Alexander the Great : Man and God

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly good
Review: This book is a wonderful chronical both of Alexander the Great's life and conquests. It's primary strength is in the amount of sheer details of Alexander's conquests, his social programs, etc. By reading this book you'll get an excellent understanding of the politics during his time, the practical difficulties that Alexander had conquering such vast regions, and the various ramifications of Alexander's decisions.

However, this book does go a bit politically correct when it gets into the issue of whether Alexander the Great should be called "the great" or "the accursed" (which btw the Iranians seem prefer...seems they haven't gotten over Alexander ending their golden age). Although, to be fair the author does lay out a good case for relabeling Alexander "the accursed"...or at least acknowledging that his legacy was mixed.

This book does an excellent job imparting a comprehensive understanding of Alexander the great, his life and his effect on history, etc. You even learn enough to see how thing could have gone differently (if Alexander had an obvious heir when died, if he accepted the proposal of Darius to accept all land west of the Euphrates, if he had lived longer and conquered Arabia and Carthage which he was planning on doing).