About this title: Until recently, popular biographers and most scholars viewed Alexander the Great as a genius with a plan, a romantic figure pursuing his vision of a united world. His dream was at times characterized as a benevolent interest in the brotherhood of man, sometimes as a brute interest in the exercise of power. Green, a Cambridge-trained classicist who is also a novelist, portrays Alexander as both a complex personality and a single-minded general, a man capable of such diverse expediencies as patricide or the massacre of civilians. Green describes his Alexander as 'not only the most brilliant ...
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Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: University of California Press
Date Published: 1991-08-05
ISBN-13:9780520071650ISBN:0520071654
Description: Good. No folded pages. Name on first page but no other writing. Some cover wear, including rubbing & edgewear, plus corner bumps. No dustcover. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: University of California Press
Date Published: 10-5-92
ISBN-13:9780520071667ISBN:0520071662
Description: FINE. Superb, crisp, clean, unread paperback with very light shelfwear to the covers and publisher's mark to one edge-GREAT! 1.65 lbs. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: University of California Press
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780520071667ISBN:0520071662
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Minor shelf wear. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 617 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: University of California Press
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780520071650ISBN:0520071654
Description: New in fine dust jacket. Dust jacket has a little edge wear. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 617 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN-13:9780520071667ISBN:0520071662
Description: Very Good. 0520071662 Softcover book is in excellent condition, 1st printing, no spine creases, mild shelf wear. Shop & Save With US. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN-13:9780520071650ISBN:0520071654
Description: Very Good. 0520071654 light shelf wear / edge wear cover / pages very good condition//"Buy with Confidence-Satisfaction Guaranteed! Customer Service Makes All the Difference. " read more
Edition: Revised and Enlarged Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Univ of California Pr, Ewing, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780520071650ISBN:0520071654
Description: Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. An excellent hardcover copy, seemingly unread and still much like new. The binding is solid and square, and the hinges are firm. There is a lightly bumped corner, but otherwise the covering of tan cloth shows virtually no wear. The text is clean and unmarked. The dustjacket is also excellent but is lightly rubbed on the rear panel. 617 pages. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: University of California Press
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780520071650ISBN:0520071654
Description: Very Good-Used in Good jacket. / 0520071654. Dj has folds and wear. Top of book has faint stains. Ships with confirming email. 100% money back guarantee. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: University of California Press
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780520071667ISBN:0520071662
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 617 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: 2nd Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: University of California Press, Berkeley, CA
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780520071650ISBN:0520071654
Description: Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. 8 Vo. 617 clean, unmarked pages. read more
Edition: 4th Printing
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: University of California Press, Berkeley, CA
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780520071667ISBN:0520071662
Description: Near Fine. 8 vo. 617 clean, unmarked pages/index/bibliograhy/notes. read more
Edition: 4th Printing
Binding: trade Paperback
Publisher: Univ of California Pr, Ewing, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780520071667ISBN:0520071662
Description: Near Fine. 5.5 x 8 trade paperback book. Yellow and white lettering on the black spine with a color illustrated cover. A historical biography of Alexander the Great. 617 pages. 4th Printing. Light wear. Tight binding. Near Fine condition. read more
"Highly readable, fact-packed, thoroughly sourced history marred only by Mr. Green's obvious disgust with Alexander's personal behavior and habits. I do think it a shame that Macedonians of 350 BC did not enjoy the benefits of our modern moral rectitude, but I also think it a shame that most all of the things Macedonians then enjoyed are today called 'crimes'. Thus we suffer now just as they did then because so far from improving human nature we have merely criminalized its expression.
Then there is the fact that modern biographies of Alexander (and other ancient figures) suffer from a lack of primary source material. Barring earth-shaking new archaeological or literary discoveries, today's historian is forced back upon the same secondary sources that thousands of other historians have used for thousands of years -- many of them written hundreds of years after the events of which they treat. To put it as rudely as possible: A great deal of what we claim to know about Alexander and other such men is ancient hearsay based upon hearsay that is yet more ancient. Try to use such evidence in a modern criminal court; see how quickly you get thrown out of court. There is no reason that the court of opinion should operate differently.
It seems to me, then, that all anyone today can know of Alexander was written long ago. The record will probably never change significantly. Therefore the only reason to study what we know about Alexander today is to improve one's own command of ancient language and literature. Condemning the man anew for this or that character defect is like adding yet another sentence of life-without-parole to the rap sheet of a man who is already serving the first of a dozen such.
Solomon sez: Peter Green is a good historian who needs to get a life."
"The best of the several biographies of Alexander that I've read. The book succeeds because Green does more than simply know his stuff; he's an elegant writer who does a wonderful job of evoking classical antiquity, and he is particularly strong when describing the world of the near East during that time. He has a novelist's knack for character and place, so the sense you get of the kind of person Alexander was (or his mother and father, Philip and Olympias, for that matter) is always strong and clear, as is his evocation of the great cities and places of antiquity: Thebes, Tyre, Sardis, Babylon. Finally, the most compelling aspect of the book is that Green, though never once straying into hyperbole or hagiography, strongly conveys the sense of wonder that some of us felt when first hearing stories of semi-legendary figures like Alexander. That he does so calmly and cooly, with stylish prose, is all to his credit. The best example of this is his masterful description of the lusty Macedonian warrior aristocracy; as you read these passages, which are sprinkled throughout the book and relate to both Philip and Alexander's career, the powerful feeling of recognition forms -- yes, you find yourself saying, that's exactly how it must have been, even though you have never sat on a horse, besieged or plundered a city, or swilled wine at a Macedonian drinking party. Very highly recommended."
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