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Title details for Alexander the Great by Paul Cartledge - Wait list

Alexander the Great

The Hunt for a New Past

by Paul Cartledge
John Lee
Audiobook
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Paul Cartledge, one of the world's foremost scholars of ancient Greece, illuminates the brief but iconic life of Alexander (356-323 b.c.), king of Macedon, conqueror of the Persian Empire, and founder of a new world order. Alexander's legacy has had a major impact on military tacticians, scholars, statesmen, adventurers, authors, and filmmakers.

Cartledge brilliantly evokes Alexander's remarkable political and military accomplishments, cutting through the myths to show why he was such a great leader. He explores our endless fascination with Alexander and gives us insight into his charismatic leadership, his capacity for brutality, and his sophisticated grasp of international politics.

Alexander the Great is an engaging portrait of a fascinating man and a welcome balance to the myths, legends, and skewed history that have obscured the real Alexander.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 3, 2009

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781481585279
      • File size: 273132 KB
      • Duration: 09:29:01

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 16, 2004
      Alexander the Great's brilliant military campaigns in the fourth century B.C. spread not only his reputation as a heroic and ingenious leader but also the culture of ancient Greece throughout the known world. With his usual riveting storytelling, Cartledge (The Spartans
      ), chair of Cambridge University's classics faculty, narrates Alexander's life and rise to power. Cartledge takes issue with those who contend that Alexander's greatest contribution was to spread Hellenism. He argues instead that Alexander, while sincerely attached to Hellenism, was more concerned with the glory his conquests brought him. Cartledge provides detailed chronicles of Alexander's battles with the Persians, the Tyrians and the Babylonians as he demonstrates the young king's military genius and hunger for success in war. According to Cartledge, Alexander's love of hunting game offers the key to his life and reign. It led him, for example, to successfully adapt for military battles many hunting strategies, such as the surprise attack, a uniquely Alexandrine contribution. A number of appendixes, including a glossary and an extensive bibliography, enhance the book. Cartledge's knack for bringing history to life makes for an absorbing new biography of the legendary Greek leader. 37 b&w illus., 4 maps, 6 battle plans. Agent, Julian Alexander.
      (Oct. 5)

      Forecast:
      Warner Brothers' November 5 release of
      Alexander the Great, starring Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie and Anthony Hopkins, could give this a sales boost.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      From the Danube River to the Arabian Sea, from the western deserts of Egypt across what is now modern Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and on into India--in 12 short years during the fourth century B.C.--Alexander the Great conquered lands and amassed an empire unparalleled in history. Reading with British ease and assurance, narrator John Lee examines how Alexander used a love of hunting and horses to develop cavalry, siege, and battle strategies that forever changed the course of warfare and civilization. A fascinating final chapter lists the endeavors of subsequent conquerors and kings who emulated Alexander. For this chapter Lee's tone--which projects a kind of verbal wink--acknowledges that Alexander's accomplishments were a near-impossible act to follow. B.P. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      Balance is the defining feature of this first-rate audiobook history of the life and mysterious death of Alexander the Great, a story now 23 centuries old. Anthony Everitt is one of our most reliable and accessible classical historians, and John Lee, as he's demonstrated so many times, is the most compatible of narrators, a distinctive, compelling voice with the uncanny ability to blend into a narrative. Author and narrator understand perfectly the power of restraint, and the suspense inherent in the slow, steady gathering of detail. Here, where romance and legend weigh against modern research and archaeological methods, this greatest of history's adventure stories unfolds with a freshness and clarity rarely experienced in the biography of an ancient figure. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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