Alexander
- Author Edmund Richardson
- Narrator John Telfer
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date 4 June 2026
- Run Time 15 hours and 5 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Ancient history.
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What to expect
Bloomsbury presents Alexander by Edmund Richardson, read by John Telfer
'A thrilling story, wonderfully told by one of the great historians' KEN FOLLETT
'Dazzling... This is biography of great brilliance and rare resonance' WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
'A pulsating, vivid life of a true historical titan' DAN JONES
'A splendid book, lively, erudite... where myth and heroism meet' RORY STEWART
A stunningly written new biography of Alexander the Great, based on a series of important new discoveries and the author’s own translations of source material from twelve ancient languages.
In 336 BCE, at the age of twenty, Alexander, a wide-eyed boy from the hills of Macedon, inherited a tumbledown kingdom, a pile of debts and an army which answered to nobody. Desperate to hold on to power, he led the army east, into the heart of the vast Persian Empire, and inadvertently began the greatest military campaign in history. The young man became a king, the king became a hero, the hero became a living god, and the god died aged thirty-two, broken-hearted in Babylon.
For centuries, historians have told his story, yet Alexander has remained a mystery. But now, the ruins of his cities have emerged from the bottom of the sea and the dust of Central Asian hillsides. The diaries of Babylonian astronomers who knew him have been deciphered. The tombs of his ancestors have been unearthed. For the first time, instead of the legend, we can meet Alexander the man.
Based on more than a decade of cutting-edge research, Alexander allows readers to feel the desert wind and experience the full horror of battle. Richardson’s research has taken him from the catacombs of Egypt to the passes of Afghanistan. Alexander is a cinematic work of non-fiction: a revelatory retelling of one of the most famous and elusive stories in history.
'A thrilling story, wonderfully told by one of the great historians' KEN FOLLETT
'Dazzling... This is biography of great brilliance and rare resonance' WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
'A pulsating, vivid life of a true historical titan' DAN JONES
'A splendid book, lively, erudite... where myth and heroism meet' RORY STEWART
A stunningly written new biography of Alexander the Great, based on a series of important new discoveries and the author’s own translations of source material from twelve ancient languages.
In 336 BCE, at the age of twenty, Alexander, a wide-eyed boy from the hills of Macedon, inherited a tumbledown kingdom, a pile of debts and an army which answered to nobody. Desperate to hold on to power, he led the army east, into the heart of the vast Persian Empire, and inadvertently began the greatest military campaign in history. The young man became a king, the king became a hero, the hero became a living god, and the god died aged thirty-two, broken-hearted in Babylon.
For centuries, historians have told his story, yet Alexander has remained a mystery. But now, the ruins of his cities have emerged from the bottom of the sea and the dust of Central Asian hillsides. The diaries of Babylonian astronomers who knew him have been deciphered. The tombs of his ancestors have been unearthed. For the first time, instead of the legend, we can meet Alexander the man.
Based on more than a decade of cutting-edge research, Alexander allows readers to feel the desert wind and experience the full horror of battle. Richardson’s research has taken him from the catacombs of Egypt to the passes of Afghanistan. Alexander is a cinematic work of non-fiction: a revelatory retelling of one of the most famous and elusive stories in history.
Critics Review
‘In this staggeringly good biography, Edmund Richardson reveals in riveting and sumptuous detail the real Alexander, the man behind the legend…I really cannot overstate how fabulous this book is. I was cancelling plans, racing home to read about Alexander. Richardson is an uncommonly gifted writer, combining historical detail with a genius for narrative structure, making this biography as entertaining as a good thriller
Meticulously researched and dazzlingly written, Richardson’s Alexander is a triumph of scholarship and storytelling. The text is so lively, the insights so revealing, I felt as if I was reading about Alexander for the first time
A thrilling story, wonderfully told by one of the great historians
A compelling account of one of history’s greatest figures. Edmund Richardson has made full use of new discoveries in describing the life of Alexander, while conveying the tension and drama that accompanied his achievements and tragedies. Highly readable, enjoyable and authoritative
A pulsating, vivid life of a true historical titan. Alexander loomed over the world he conquered and the imagination of every great ruler who came after him. In this marvellous book, he has found a biographer with the scholarly insight and narrative verve to bring him thundering onto the page
A splendid book, lively, erudite, steeped in the vast non-European world which Alexander encountered. A book where myth and heroism meet
Alexander rides again into battle in this dazzling new masterpiece by one of our most talented young classicists. Edmund Richardson presents his deep research in a rich cornucopia of ancient languages with wonderfully visual and evocative prose, deep learning and a talent for gripping narrative. Impossibly colourful, wonderfully well written and drawing on some extraordinary new sources, this is biography of great brilliance and rare resonance
Edmund Richardson has written an absorbing and thorough new take [on Alexander], for which he translated material from 12 languages... and added new understanding from recent archaeological finds ... All this adds colour to Richardson's task of retelling the saga of Alexander massacring everyone he meets in a fresh way
A rip-roaring cradle-to-(drunken)-grave look at Alexander … It is brutal, violent and staggeringly bloody. It is, in other words, splendid fun … Where there is a good story to tell, Mr Richardson does not deconstruct or critique it. He tells it, with gusto … This book, which combines analysis with good old-fashioned fun, offers a lesson in how history can be both academically ambitious and readable
[A] magnificent new biography of this extraordinary man… written in Richardson’s dreamy, questing, ornate prose. Surely one of the history books of the year
Attempting [Alexander's] biography is something only an academic of Edmund Richardson’s calibre could possibly accomplish with such flair and scholarship. Not only this, but he has produced a work devoted to one of history’s greatest men, flawed, diminished in his ability to contribute to his conquered peoples’ lives, but an indefatigable soldier and inspirational leader. This dazzling and erudite biography is irresistible to any reader interested in learning about Alexander, a brilliant man, an admirable king and to many, a God
I loved it…Richardson’s new title matches up well to the quality and significance of its subject matter… Richardson’s Alexander is very much more a nightmare than he is a dreamboat… impeccably researched and evocatively written… Wonderful
Another page-turning dive into the ancient world via the life and times of the legendary warrior and ruler Alexander the Great
He writes with buoyant verve: there isn’t a flatly dull or pedantically academic sentence in nearly 400 exhilarating pages…Edmund Richardson’s finely crafted and unvarnished book brings us closer to the truth
We now have another life of Alexander, a rather gorgeously written account by Edmund Richardson — in a manner that recalls Robert Hughes — and which comes with blurbs by William Dalrymple and Ken Follett
A vivid retelling... Richardson's achievement is to make such a scholarly work accessible to all readers. It's an absorbing glimpse into a world that we can only imagine
| Author | Edmund Richardson |
|---|---|
| Narrator | John Telfer |
| Duration | 15 hours and 5 minutes |
| Release Date | |
| ISBN | 9781526658166 |
| Format | Audiobook |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Genre | Ancient history |
| Availability | AU, GB, IE |
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