The Virtues of War: A Novel of Alexander the Great

Steven Pressfield

Sep 2005 · Sold by Bantam

About this ebook

I have always been a soldier. I have known no other life. So begins Alexander’s extraordinary confession on the eve of his greatest crisis of leadership. By turns heroic and calculating, compassionate and utterly merciless, Alexander recounts with a warrior’s unflinching eye for detail the blood, the terror, and the tactics of his greatest battlefield victories. Whether surviving his father’s brutal assassination, presiding over a massacre, or weeping at the death of a beloved comrade-in-arms, Alexander never denies the hard realities of the code by which he lives: the virtues of war. But as much as he was feared by his enemies, he was loved and revered by his friends, his generals, and the men who followed him into battle. Often outnumbered, never outfought, Alexander conquered every enemy the world stood against him–but the one he never saw coming. . . .

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Steven Pressfield's The Profession.

Ratings and reviews

I'm a huge fan of Steven Pressfields. He is the best Historical Fiction writer I've read. This book gives so much information and Alexander The Great that it brings a new appreciation for the legend. The battles are well developed and painted out but to a degree well beyond what you need for the story. This causes it to be a bit tiresome. I also appreciate the fact that he was trying to make this book "Iliad like" but he could have made it more like the abridged version instead of the unabridged with the endless list of names and places that were impossible to remember. I don't care who is the son of so-and-so's cousin. Not to ruin the ending but spoiler alert....he dies.

The author describes each battle with such detail that the reader can easily imagine how it played out. Would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about Alexander the Great

You can read this book in a matter of a few days. Less maybe. Well paced and easy to read.

About the author

STEVEN PRESSFIELD is the author of the novels, Last of the Amazons, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire and Tides of War. He lives in California where he is at work on his next historical novel.