The book begins with the personality and achievements of Alexander the Great, and continues with the military and political violence of the successor-kingdoms that fought over his inheritance. This era saw many important developments: a shift from the oral to the written; a move from the public to the private and a new individualist ethos; a huge growth in slavery, and therefore a glut of slave-labour which destroyed the incentive to innovate; a growing gap between rich and poor; a growing taste for luxury. Praise for Peter Green's ALEXANDER OF MACEDON: "As one reads through Peter Green's enthralling life of Alexander...one feels every strand of the mythical story coming apart" (Christopher Hitchens, Los Angeles Times) "A superb character study...Like Robert Graves, Green can make the ancient world and its people come alive...The scale of Alexander's life is marvellously conveyed" (Kirkus Reviews)