This was disappointing. There is little narrative, just a laundry list of places and dubious numbers. I was hoping for more explication. ( )

I read this for a history class, long ago. ( )

One of my all time favorite books. Probably the first real piece of classical history I read when I was 19, and it's still my favorite, even though Arrian's stoic justification for Alexander's bad behavior is less justified for me at 34. You can feel Alexander's glory. ( )

This is the most detailed life of Alexander written by someone with access to the records of his time, which was probably around 150CE. Also it's got lots of battles, and keeps track of some of the changes in the staff and army of the conqueror. If you can only read one, read this one.
The translation is well written in the 1971 edition, which is the one I've got. ( )

So let me start with saying that Alexander THE GREAT is truly deserving of “Great”. From stat to finish I was enthralled (there are parts, not so much but very few). The shear scale of battle the audacity and arrogance of the man made him one of the first greats. I mean hell he conquered the known world before he was thirty and then died before he was forty. Here it is over 2500 years later and this man is still considered to be and labeled as "THE GREAT" An excellent book if your a history nerd (like myself) an even more outstanding piece of classical ligature about one of the world first superpower leaders ( )

although written 400 years after his death, this is considered the best account of Alexander's life and history

De Selincourt's translation is over forty years old now, but still remains my preferred version of Arrian; his rendering provides a lot of the elasticity and fluency which Arrian's original didn't have because of his choice of prose style. It's a nice compromise which adds to the accessibility of the work. What didn't, and what is nearly always my quibble with Penguin editions of the Classics, is the complete dearth of any useful maps. I was surprised that the one in this even managed to show Issus, it was that basic. ( )

a little distant, but still vastly accessible to our own time.

[Aubrey De Selilncourt], tr.; [J.R. Hamilton], ed. ( )