Peter Jones
He Drank His Enemies Under the Table
Whatever one makes of Alexander the Great today – blood-soaked mass-murderer or enlightened advocate of the fellowship of nations – his achievements instantly captured the imagination of peoples from Ireland to Afghanistan, from Iceland to India. Part of the reason is that the ancient world understood military force and thoroughly approved. O, to be as powerful and ruthless as the Romans, as charismatic and all-conquering as Alexander! By contrast, the modern world’s greatest living hero, Nelson Mandela, would, I suspect, have been seen as rather a drip: largely useless as a terrorist, he was then locked up for twenty-seven years.
But nothing can be created out of nothing, and Alexander is no exception. Ian Worthington’s purpose is to give Philip II of Macedon, his father, the due he deserves, and he does a splendid job in a clear, detailed and balanced account that judiciously
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'The trouble seems to be that we are not asked to read this author, reading being a thing of the past. We are asked to decode him.'
From the archive, Derek Mahon peruses the early short fiction of Thomas Pynchon.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/rock-n-roll-is-here-to-stay
'There are at least two dozen members of the House of Commons today whose names I cannot read without laughing because I know what poseurs and place-seekers they are.'
From the archive, Christopher Hitchens on the Oxford Union.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/mother-of-unions
Chuffed to be on the Curiosity Pill 2020 round-up for my @Lit_Review piece on swimming, which I cannot wait to get back to after 10+ months away https://literaryreview.co.uk/different-strokes https://twitter.com/RNGCrit/status/1351922254687383553