Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors

A Definitive Work! Concisely Brings Together All the Right Primary Sources!

This book is a masterpiece. I have a large library of Alexander the Great literature, including many of the primary source texts relied upon by the author of this book (some of which are quite rare). This author has done his homework and provided a most excellent balanced narrative of two of the most important historical figures who ever lived. A balanced approach to this book’s topic is incredibly important as the source material sometimes conflicts with itself and revisionist historians have since come along and attempted to reinvent the lives of these important men by defining them through a contemporary lens that seeks to apply modern ethics, sexual habits, and inclinations to men who would no more identify with these things than modern people can identify with ancient Macedonian aristocratic life. The author has not fallen into this common trap and never seeks to tell the story of these men in these flawed terms. In this way, the author has created a masterwork that will stand the test of time. To understand Alexander one must understand Philip II of Macedon - and the author understood this as he embarked on authoring this work. One of the most interesting (and yet confounding) feature of any study of Alexander is the various Greek, Roman, and modern twists on key moments of his life. For this reason, the uninformed reader may be misled by one sided casting of the accounts. The author again does not do that here. This is an honest view of Philip and Alexander (so far as that is possible with only a partial record remaining of their amazing lives). This book doesn’t paint Alexander the tyrant, the conquerer, the benevolent king, the Hellenistic expander, the undefeated warrior, or the philosopher… rather it paints Alexander the man. The flawed, yet highly successful and ambitious human being that is a product of his time and place. In this, we can all learn something about ourselves as we consider what we might have done in similar circumstances. This book is...