Alexander the Great

August 16, 2004
Alexander the Great's brilliant military campaigns in the fourth century B.C. spread not only his reputation as a heroic and ingenious leader but also the culture of ancient Greece throughout the known world. With his usual riveting storytelling, Cartledge (The Spartans
), chair of Cambridge University's classics faculty, narrates Alexander's life and rise to power. Cartledge takes issue with those who contend that Alexander's greatest contribution was to spread Hellenism. He argues instead that Alexander, while sincerely attached to Hellenism, was more concerned with the glory his conquests brought him. Cartledge provides detailed chronicles of Alexander's battles with the Persians, the Tyrians and the Babylonians as he demonstrates the young king's military genius and hunger for success in war. According to Cartledge, Alexander's love of hunting game offers the key to his life and reign. It led him, for example, to successfully adapt for military battles many hunting strategies, such as the surprise attack, a uniquely Alexandrine contribution. A number of appendixes, including a glossary and an extensive bibliography, enhance the book. Cartledge's knack for bringing history to life makes for an absorbing new biography of the legendary Greek leader. 37 b&w illus., 4 maps, 6 battle plans. Agent, Julian Alexander.
(Oct. 5)

Forecast:
Warner Brothers' November 5 release of
Alexander the Great, starring Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie and Anthony Hopkins, could give this a sales boost.

September 15, 2004
Cartledge (Greek history, Cambridge Univ.) sees Alexander as "one of those very few genuinely iconic figures, who have both remade the world they knew and constantly inspire us to remake our own worlds." He aims to provide "a book that does full justice to Alexander's extraordinary achievement while respecting the limits of the evidence and of the historian's craft." Ultimately, this work presents not so much a new understanding of Alexander as a provocative survey of how historians have perhaps misunderstood him. Virtually every chronicler who has sought "the historical Alexander" has faced the same dilemma: documentary evidence that, though "quite ample in quantity is poor in quality." In this lucid work, Cartledge's solution is to present these problems of interpretation as clearly as possible, offer his own estimate of Alexander, and conclude with the mild hope that he has achieved his "fairly modest aim of illustrating the sorts of source problems the hunter after the real' Alexander can encounter." Recommended for academic libraries and for public libraries with an interest in classical studies. Robert C. Jones, Warrensburg, MO

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