Reading Still Matters

Before & After Alexander is a work of history that challenges the traditional, highly romanticized "great man" myth of Alexander the Great.  Yes, it’s true.  Columbia University professor Richard A. Billows attempts a take down of the world’s greatest general, all by analyzing the geopolitics of the ancient world before his birth and after his sudden death. Notably, he mostly skips the period of Alexander’s time as general of the armies of Macedon. Buy it on Amazon:  https://amzn.to/43MlHtX But let’s dig in a bit.   Alexander can basically be split into two parts, with a short part that acts as a pivot in the middle.    The first part is all about the formation of Macedon prior to Alexander’s time as king, and primarily during the period when Alexander’s father Philip built Macedon into a regional power. In fact, there is a great deal of information on the development of Macedon from a historical perspective, including political, cultural and military...

I have to say that I really enjoyed Alexander at the End of the World, the Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great . Kousser's fantastic work focuses on the period of time following the initial conquest of the Persian empire, although there is build up to that event, so you don't have a lot of prior knowledge to read this one.       Buy it on Amazon:  https://amzn.to/4etkuh3    Indeed , the book really digs in as Alexander is attempting to get the Persian empire under control, eliminate rebellions, put any challenge to rest. This process takes his armies further from Macedonia and deeper into Asia, and all of the way to distant lands like Afghanistan. His armies and camp followers march through mountain passes, fight their way through heavily defended valleys, and onto plains dominated by ancient horse tribes.  It's all quite remarkable really.     P erhaps even more interesting are the internal conflicts that Alexander has to manag...

Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West is a work of narrative history by the famous historian and novelist Tom Holland.   Persian Fire chronicles the rise of the Persian Empire and its first great kings - Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes, as well as the struggle of Darius and Xerxes to pacify the quarrelsome city states of what would become Greece.     This was a project that ended badly for the Persians. Buy it on Amazon:  https://amzn.to/4aBYeiy The narrative really beings with the roots of the Persian people itself. The Persians were the ancestors of Aryan horse people who inhabited the mountains east of the early empire builders of Babylon and Assyria.   Eventually, the empire of Medes would arise and conquer much of the fertile crescent.   The power of Media eventually brought it into conflict with the people who became known as the Persians. It was this conflict with Media that kick started the power of Persian and their rise of t...