There are no shortage of biographies about the greatest military mind of the ancient world. As early as the time of the Roman Empire, there were grumblings that too much was made of Alexander the Great as a marvel rather than focus on what was strictly true and validatable. Historians have repeatedly returned to his life and accomplishments--and nothing changes in the end assessment. Alexander the Great remains what he has ever been: the epitome of youthful, world-conquering, terrifying glamour. A reputation and legacy that is richly deserved.
Freeman opens his book with an apology--yes, there really are quuite a few biographies of the man out there already, and no, there isn't a lot of new data to dispense here. However, he has always loved the story of Alexander the Great, and he wasnted to tell his story as a story. Not dry history, filled with notations and qualifications, but rather a tale of an impressive military mind who also well understood how to keep his troops happy as well. And he accomplishes that. He does allow that it is altogether possible that while Alexander's greatest legacy to mordern civilization is his promulgation of Greek literature and knowledge throughout the ancient world, he might have chosen something else had it presented itself to him. He was interested in holding his Empire together, and that was the glue he knew. But the real story in this book is his ability to quickly size up people and situations, to take bold moves that had the advantage of being unexpected and unpredictable, and he translated that into miraculous victories. He was as ruthless as Genghis Khan--probably a quality necessary for empire building on the scale that they accomplished it--and truely magnificent. You would undoutedly fear him in real life, but in this story you cannot help but admire him.
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