
Alexander the Great
The Hunt for a New Past
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Narrated by:
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John Lee
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By:
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Paul Cartledge
About this listen
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.
©2004 Paul Cartledge (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Readable and engrossing....Immediate, discursive, insightful, and highly engaging." ( Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
"With his usual riveting storytelling, Cartledge...narrates Alexander's life and rise to power. Cartledge's knack for bringing history to life makes for an absorbing new biography of the legendary Greek leader." ( Publishers Weekly)
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- By: Rebecca Fraser
- Narrated by: Esther Wane
- Length: 34 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Despite suffering at the hands of invading Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and Normans, and tyrannical kings and queens, Britons have been renowned since Queen Boudicca for their fierce commitment to the liberty of the individual. Britain's 700-year-old parliamentary democracy has developed from a passion for fairness and the rule of law. In an atmospheric and vivid narrative, Rebecca Fraser takes listeners through key events in the nation's history.
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Highly dense historical material.
- By Austin_F! on 02-19-25
By: Rebecca Fraser
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Thebes
- The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece
- By: Paul Cartledge
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Among the extensive writing available about the history of ancient Greece, there is precious little about the city-state of Thebes. At one point the most powerful city in ancient Greece, Thebes has been long overshadowed by its better-known rivals, Athens and Sparta. In Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece, acclaimed classicist and historian Paul Cartledge brings the city vividly to life and argues that it is central to our understanding of the ancient Greeks' achievements - whether politically or culturally.
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Why is this author considered an expert scholar of Ancient Greece?
- By DaneDeer on 11-06-20
By: Paul Cartledge
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The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World
- By: Robert Garland, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Robert Garland
- Length: 24 hrs and 28 mins
- Original Recording
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Look beyond the abstract dates and figures, kings and queens, and battles and wars that make up so many historical accounts. Over the course of 48 richly detailed lectures, Professor Garland covers the breadth and depth of human history from the perspective of the so-called ordinary people, from its earliest beginnings through the Middle Ages.
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Tantalizing time trip
- By Mark on 08-21-13
By: Robert Garland, and others
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A War Like No Other
- How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War
- By: Victor Davis Hanson
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Hanson compellingly portrays the ways Athens and Sparta fought on land and sea, in city and countryside, and details their employment of the full scope of conventional and non-conventional tactics, from sieges to targeted assassinations, torture, and terrorism. He also assesses the crucial roles played by warriors such as Pericles and Lysander, artists, among them Aristophanes, and thinkers including Sophocles and Plato.
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"A War Like No Other" is a Book Like No Other
- By MajorChris on 02-06-20
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A History of Japan
- Revised Edition
- By: R. H. P. Mason, J. G. Caiger
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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A classic of Japanese history, this audiobook is the preeminent work on the history of Japan. Newly revised and updated, A History of Japan is a single-volume complete history of the nation of Japan. Starting in ancient Japan during its early pre-history period, A History of Japan covers every important aspect of history and culture through feudal Japan to the post-Cold War period and collapse of the bubble economy in the early 1990s. Recent findings shed additional light on the origins of Japanese civilization and the birth of Japanese culture.
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Content great - pronunciation not so much
- By A. Weber on 03-08-19
By: R. H. P. Mason, and others
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The Rise of Rome
- The Making of the World's Greatest Empire
- By: Anthony Everitt
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Emerging as a market town from a cluster of hill villages in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., Rome grew to become the ancient world's preeminent power. Everitt fashions the story of Rome's rise to glory into an erudite book filled with lasting lessons for our time. He chronicles the clash between patricians and plebeians that defined the politics of the Republic. He shows how Rome's shrewd strategy of offering citizenship to her defeated subjects was instrumental in expanding the reach of her burgeoning empire.
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Rome from the fall of Troy through Julius Caesar
- By Mike From Mesa on 12-11-12
By: Anthony Everitt
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By the Spear
- Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the Rise and Fall of the Macedonian Empire
- By: Ian Worthington
- Narrated by: Phil Holland
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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For the first time, By the Spear offers an exhilarating military narrative of the reigns of these two larger-than-life figures in one volume. Ian Worthington gives full breadth to the careers of father and son, showing how Philip was the architect of the Macedonian empire, which reached its zenith under Alexander, only to disintegrate upon his death.
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Bueller..... Bueller...... Bueller...... Monotone
- By Jonathan Allen Beard on 02-15-15
By: Ian Worthington
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Soldier, Priest, and God
- A Life of Alexander the Great
- By: F. S. Naiden
- Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Whatever we may think of Alexander - whether Great or only lucky, a civilizer or a sociopath - most people do not regard him as a religious leader. And yet religion permeated all aspects of his career. When he used religion astutely, he and his army prospered. In Egypt, he performed the ceremonies needed to be pharaoh, and thus became a god as well as a priest. Babylon surrendered to him partly because he agreed to become a sacred king. When Alexander disregarded religion, he and his army suffered. In Iran, for instance, where he refused to be crowned and even destroyed a shrine, resistance against him mounted.
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Interesting read
- By JoeB on 01-15-19
By: F. S. Naiden
Outstanding Knowledge Book
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Dont Believe bad reviews
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If you have read a number of other books on Alexander, you may find this book interesting and nuanced but I strongly recommend that those new to Alexander consult other books before turning to this one.
NOT a Chronology of Alexander’s Life
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ultimately I have benefitted from this book by expanding my understanding of the man Alexander, and what it was like living in those times so long ago
finished with a sense of more respect for the man.
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Superb Content
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Outstanding
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It's sometimes hard to remember how much Alexander the Great accomplished in his short 32 year life -- conquering Greece, Persia, much of Asia, and being worshipped as divine being among the highlights. Cartledge's 2005 biography of Alexander (subtitled: "The Hunt for a New Past") eschews the hagiography and presents a lively, reasoned, and well written look at one of history's most influential, fascinating, and admittedly mysterious figures.
Cartledge tries to cut through the fog of god-worship and shows Alexander for what he most likely was, a passionate, motivated, charismatic, but somewhat chaotic young man -- who just happened to have an army at his disposal. Remove Alexander's access to tens of thousands of spears. Would we know his name? Almost certainly not. Or if Alexander didn't come to power until mid to late 20s, would he have been as aggressively expansionist? Would he do so with such a quasi-religious zeal and the certitude of youth in his pursuit of "Pan-Hellenism," which Cartledge largely finds as a pretext for more mundane logistical and strategic goals?
While this is as much a biography of Alexander the Great, it's also gives a glimpse into Alexander the Petty, Alexander the Tyrannical, and Alexander the Paranoid as his efforts to maintain his grip on power and rapid expansion leads to mutinies, reigns of terror/purges, and assassination plots (both real and invented).
Overall, an eminently readable and insightful look into one of history's most fascinating characters.
Beware of unsupervised children and their toys.
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Interesting Content; Great Narration
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nice introduction to Alexander
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Who was the real Alexander?
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