Alexander the Great

Journey to the End of the Earth

By: Norman F. Cantor

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

In this succinct portrait of Alexander the Great, distinguished scholar and historian Norman Cantor draws on the major writings of Alexander's contemporaries, as well as the most recent psychological and cultural studies, to illuminate this most legendary of men - a great figure in the ancient world, whose puzzling personality greatly fueled his military accomplishments.

Cantor describes Alexander's ambiguous relationship with his father, Philip II of Macedon; his oedipal involvement with his mother, the Albanian princess Olympias; and his bisexuality. He traces Alexander's attempts to bridge the East and West, using Achilles, hero of the Trojan War, as his model.

Finally, Cantor explores Alexander's view of himself in relation to the pagan gods of Greece and Egypt. More than a biography, Cantor's Alexander the Great is a psychological rendering of a man of his time.

©2005 The Estate of Norman F. Cantor (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Military exploits...are excitingly revivified, and honesty is the hallmark of Cantor's appreciation of Alexander's relationship with his longtime male lover, Hephaestion. A book that does the biographical art proud." ( Booklist)

Great study on Alexander

very well written and extremely well. researched .loved the comparisions in history placing Alexander in the correct context

Who Directed This?

Bronson Pinchot is one of the greatest audio book readers I’ve ever heard. However, for some reason, in this book every time he has to read a long quotation from another source, he lapses into a near whisper. It’s incredibly annoying. I can’t believe the director didn’t find this irritating or offputting. His voice becomes so quiet during these times that it’s almost like he’s speaking softly and directly into your ear, trying to lull you to sleep.

That all stops by the last hour or so, however, and the book itself is pretty good.

An excellent read

This was a highly enjoyable and informative read. the audio performance was also engaging and did not detract from the overall book.

littered with shortcomings and inaccuracies

I've read many books on Alexander the grade and find this one to come up lacking. there are a multitude of historical inaccuracies and or assumptions that this author takes in order to justify their opinion on what they view to be Alexander the Great absolute truth. there were a few new and unique points that this book made but due to all of its other errors I find it to be difficult to trust as useful when discussing the Alexander narrative because of what I seem to see as an unmitigated bias towards a direct point. please forgive my spelling and accuracy or grammar errors. all of this was done while driving and voice to text was used LOL

Wonderful and Delightful

I needed this book for a project in school. I didn't really think I would enjoy it but oh boy was I wrong. By far one of the best books I've listened to this year.