ALEXANDER THE GREAT

With the powerful, glamorous comet of a world conqueror to tell about, Gunther is in his element. Sagely, perceptively and letting his points fall in the right spots, he recounts the young Macedonian's brief and glorious years as king, conspirer, and leader of his tremendous army. Fortunately, Gunther does not follow the popular inclination among juvenile biographers to make fame and leadership necessary virtues, but takes his hero through the ups and downs of debauchery and personal jealousies that beast him, and gives by way of a sensible balance the sense of the mutual impact of personality and historical event. History at its best.