Rating: 
Summary: The Finest Biography on Alexander
Review: It has been thirty years since Peter Green wrote his masterful biography of Alexander the Great. I first read this great book when I was in 9th Grade doing a report on Alexander. Years later I am still captivated by the thoroughness and detail that Green gives to Alexander. What makes this book great is not just the immense amount of information that Green has presented. Professor Green whisks the reader away to the time of Philip and Alexander, and gives a excellent portrayal of the friction between Greece and Macedon at the time, until King Philip took power and set the stage for Alexander's conquests. This book also contains an amazing number of characters. From Aristotle to Parmenio, Green throws in the players who shaped Alexander's life. The only problem with this is that many of the characters have the same name, and it was hard for me to sort out the names. Green's biography almost reads like a novel, and is full of action and romance. Peter Green has written the best biography of Alexander. Hopefully, this fine book will be the definitive biography of the young man who conquered two million miles of territory and brought Greece, Persia, and India together.
Rating:
Summary: No Romanticism Here!
Review: The book starts with the latter part of Philip II's life, and continues through to his son's (Alexander's) death. The detail in this book is absolutely breathtaking from battle plans to routes taken and more. This book describes Alexander without bias and does not fall into the common mythification of Alexander as so many other books tend to have done. Hardships of moving an army and its non-combatants (~100,000 people) for over 8 years and 17,000 miles across some of Earth's toughest terrain and environments are described in clever detail... the nomadic tribes encountered, the established citadels sieged, the methods used to siege these structures, the cost of maintaining an army and hired mercenaries, how Alexander dealt with individuals and groups... it's all here! Building a massive mole to Tyre, the battle at the Granicus, Gaugamela, the Jhelum and more! Peter Green also details the complexities of generalship and how Alexander's influence from his boyhood tutor, Aristotle, taught him the importance of bringing scientists, botanists, historiographers, geographers and others on his epic move across Asia and southeast Europe. The battle of the military minds between Alexander, Porus, Memnon of Rhodes and of course, Darius, really peaks one's interest! Read exactly how Alexander was able to defeat an army of 100,000 men with only 47,000 soldiers (a tactic repeated later in history by Marlborro, and more recent generals). The author also takes great pains in separating propaganda and reality in this book so that the reader can understand fully the complexity of Alexander's incredible life. From founding cities in today's Afghanistan to jumping over a citadel wall to take on an army by himself, this book has it all... not bad for someone who couldn't swim! I loved this book, and found myself taking over 100 pages of notes because I was so interested! Highly recommended peice of academic literature.
Rating:
Summary: "Let the Strongest Rule"
Review: I have to give this book my full recommendation. Green really has done his homework as he puts together the jig-saw puzzle of Alexander's life with brilliant clarity. I LOVED this book. If you want a primer on Alexander in preparation for the two blockbuster Alexander movies coming out in the near future, look no further. Alexander truly had one of the most action-packed lives, and it makes for a fascinating read. My only criticism is that the maps provided are poor quality. I had to get another book on ancient Greece and Persia to place all of the different city-states, nations, and satraps.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting, well documented, educational account!
Review: Green's work on Alexander, begins with the legends about his conception, the family and culture he was born into, his early education (I learned alot here about how small the Greek world was in relation to the great minds of the era), his rise to power, the intrigue, and ultimately the military genius of such a young man. Green does an excellent job of explaining what is known as fact, what is conjecture and what the competing opinions are. He takes historical data, legends and myths and weaves them into a comprehensive study of a historical Alexander who at times was bigger than even his legends and at times was much smaller. Green provides enough information to comprehend the world in which Alexander lived, which makes understanding the man easier. It is truly amazing to read about these events so long ago in such a refreshing style. It amazed me at times how much Alexander's campaigns sounded like accounts of the U.S. Civil war or other "recent" military events. Alexander and Green's masterful study of the man are both GREAT!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Account of a Complex Man
Review: I really enjoyed this book and the unbiased perspective that Green took in telling the tale. He paints a sweeping epic of a complex man whose only goal in life was to conquer the world. One of the greatest generals of all time but a poor administrator and statesman. Green shows that Alexander was a great general but he also shows the side of Alexander a lot of previous historians have ignored, or focused on too much, the fact that Alexander was a man of his station and time, he was a tyrannical despot who could be both cruel and forgiving, both charitable and devious. I specifically liked the description of Aristotle as being a dandy and a xenophobe, that was something new to me. All in all I rate this book highly, and it is a must read for both history enthusiast and the casual reader.
Rating: 
Summary: leaves you wanting MORE
Review: A good book for overview of subject. I read it several years ago when I was devouring everything I could get my hands on to do with the subject matter.
I give it a 4-star rating for it's bibliography and for the author's modesty when he suggests that it is a subject requiring exhaustive and on-going enquiry. Also has excellent maps.
The work itself is broad in its scope a tour-de-force in this regard, but so too are many other works e.g., Hammond, Bosworth, Badian,Fox, Renault etc.. etc...To gain the most benefit from such a work further reading will make the study of this worthy subject in history much more enjoyable and worthwhile.
Perhaps Hammond's "The history of the Macedonian state"(?) would be a good companion to this book....
If you really want to get into it start with the ancient sources, the most accessable are Arrian and Plutarch. They may be a little difficult and enigmatic but you MUST read as much as you can because all authors on the subject of Alexander will refer to these two sources time and time again.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the faint of history
Review: I bought this book about 15 years ago when my 7th grade teacher offered a lot of extra credit for it. I didn't read it then, and now I understand why he chose it. His thinking must have been that any 7th grader who could complete this book must be a genius, and he was prepared to reap the scholastic benefits of making this discovery. I have picked this book up several times in the last 15 years in an attempt to finish it, or to leave it casually on my nightstand when I wanted to impress someone. Unfortunately, I believe my main problem with trying to finish this novel is that I'm just not smart enough. "Alexander of Macedon" is a very detailed account of the life of Alexander the Great, and to a lesser extent, his father, Philip. If you've ever wanted to know everything there is about Alexander, this is the book for you, and is probably the most exhaustive text available. It is thoroughly well researched and is loaded with sources. It is evident Greene spent his time putting it together. I would not recommend this book to anyone who simply wants an enjoyable biography of the man however. This book is an incredibly difficult read. New battles and people are mentioned every other paragraph, and it takes at least 100 pages just to get into anything interesting. I was mind-numbingly bored out of my skull for the first 50 pages and was incredibly confused before Greene even got to talking about Phillip. I imagine once the movie comes out next year, many will be looking to expand their knowledge on Alexander and learn more about him. As I said, unless you are really obsessed with the man and want to know every detail of his life, I wi=ould look for a simpler read. This book is not written for a general audience and any exciting facts or stories about Alexander are buried under mounds and mounds of historical data.
Rating:
Summary: Have sword and spear, will travel
Review: Only occasionally have I read a work of history that's in the "can't put down" category. DISTANT MIRROR by Barbara Tuchman, MEN TO MATCH MY MOUNTAINS by Irving Stone, and Shelby Foote's monumental Civil War trilogy come to mind. ALEXANDER OF MACEDON, 356-323 B.C. by Peter Green is now another. This material first appeared as ALEXANDER THE GREAT in 1970. This particular volume, a revision and expansion of that earlier book, is the second reprint (1991) of the title first published in 1974. For the sake of background, the author necessarily begins his masterpiece with Alexander's father, Philip of Macedon, whose achievement was to unify Macedonia and coerce the Greek states to the south to join with him in an Hellenic League. But, after Philip is assassinated on page 105, it's all Alexander as he marches his army on a peripatetic route of conquest against the Persian Empire throughout Asia Minor and the Middle East as far as present-day West Pakistan - and then back again. Twenty-five thousand miles - the circumference of the Earth - in eleven years. I kept turning the pages to see what he was going to do next. In his "Preface to the 1991 Reprint", Green makes it clear that his study of Alexander is a work in progress, and that even this book needs further revision in the light of new information. However, as flawed as the author may consider his ALEXANDER OF MACEDON to be, his masterful distillation of 17 pages worth of ancient and modern sources makes the narrative of Alexander's life sing. Green's prose is crisp and touched with a dry humor, and it never bogs down. Though Green concludes that Alexander is "perhaps ... the most incomparable general the world has ever seen", he doesn't spare his subject from charges of megalomania and tyranny. But, in a man who never lost a battle and was proclaimed first the son of a god, and then himself a deity, can this be so surprising? Alexander is, in a sense, a tragic figure - one who couldn't see the wisdom in the statement of his subordinate commander, Coenus: "Sir, if there is one thing above all others a successful man should know, it is when to stop." ALEXANDER OF MACEDON is replete with a Table of Dates, fourteen maps and battle plans, and a 24-page appendix examining in detail the poorly documented battle on the River Granicus, Alexander's first victory in Asia against the Persian king Darius III. My only complaint regarding this riveting historical piece is that the author didn't summarize the chaotic dissolution that overtook Alexander's empire immediately after his death. The contrast would have made me appreciate Alexander's achievement all that much more.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Introduction to Alexander
Review: In the University I was a math major, but I have always been interested in history, and more particularly in ancient Greek and Roman history. The perspective I bring to this book is not one of expertise, but rather of enthusiastic interest. Peter Green's "Alexander of Macedon" was one of the more enjoyable biographies that I have ever read because it was not only well written, but passionately written. I have read other books, and heard other interpretations of events than those which Green gave, but for the most part I was persuaded to believe his version by his realism and his inspired sense of reality and probability. Some scholars such as Tarn have presented an Alexander as a figure of hero worship; Tarn's Alexander does very little wrong, and garners great praise for his prowess. Green's Alexander is more a man that we can recognize; he is a man driven by a will to ever be the best, driven by a lust for power, and driven by a strong belief in his own superiority. Green does not pass idle judgement on Alexander, for how can a man be so judged who lived in such different times, and who we know only through sources written hundreds of years after his death. We can and Green does, however, make many strong inferences regarding not only the character of Alexander, but his means, motivations, and intentions.
Green's prose is eminently palatable, and was not stiff or dry at all. For somebody who knows little about Ancient Macedonia or Greece, this book is strong in that it does not presuppose knowledge. Green's tone is neither condescendingly scholarly nor unabashedly folksy, but one of an intelligent person ardently interested in his subject and eager to communicate it to the reader be he or she expert or layperson. If you are more interested in Alexander's generalship, then Green's book does not provide the fullest account, though he understands what took place at the main battles of the Granicus, Issus, Gaugamela (Arbela), and against Porus. For Alexander's generalship read J. F. C. Fuller's book "The Generalship of Alexander the Great," though you will notice an important difference between what Green and Fuller say about what happened at the Granicus (I tend to lean towards Green's view on this one).
By those who find Alexander fascinating, and who want to gain a greater understanding of how his myth came to be, this book should definitely be read. It deserves five stars.
Rating:
Summary: Cultural references really not needed
Review: A very detailed accounting of Alex the Greats exploits
based upon numerous historical authors. The book could very much benefit from additional
maps included in the appropriate sections.
The chapters dealing with Alex's early campaigns in Persia
mention MANY persion cities, and there is NO map
in these chapters showing their locations!
There is a rudamentary map a few chapters back,
but a more detailed map is really needed. Also, its arrogant of the author to use
numerous references to people and events in British culture
to describe Alex's exploits (never mind the
unending use of cliche'd french, latin, greek, and german
phrases-is he just showing off
his language skills??) Believe or not Mr. Green, the whole world does not reside
in Great Britain,and chic cultural references will
become incomprehensible through time.
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