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NEW BOOK (Alexander the Great: A Reader)

Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 7:27 pm
by ruthaki
I'm reading a book loaned to me, new publication (first pub. 2003) Routledge
"Alexander the Great: A Reader" Edited by Ian Worthington, Prof of Greek History U of Missouri-Columbia. This is a valuable book for Alexander scholars, " a guide for the study of Alexander, showing the problems of the ancient source material and making it clear that there is no single approach to be taken. A distinctive features is that it contains a substantial number of the more inaccessible primary sources in translation."I haven't finished reading it and I must return it but will definitely invest in a copy for my own research library. I highly recommend it. It's very interesting (and fascinating) the way he has presented the primary sources and then alongside, the secondary sources (various) by published Alexander scholars.

Re: NEW BOOK (Alexander the Great: A Reader)

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2004 5:36 am
by beausefaless
I'm happy for you to find such a wonderful recent source of information on ATG and I'm sure this book will give you instant gratification, double posting of this message thread must have been caused by being so overwhelmed by your sudden strong emotion I'm sure you didn't mean to take up extra space on the message board even though you've been a member of this forum for so many moons, good luck.

Re: NEW BOOK (Alexander the Great: A Reader)

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2004 12:50 pm
by ruthaki
Andrew, your rudeness is overwhelming. The double post was because when I posted first the "this site is not available" page came up so I had to try again. And yes, this book IS a good source book to have in your library if you are truly interested in the subject as I have been for over 50 (fifty!!!) years.

Re: NEW BOOK (Alexander the Great: A Reader)

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2004 8:00 pm
by beausefaless
What goes around comes around, now you know how it feels as I received a overwhelming rude response from yourself as I suggested a few very good books for a certain person to read as was intrepid by being lazy which was true. (Blatant requests for pre-written assignments by lazy students - we don't mind the subtle ones ;-) Obviously you could care less when I said I was happy for you and when I wished you luck, I guess that's what I get to look foward to when I reach the sixty, seventy, and eighties of my life.

I do wish you the best with your new book and may longevity be the rule of the rest of your days....Take care and thanks for your contribution.

Re: NEW BOOK (Alexander the Great: A Reader)

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 4:02 am
by marcus
Hi Ruth,Yes, I got the Reader a little while ago.My only complaint with it is that so many of the articles included are rather old, now. Worthington does acknowledge this in his preface, saying it's because the re-print costs of more recent works is so high. The problem is, however, that you end up with quite old scholarship, and the only recent stuff is really Worthington's own - very convenient!Heckel is publishing a source book later this year, which I hope will include some of the more recent scholarship.All the bestMarcus

Re: NEW BOOK (Alexander the Great: A Reader)

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 5:03 am
by ruthaki
Hi Marcus, yes, I did note that he wasn't able to reprint a lot of the secondary source materials which was too bad. Still, it's a pretty intersting book with a lot of detail there refering to the primary sources etc. Worth having in the research library, I think. I'll watch for the newer one you mentioned. Cheers, Ruthaki

Re: NEW BOOK (Alexander the Great: A Reader)

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 6:30 am
by Linda
Hi I have just received Heckel's book:Alexander the Great: Historical Sources in Translation (Blackwell Sourcebooks in Ancient History S.)
Waldemar Heckel (Editor).I haven't started it yet - I was attracted by the idea of all the best stuff in one book :).I'll write as best a review as I can shortly.Regards allLinda

Re: NEW BOOK (Alexander the Great: A Reader)

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 8:33 am
by marcus
Well, there you go - I didn't realise it was already out! (Ruth - that's the one I was talking about).I'll probably get it even without a review, but perhaps you could read it all tonight and give us a review tomorrow, Linda? :-)All the bestMarcus

Re: NEW BOOK (Alexander the Great: A Reader)

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 8:34 am
by marcus
Oh yes, definitely worth having in the library.It's a very attractive book, too, I thought - which makes it doubly worth having :-)All the bestMarcus

Re: NEW BOOK (Alexander the Great: A Reader)

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 10:17 am
by Linda
Marcus said "I'll probably get it even without a review, but perhaps you could read it all tonight and give us a review tomorrow, Linda? :-)"
I'll do my best. :) But I see you have that twitchy finger I have - just over the "checkout" button, on anything relating to Alexander...although I am sure this will be a better buy than some of the others...

Re: NEW BOOK (Alexander the Great: A Reader)

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 1:34 pm
by ruthaki
Thanks for the info. My friend works at the university library so I'll ask her to keep an eye out for this new one. Looking forward to the review.