, in the inaccurate geography of the Macedonians of his day, was thought to be not far from Pakistan.
However, Alexander's forces were growing weary. First, the troops had been on campaign for nearly decade. Second, the monsoon weather and horrifying battles with war elephants had traumatized the troops. And third, Alexander's newfound role as "king of Asia" alienated his Macedonian troops, as Alexander embraced oriental despotism (such as having subjects prostrate before him and presenting himself as a god) and steadily replaced Macedonian fighters with Persians.
Alexander's weary troops mutinied and demanded to return home. Begrudgingly, Alexander agreed, although he began planning expeditions to the western Mediterranean: Italy, Libya, Spain. But on the journey home, he died of a mysterious illness -- very likely poisoning by his increasingly angry and frightened subordinates.
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Wrong author pic and bio
I personally know the gentleman that wrote this book. He told me he thought I'd enjoy it. I asked him if he'd sign it if I purchased it. Well looking for it I noticed the author and bio are wrong. I made darn sure he wrote it. I even made another friend of his back this claim up. I was very happy the dust cover had the correct information on it. I did get my autograph. The gentleman is 98 years old. He will be 99 in December and I've learned so much from him. I can't wait to dive into this book!
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Kusal
An outstanding book. Green's perspective combines unemotional history with ...
Reviewed in India on February 21, 2017Louise Dai
A great book to learn about the legendary king
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 31, 2015