Rating: 
Summary: A good look at both the author and his subject
Review: I devoured "The Unauthorized Version" and "Pagans and Christians", two towering works by the same author at a later period in his life. This work on Alexander gives us a glimpse of the evolution of Fox's writing as well as his views on the subject which are still fresh and surprisingly valid after all these years.As usual, Fox examines and refers to numerous ancient document, customs of the times, differences in languages and somehow makes clear to the reader even the most confusing of subjects, such as the interplay between clans, tribes, family and nationalities. What is so remarkable about this writing is the universal quality of the prose along with the surprising but perfectly valid conclusions. Many historians seem afraid to offer conjecture or opinions but Fox has deliberately gone out on a limb several times - for example, his conclusion that John, the last Gospel penned, was actually the closest to the the original sources. In this book we are given a picture of the life and times of one of the most influential person in history - as much for what he stood for as what he accomplished. This is history at its finest.
Rating:
Summary: A good look at both the author and his subject
Review: I devoured "The Unauthorized Version" and "Pagans and Christians", two towering works by the same author at a later period in his life. This work on Alexander gives us a glimpse of the evolution of Fox's writing as well as his views on the subject which are still fresh and surprisingly valid after all these years. As usual, Fox examines and refers to numerous ancient document, customs of the times, differences in languages and somehow makes clear to the reader even the most confusing of subjects, such as the interplay between clans, tribes, family and nationalities. What is so remarkable about this writing is the universal quality of the prose along with the surprising but perfectly valid conclusions. Many historians seem afraid to offer conjecture or opinions but Fox has deliberately gone out on a limb several times - for example, his conclusion that John, the last Gospel penned, was actually the closest to the the original sources. In this book we are given a picture of the life and times of one of the most influential person in history - as much for what he stood for as what he accomplished. This is history at its finest.
Rating:
Summary: Great work of a Great man
Review: I devoured "The Unauthorized Version" and "Pagans and Christians", two towering works by the same author at a later period in his life. This work on Alexander gives us a glimpse of the evolution of Fox's writing as well as his insights and conclusions on the subject which are still fresh and surprisingly valid after all these years. As usual, Fox examines and refers to numerous ancient document, customs of the times, differences in languages and somehow makes clear to the reader even the most confusing of subjects, such as the interplay between clans, tribes, family and nationalities. What is so remarkable about this writing is the universal quality of the prose along with the surprising but perfectly valid conclusions.
Many historians seem afraid to offer conjecture or opinions but Fox has deliberately gone out on a limb several times - for example, his conclusion that John, the last Gospel penned, was actually the closest to the original sources. In this book we are given a picture of the life and times of one of the most influential person in history - as much for what he stood for as what he accomplished. This is history at its finest.
Rating: 
Summary: Overwelming, very detailed
Review: I'm just a casual enthusiast of history, I am not a scholar or academic in this field. I have been a huge admirer of Alexander the Great since my childhood. I thought I would read this book on his life before the movie "Alexander" came out (which was awful by the way) just to see if the film was accurate in its portrayal. I don't have nearly enough knowledge to dispute what the author wrote, whether this or that event actually happened or when a certain battle took place. The book gets a bit confusing at times since it is so detailed, but it really allows the reader to see all the power struggles and politics of the time. It's not an easy book to read, but it's very enlightening. I can see how it might be "too much" for some readers, such as myself. I felt it was a bit too indepth at times. The author does a good job at pointing out how one event may have been documented in two or more ways and usually states what really must have happened. The book also shows us a more personable side to Alexander, not just his accomplishments.
Rating:
Summary: A tour de force yet many unforced errors
Review: My comments relate to a hardback edition published by the Folio Society but the same as the setting copy published by Penguin. There are notes to each chapter at the back of the book but it is still difficult to source the author's assertions. The error in the following passage ought to be obvious to all: "... New Tyre stood on a walled island two and three-quarter miles in circumference, cut off from the coast by half a mile of sea, shallow at first but soon dropping to a depth of some 600 feet." If there had been a chasm of 600 feet (a depth equal to the height of a 60 storey building!) it would have required the equivalent of all the stones in the Great Pyramid of Egypt to have filled it even if it were only one-tenth the distance from New Tyre to Old Tyre. The Classical author Arrian says that the sea had a depth of 3 orguias (fathoms) at most: i.e. only about 18 feet or 5.5 metres. Perhaps a typesetter mistook 6.00 metres for 600 feet. But the Folio Society claimed (in a letter to me dated 1 October 1997) to have "got in touch with Robin Lane Fox who said that, although it was impossible to verify, it was correct to the best of his knowledge." A quick look at the sea depths shown in "The Times Atlas of the World" reveals that one would have to sail at least 5 miles west of Tyre to find a depth of 600 feet! With such a clearly verifiable simple error left uncorrected, how many other more complex errors are there?
Rating:
Summary: Very Well Written
Review: R.L. Fox does a wonderful job of weaving his story of Alexander with a mix of interesting anecdotes, balanced intepretations and a critical weighing of classical literature and accounts of Alexander's life. There are few people who have so long held the Western imagination as Alexander and there has been left a myriad of references, biographies, opinions and pamphlets written about him for the past 2300 years. With so much fact and fiction, Fox deftly guides the reader not only through his childhood and conquests, but also briefly outlines some of the major conflicts in the literature and speculation about Alexander's character and major decisions.
Fox is equally apt to the task of describing the world, both mythological and political into which Alexander would enter upon following his first footsteps at Troy, giving a solid background to readers who may only have a basic familiarity to the classical world. Fox's gift of description and mellifluousness ties into this book's most glaring weakness, which is perhaps more the fault of its publisher - the lack of maps and their poor formatting. Much of Alexander's feats in Iran and the Punjab are left to the imagination. Countless rivers, cities, place names and engagements that are described with such detail have no secondary visual representation. Some maps also use a topographical shading format which seems to be most effective in obscuring place names that occupy the same space.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent, balanced biography
Review: Robin Lane Fox was only 27 when he wrote his biography of Alexander, but it's twice as good as many Alexander biographies written by authors who were twice Fox's age. Fox was a very young Oxford don when he researched and wrote this book, and his immaturity shows in a few spots when he makes assertions that seem to be based on "because I said so". But overall, it's a very, very well-researched and well-written biography that presents Alexander in a balanced light, being neither hagiography nor hatchet-job. It should be mentioned here that Fox's speculation that Philip's murder was probably masterminded by his wife Olympias was not original; it's specifically outlined in Mary Renault's "Fire From Heaven" and Renault is mentioned more than once as a resource in Fox's biography. (One might wonder why a biographer would list a historical novelist as a resource, but Renault scrupulously researched her own novels for historical accuracy before she published them.) The one jarring note in this book is Fox's substituting modern place names for historical names; it may be easier to look them up on a map but unless you already know that Ekbatana is the modern-day Hamadan, it gets a tad confusing. However, this is a minor cavil. Fox writes extremely well; his style carries you right along in the narrative, and there are voluminous footnotes for reference at the end of the book. One comes away somewhat awed that someone so young could have written such an excellent biography on one of history's most towering figures.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent, balanced biography
Review: Robin Lane Fox was only 27 when he wrote his biography of Alexander, but it's twice as good as many Alexander biographies written by authors who were twice Fox's age. Fox was a very young Oxford don when he researched and wrote this book, and his immaturity shows in a few spots when he makes assertions that seem to be based on "because I said so". But overall, it's a very, very well-researched and well-written biography that presents Alexander in a balanced light, being neither hagiography nor hatchet-job. It should be mentioned here that Fox's speculation that Philip's murder was probably masterminded by his wife Olympias was not original; it's specifically outlined in Mary Renault's "Fire From Heaven" and Renault is mentioned more than once as a resource in Fox's biography. (One might wonder why a biographer would list a historical novelist as a resource, but Renault scrupulously researched her own novels for historical accuracy before she published them.) The one jarring note in this book is Fox's substituting modern place names for historical names; it may be easier to look them up on a map but unless you already know that Ekbatana is the modern-day Hamadan, it gets a tad confusing. However, this is a minor cavil. Fox writes extremely well; his style carries you right along in the narrative, and there are voluminous footnotes for reference at the end of the book. One comes away somewhat awed that someone so young could have written such an excellent biography on one of history's most towering figures.
Rating:
Summary: The Most Engaging Of The Alexander Biographies.
Review: There is no shortage of books on Alexander The Great, but Robin Lane Fox supercedes them all with this grand, highly detailed and impressive work that manages to entertain, educate and excite the reader about the subject. One of the benefits of Fox's "Alexander The Great" is that he decides to do away with boring, repetitive structures and decides to use both the evidence but basic human experience to tell the tale of one of history's most fascinating kings. History, Fox explains, is motivated much by human emotion, passionate feeling aside from the usual politics. This gives his book a natural dramatic touch, it doesn't have the feel of a fictitious novel, but of a biography that really tries to explore Alexander and those around him as people. One of the disappointments in Paul Cartledge's recent biography is that he relies strictly on tablets and scrolls, and dismisses the human areas, creating characters that are cardboard cut-outs. To Cartledge everything is politics, all true relationships homosexual and any other intercourse purely done for politics' sake. Fox here gives us the portrait of a man driven by a need to discover, to reach the heights of Achilles, but also a haunted man, especially by his mother Olympias. The book is also well-detailed in the culture of the times and in his descriptions of landscapes and even home interiors, Fox manages to completely transport the reader to another time and place. Each chapter is richly detailed with not only the story of Alexander, but his influence on world history and leaders like Julius Caesar and Napoleon. We get fascinating myths, comments, tales of conspiracy and murder and one of the great interchanges of culture ever. Fox educates us about customs and rituals, beliefs and battle tactics in a work of enormous scope. It is an important thing to study the past to better understand the present. Once again we are in a time when the west is going into the east, the story of Alexander has never been more relevant. "Alexander The Great" is epic and exciting and should be sought out by anyone currently engaged in reading world history.
Rating:
Summary: Best of five books I've read on Alexander
Review: This book is insanely great. The author was shockingly young when he wrote it, but then, that's in keeping with Alexander himself. The author is so detailed and so knowledgeable, it's hard to believe anyone under 40 could have read so much. If you're into the period, Robin Lane Fox goes into marvellous detail on many fascinating points, most of which are glossed over by other authors. I wish someone had just told me to read this book and skip the others. The original works by Arrian and Plutarch only really make sense in the context of a work like Fox's. In addition, Fox isn't scared to make a few conjectures - like the one that Alexander's mother was likely the one behind his father's murder. Now that you look at it, it sort of makes sense, but the thought never would have occurred to me. I'm sure the book drives hardcore Alexanderologists (or whatever they call themselves) insane because of these conjectures, but it allows Fox to bring the man to life in a way no other author has - especially keeping in mind that no commentary direct from authors in Alexander's lifetime exists (quite like Christ, a point Fox doesn't fail to mention). I just wish I could read it again for the first time!
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