Alexander the Great

By: Philip Freeman

Narrated by: Michael Page

Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

Alexander was born into the royal family of Macedonia, the kingdom that would soon rule over Greece. Tutored as a boy by Aristotle, Alexander had an inquisitive mind that would serve him well when he faced formidable obstacles during his military campaigns. Shortly after taking command of the army, he launched an invasion of the Persian Empire, and continued his conquests as far south as the deserts of Egypt and as far east as the mountains of present-day Pakistan and the plains of India.

In his lively and authoritative biography of Alexander, Philip Freeman describes Alexander's astonishing achievements and provides insight into the mercurial character of the great conqueror. Alexander could be petty and magnanimous, cruel and merciful, impulsive and farsighted. Above all, he was ferociously, intensely competitive and could not tolerate losing - which he rarely did.

As Freeman explains, without Alexander, the influence of Greece on the ancient world would surely not have been as great as it was, even if his motivation was not to spread Greek culture for beneficial purposes, but instead to unify his empire.

©2011 Philip Freeman (P)2017 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"An accessible biography...readers are sure to come away from Alexander's story with an essential grasp of the details and understanding of his character." ( Kirkus)

Not interesting. Only partially historical.

Written strictly from a 21st century perspective with lots of conjecture on the part of the author.

This author’s story of Alexander is not worth reading. Not interesting and it’s hard to tell the true history apart from the opinions of the author.

Great book!

This book is a great account of Alexander. There is a bit of liberty taken by the author in the rational of some of the Alexander's choices, but it is never outlandish and very much makes sense. There is even some well needed wit thrown into the copy which is refreshing given the dry nature of history books.

The narrator is great and I'm now convinced that Alexander must be discussed in an English accent.

Great audio book!

If you are at all interested in history, this is an excellent book about the life of Alexander the Great! I would definitely recommend it.

great book, definitely hard to put down

great book, easy listen,very interesting subject matter, written for average person. some history books are super dry filled with tons of academic language and obscure anecdotes. not this one listen and enjoy!!

SHOCKING!

The last page of the book reflected my feelings throughout the book, that he was a narcissist, addicted to killing and his own glory! Yet, because of him, because of this history, the Bible was written in Greek. So important to remember that God’s hand is on everything. Yet, the images of his men chasing women and children into caves and slaughtering them, chasing totally innocent people to kill them, taking everything from other human beings will stay in my mind forever. What monsters they were! Worse than Hitler! Did they not have consciences? The reading of the book is excellent. I’ll never forget it. Funny, I am planning my trip to Greece and had included Thessalonika because of the history there and close by. After reading this book, I cancelled. VERY insightful. You’ll get tremendous detail with this book! What a sad period of time. What Alexander and his men did was unbelievable!

Fascinating!

A fast-paced, highly engaging catalogue of Alexander’s life. I came into it knowing nothing about this era of history, and could easily follow along. It inspired me to read many more biographies and study history more in general. A testament to Philip Freeman being an excellent author and teacher!

Well-researched and narrated, but 5 stars????

I read a large number of 5-star reviews of this work. After finishing the book, I wonder if I listened to the same book. For an historical work of this kind, in my opinion, it should include at least a basic timeline as an attached pdf file and a basic geographical guide to reference some of the lesser-known sites featured in this history. Yes, I can Google all of these places and try to piece things together these things by time and place, but an exceptional work should include these things to clarify the history and events. As it is, this work lacked a coherent geographical and chronological frame of reference which I will need to find elsewhere. I would call this a good draft that could have been better. However, I was very impressed with some sections that were carefully written with great detail.

A vivid engaging storytelling that comes alive!

Highly informative, entertaining, and detailed account of one of the world's greatest warriors. A must have!

Loved it!!!

One of my fav audiobooks I’ve listened to. Great balance of facts and objective interpretation.

5 Star book! Great Narrative!

Great book, super informative and gripping from the beginning, i dont know why modern Hollywood hasn't made Alexander's story into a Blockbuster yet?!