Legends and written materials on Alexander the Great, the youthful conqueror who led his troops through modern Afghanistan and into India, abound. The following biographies look at Alexander through many lenses. Some also evaluate the available ancient reference materials. A classical dictionary and an atlas of the ancient world will prove useful.
1. Alexander of Macedon 356-323 B. C.: A Historical Biography
Peter Green, Classical scholar and novelist's biography of the absolute monarch corrupted absolutely is a gripping story of the career of the Macedonian Alexander the Great.
2. Alexander the Great and His Empire
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The focus of this analytical biography of Alexander the Great is slightly different since the author, Pierre Briant, is professor of history with a focus on the Achaemenids. Briant looks at the events in Alexander's life and compares these with ancient and modern evaluations.
3. Ghost on the Throne
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After you've read the basics on Alexander the Great, you may still wonder about details and wish you knew more about the holes in the story, but the real difficulty comes figuring out what comes after Alexander died without making realistic plans for the succession. After editing the Landmark Arrian's Alexander the Great, James Romm is exceptionally well qualified to do just that unraveling for us.
4. Alexander the Great, by Robin L. Fox
Details of Alexander the Great's life are short in most areas except his itinerary. Fox's familiarity with the terrain Alexander covered enables him to present both a travelogue and a complex character.5. Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great
An expert on Arrian's History of Alexander, Bosworth paints a dark picture of Alexander the Great. Familiarity with the geography is a prerequisite.6. Alexander the Great: The Invisible Enemy
Not a bad introductory book on Alexander the Great mainly from the perspective of Plutarch, but it suffers the flaws of modern works on Alexander. These include contemporary biases (in Maxwell's case, a modern view of the dangers of alcohol) and arcane references that only a classicist or student of ancient history should be expected to recognize without a classical dictionary.
7. Alexander the Great, by Richard Stoneman
Stoneman introduces the themes of Alexander's reign and explains the challenges presented by the sources, written, archaeological, and numismatic.