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From Booklist
Explicitly echoing Afghanistan's tragic recent history, Holt explores the difficulties Alexander the Great encountered when he marched into the country, whose ancient name was Bactria. Like subsequent British, Russian, and, now, American and allied armies, the Macedonian wunderking discovered in 329 B.C.E. that invading was easier than conquering. Not persuaded by Alexander's apologists both ancient and modern, Holt narrates the campaign as an unredeeming exercise in pillage and massacre, with the twist that the Bactrians gave as good as they got: Alexander's armies received more damage invading Bactria than in overthrowing the Persian Empire. Alexander attempted to gain the upper hand through policies alternating scorched-earth campaigns with diplomacy, but the Bactrians would renege, revolt, or retreat to the mountains with frustrating regularity. Sound uncannily familiar? Holt's striking parallels between the warlords Alexander pursued and their modern Afghan avatars result in that rarity of history books: one immediately practical to current-day events. Surely, the journalists, humanitarian workers, and officials rotating into Afghanistan today would profit from Holt's insights. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
"A great book... It brings the results of scholarship to a larger public. The commanders of the Coalition forces in Afghanistan should be under orders to read it." - Jona Lendering, Bryn Mawr Classical Review "Holt's striking parallels between the warlords Alexander pursued and their modern Afghan avatars result in that rarity of history books: one immediately practical to current-day events. Surely, the journalists, humanitarian workers, and officials rotating into Afghanistan today would profit from Holt's insights." - Gilbert Taylor, Booklist "Into the Land of Bones is the fullest narrative of Alexander's campaigns in Afghanistan available in English. It is informed by a comprehensive knowledge of the ancient sources, geography, and archaeology of Afghanistan. The work uses the history of Alexander to raise provocative questions about current affairs. This is one of the most important works on Alexander to appear in the last ten years." - Stanley Burstein, author of Outpost of Hellenism: The Emergence of Heraclea on the Black Sea"
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First Sentence
Afghanistan, the world's inexhaustible wellspring of warlords and terrorists cannot escape the crosshairs of history. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Afghanistan, the world's inexhaustible wellspring of warlords and terrorists cannot escape the crosshairs of history. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
President Obama should be reading this book!,
By
This review is from: Into the Land of Bones: Alexander the Great in Afghanistan (Paperback)
I learned from this book the reality of how history can repeat itself. Holt does a wonderful job of exploring Alexander's campaign in Afghanistan, as well as exploring the parallels with the present NATO operations in Afghanistan. The name of Kandahar, a city often in the news, was named after Alexander as part of the Greek-Macedonian plan to establish military colonies to control the locals. Instead of his usual set-piece battles, Alexander has to deal with an insurgency practically springing up in every mountain. Instead of emerging from Afghanistan in glory, Alexander was lucky enough to emerge with his army, and avoided Afghanistan on his return.I wish that all those politicians who tell us so glibly that the war can be won in Afghanistan would read this book, so they will have a better idea of what the reality of victory in Afghanistan will look like.
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4.2 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews) 16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Topical and Relevant,
By K. Busby - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Into the Land of Bones: Alexander the Great in Afghanistan (Paperback)
I think this book's greatest strength (and weakness) is its constant comparison of Alexander's invasion of Afghanistan and later occupations by the British, the Russians, and the Americans. For today's audience, there are many references to culturally well-known people and events such as when he compares Roxanne, Alexander's Bactrian bride, with Sharbat Gula, an Afghani girl made famous on the cover of National Geographic in one of that magazine's most famous photos and later revisited by the magazine.The weakness of this lies in the fact that many of the current references will quickly become dated, and future readers won't identify with his comparisons nearly as well. It was a well-written, fast-paced look at one small part of Alexander's conquests. I'm glad I read it and would recommend it to others. My one hesitation is that he follows a book written in detail on not only the events, but the motives and feelings of the individuals, with an appendix on his sources which states that there is so little factual data remaining about Alexander's reign -- and most of that contradictory -- that it raises the question of how reliable his conclusions are. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book, and will undoubtedly reread it. 11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A relevant must read,
By Heather - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Into the Land of Bones: Alexander the Great in Afghanistan (Paperback)
I actually had the pleasure of listening to him talk about this book in one of my classes. He is a great person and an even better historian. This is an unique book that studies Alexander the Great's campaign in the area of present-day Afghanistan and compares it to what Britian and the US later did in that area. Holt explains the various battles and campaigns in that area and how it affected Alexander, his troops, and the world. This is a great book and highly recommend it!I do not agree with one of the reviewers who believed that it was ridiculous to compare George W. Bush campaign in Iraq/Afghanistan to Alexander the Great's campaigns. It is completely legitimate and that is what history is for! We analyze history that way we can learn from it. From this book it is obvious we as a world have not learned the lessons that Alexander the Great learned and showed us in his campaigns. This is a great book with great, useful comparisons. I do not believe Mr. Holt was overreaching in his analysis. 13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A History of Campaign with Modern Comparisons,
By Wade C. Barnes - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Into the Land of Bones: Alexander the Great in Afghanistan (Hardcover)
This book is an interesting historical account of Alexander's campaign through Bactria (modern Afghanistan). As an added bonus, the author compares the difficulties and challenges in waging an Afghan war experienced by Alexander to those experienced in modern history by Great Britain, the USSR, and America.Into the Land of Bones provides a much-needed insight on the continuity and change of Afghanistan's culture and history. One can only hope that US military strategists have fully familiarized themselves with the historical patterns in regional warfare described here by Holt. |
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