Helpful Score: 7
I didn't really know a whole lot about Alexander the Great until I saw the popular movie "Alexander" starring Colin Farrell and directed by Oliver Stone. Knowing that Hollywood rarely gets all the details right, I wanted to delve a little deeper and discover what Alexander was really all about. Robin Lane Fox who wrote this book was a historical consultant on the film, and that's why you see a picture from the film on the book's cover.
Overall this book was a great survey of the life and pursuits of Alexander the Great. It could just be because I was extremely interested in the subject matter, but I found myself turning pages rather quickly.
The only negative comment I can really say about this book (and I could say this about a great many other history books as well) is that the thin section of photographs in the center of the book does little justice to all the fantastic material surrounding it. I feel it would have been far better if the pictures had somehow been integrated into the text at the appropriate points, but I suppose that increases the production cost of the book substantially and that is why it is not done in this book.
If you want to educate yourself about Alexander the Great, and find the ancient Greek or Roman sources too difficult to read, I would highly recommend this book.
Overall this book was a great survey of the life and pursuits of Alexander the Great. It could just be because I was extremely interested in the subject matter, but I found myself turning pages rather quickly.
The only negative comment I can really say about this book (and I could say this about a great many other history books as well) is that the thin section of photographs in the center of the book does little justice to all the fantastic material surrounding it. I feel it would have been far better if the pictures had somehow been integrated into the text at the appropriate points, but I suppose that increases the production cost of the book substantially and that is why it is not done in this book.
If you want to educate yourself about Alexander the Great, and find the ancient Greek or Roman sources too difficult to read, I would highly recommend this book.
