Alexander the Great conquered territories on a superhuman scale and established an empire that stretched from Greece to India. He spread Greek culture and education throughout his empire, and was worshipped as a living god by many of his subjects. But how great is a leader responsible for the deaths on tens of thousands of people? A ruler who prefers constant warring to administering the peace? A man who believed he was a god, who murdered his friends, and recklessly put his soldiers lives at risk?Ian Worthington delves into Alexander's successes and failures, his paranoia, the murders he engineered, his megalomania, and his constant drinking. It presents a king corrupted by power and who, for his own personal ends, sacrificed the empire his father had fought to establish.

1. Introduction: Uncovering the Legend 2. Alexander's Inheritance 3. Alexander's Boyhood 4. King at Last 5. The Very Gates of Asia 6. A Bridge of Corpses 7. Son of Ra, Son of Zeus 8. Lord of Asia 9. Conquest and Conspiracy 10. Bactria and Sogdiana 11. India 12. We'll Say Goodbye in Babylon 13. Death and Disorder 14. Man and God 15. Alexander: The Great 16. Philip's Ghost

Ian Worthington is Professor of History at the University of Missouri. He has published 15 sole-authored and edited books and over 100 articles and essays on Greek history, epigraphy and oratory. In 2005 he won the Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Research and Creativity in the Humanities, in 2007 the Student-Athlete Advisory Council Most Inspiring Professor Award and in 2010 the William H. Byler Distinguished Professor Award.