Not as high audio or lecture quality as courses from The Teaching Company, sadly. Listening was challenging in the car, which made it difficult to follow the narrative. ( )

Right off the bat Professor Lane lets us know how dubio us some of the usual sources for information about Alexander the Great are. I hadn't known that. What I had 'known' about Alexander was how he was supposed to have solved the problem of the Gordian Knot, and that he had supposedly wept because there were no new worlds for him to conquer. The Gordian Knot is mentioned here, but not the weeping. He had plans for more conquering when he died.

The actual lectures are:

1. Perspectives and Sources

2. Alexander's Youth in Philip's Kingdom

3. Alexander's Ascendancy

4. Into Persia

5. Facing Darius

6. The Son of Zeus

7. Victory at Gaugamela

8. Court Style and Conspiracy

9. Homogeneity

10. Alexander in India

11. The Feared Makran Desert

12. Alexander's Vision

13. The Cult of Alexander

14. Death and Beyond

Professor Lane is an enthusiast about his subject. The booklet that comes with the compact discs has nice pictures of Alexander the Great art through the millennia, maps, and photographs, but most of the facts seem rather dry. For the amusing or juicy anecdotes, you'll have to listen to the lectures.

Note. Professor Lane speaks British English, not American English, so please don't complain about his pronunciation. ( )

This is part of the Modern Scholar series. They are audio lectures published Recorded Books advertised as college level courses. They come with a course guide that is about 100 pages long. The author is very knowledgeable and it is a very interesting topic. The time of the audio is equeal to a two hundred page book or twelve lectures of forty-five minutes each. The course was pleasant listening. Mr. Fox's delivery is more like a chat than a lecture. There is a complete narrative of Alexander's life. More than complete it is interesting and full of details. I learned a lot about the people around Alexander. In one of the conspiracies he has to kill Parmenion, his best general. Alexander's attempts to make Persians out of the Macedonians are part of the cultural aspects of the journey mentioned by the author. When it was done I felt I learned as much as I would in a twelve week college course. As part of his research on Alexander the author must have traveled the route of his campaign. He talks about some of the battle sites and how he stood in the doorway to the tomb of Darius I where Alexander stood so long ago. I remember a vivid description of the mountains of the Hindu Kush. There are short discussions of the origin and accuracy of sources, like audio footnotes.
The discussion of Alexander's army was very instructive. I had always wondered how they won all of those battles. The army were full time professional soldiers. They had significant battle experience where they had used the tactics and maneuvers that were successful again and again. The infantry used a spear called a sirissa that was sixteen feet long and was terrifying on the battlefield. The cavalry was the unit that won the battles. They had no stirrups but coming from the right wing with Alexander at the head they attacked the opposing forces with a momentum that broke their lines. According to Mr. Fox some of the infantry was over sixty years old at the end of the battles.
The author was the historical director on the movie about Alexander by Oliver Stone. He participated as an extra in some of the battle scenes. He tells what it was like to be a member of the cavalry. When he described what it was like to be charged by a group of elephants it brought back memories of how big elephants are and their distinctive odor.
All of the details and the personal experiences helped to convey what a great adventure it was to conquer the world.
This was a good introduction to the Modern Scholar series. It was a good class. An interesting speaker with some real knowledge on the topic. Some of this material would probably not be written in a book but it all helped me to understand something about the life of Alexander the Great. I feel comfortable in recommending these audio lectures unless you don't prefer audio books or you are an expert on Alexander the Great.
Edit | More ( )