The history of Alexander is one of those instances in which a quick summary actually conveys most of the historical information. The King Alexander of Macedon conquers the Persian Empire in a decade and gives rise to the Hellenization of most of the known world. The fascinating part of this story is in the details.

I picked this book on the author's promise: "[...]I wanted to write a biography of Alexander that is first and foremost a story." [page xxi] In this Freeman doesn't succeeds completely. It is a readable and well organized account, but incredibly, it gets boring and dry at times. One doesn't expect the story of Alexander to be boring, it is exactly the opposite. I think the big problem is in the author's prose which is not up to the task.

The most interesting parts of this book are the beginning and the ending. This is where Freeman writes as an historian and analyzes the provenance and the consequences of King Alexander career. The core of the book in which he writes as a storyteller is not that good. And in may opinion, this is what would make a biography of Alexander great.