To be honest all the books that I have read about Alexander are just a bit too stylized and I have had a tendency to read words, whether about the problem with the traitorous Greeks who were so happy to greet Alexander only to have him turn around and slaughter them wholesale, or for him to turn down a warlord chieftain's offer of his daughter in marriage, or to have his neck hit by a stone that knocked him unconscious, etc.etc. all the things that happened in Bactria after his chase of Bessus to get even for killing King Darius. Even the marriage to Roxanne is told in a better light.
But Frank Holt's book made me realize the seriousness of the wilderness of what is modern day Afghanistan so much better than any other author has done so far. This is a great book to read to understand the difficulties that nations have encountered during their efforts to conquer and subdue the warlords who have survived in this remote area for so long. Frank takes us from Alexander the Great's efforts to those of Britain, the Soviet Union, and now modern American's attempts to also conquer the most undesirable sites in the world. None of Alexander's generals liked having to stay in Bactrria either, and the current president of Pakistan is convinced that very few foreigners will ever want to attempt to live and reside in either Afghanistan or Pakistan. HOlt tells the story of Alexander and his successors, who are so numerous as to be unfunny. Then finally he takes us into the subject of coins that have been discovered there and are the final connections to the times of the Greeks when they had inhabited the land. An actual achaeological dig by some French is discussed in great detail in this book, but was later plundered and ruined. al khanoum is the name of the site.
Utterly easy to read and fascinating material. I recommend it highly.