“Rachel Kousser’s new biography, “Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great,” is a breath of fresh air on its subject. Kousser neatly sums up the myth of Alexander’s “trajectory from upstanding Macedonian monarch to corrupt, violent Oriental despot” and then spends a few hundred pages refuting it.” — Valerie Castellanos Clark, Los Angeles Times
“Unable to stand still, the 32-year-old conqueror was on the cusp of invading Arabia when death intervened. It was this final stage of his military career — teeming with brutality, conspiracies, compromises, failures, reversals and near mutinies — that, Kousser argues, made him great. Her prose is bracing and her descriptive powers rise admirably to the task of portraying the world in which Alexander operated.” — Justin Marozzi, New York Times
“A thoughtful, elegant study that sheds new light on an endlessly fascinating historical figure.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Kousser puts flesh and bone on the world-beating figure who has long been ossified into a boring lesson in hubris. Oh he has hubris by the buckets, but Alexander has so much more and Kousser plumbs his contradictions and likely motivations with skill and verve.” — Michael Giltz, Parade.com (Best New Book Releases This Month)
“The Best Reviewed Books of the Month,” Bookmarks, Lithub, July 31, 2024.
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