Author Description

The sources describe Eumenes (323-281 BC) as a brilliant general and one of the last defenders of the monarchy after the death of Alexander the Great, but who was doomed to failure by the prejudice of the native-born Macedonian officers and common soldiers. The story is dramatic, says Anson, but fictional. Outside of Macedonia proper, he points out, Macedonian had come to mean a fighting style or political status rather than ethnicity, and Philip and Alexander's contribution was to raise Macedonians from barbarians into a lesser form of Greeks rather than to drive the two groups apart. He begins his biography by looking at the sources, then traces Eumenes' life and military through its various stages. He includes maps. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)