This book explains what made Alexander 'Great' according to the people and expectations of his time and place.

1. The world of Alexander's birth and his education in literature and warfare (350s and 340s BC); 2. Opportunities and risks as a teenager (340s to 338 BC); 3. The danger in replacing a murdered father as king (337 to 335 BC); 4. The opening battles against the Persian army (334 to 332 BC); 5. Finding god in Egypt and capturing the riches of Persia (332 to 330 BC); 6. Winning the world as king of Asia (330 to 329 BC); 7. Murder, marriage, and mixing customs in Afghanistan (329 to 327 BC); 8. Victory and frustration in India (327 to 326 BC); 9. Returning to Babylon and becoming divine (326 to 323 BC); 10. Remembering and judging Alexander (323 BC to now).

Thomas R. Martin is the Jeremiah W. O'Connor, Jr Professor in Classics at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is the author of Ancient Greece and (with Ivy Sui-yuen) Herodotus and Sima Qian.