About the Book: 

Winner of the 2026 Baillie Gifford Prize

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.
 

About the Author: 

Edmund Richardson is an associate professor in the department of Classics and Ancient History at Durham University He has written several historical books, including Alexander: God, King, Man, which won the 2026 Baillie Gifford Prize, and Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City.