Alexander de Grote. De strijd van een jonge man om de wereld te veroveren

The author of this book published in Dutch under the title “Alexander de Grote. De strijd van een jonge man om de wereld te veroveren” (ISBN 9789055139859) is not known or at least not mentioned although it somewhere says that the text is by Merit Roodbeen – why this mystery? In any case, this was reason enough for me not to buy it, but then I received it as a gift. I read it, of course, for after all this is about Alexander the Great and one never knows what treasure might still be hidden somewhere. Well, not here that is certain.

All in all, a decent effort is made to cover Alexander’s entire life, from his youth in Macedonia and his early years of kingship to his untimely death shortly after having lost his dearest friend Hephaistion. The key battles at Granicus, Issus and Gaugamela are treated, followed by Darius’ death, the capture of Bessus, the conquest of Bactria and Sogdiana till the King reaches India where his army doesn’t want to go any further. After crossing the Makran desert he arrives back in Babylon and deals with the Opis revolt. This is nothing new, simply the classical story of Alexander’s life.

As I expected, the book entirely lacks incentive, passion or personal approach. This is very sad for the person of Alexander the Great is terribly exciting, fascinating and mysterious at the same time, yet none of this transpires in this book.