The War That Killed Achilles

"The Iliad" is still the greatest poem about war that our culture has ever produced. For a hundred generations, poets and thinkers in the West have pored over, retold and argued about the events described in this martial epic, even when direct knowledge of it was lost. Various empires have admired it as a book that in telling the story of the siege of Troy also extols the warrior ethic, and teaches the young how to die well. Yet the figure at the heart of the epic, the consummate warrior Achilles, is a brooding, controversial hero. He is a fierce critic of those who have started this war and allowed it to drag on, consuming soldiers and civilians alike. Disconcertingly, "The Iliad" portrays war as a catastrophe that destroys cities, orphans children and wrecks whole societies. Caroline Alexander's extraordinary book is not about any of the traditional concerns that have occupied classicists for centuries. It is simpler and more radical than that. In her words, 'This book is about what "The Iliad" is about; this book is about what "The Iliad" says of war.'

ISBN 0571234305   Pages 320 ISBN13 9780571234301 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 293 Publisher Faber and Faber   Published in London Imprint Faber and Faber   Height (mm) 198 Format Paperback   Width (mm) 126 Publication date 06 Jan 2011   Spine width (mm) 20 DEWEY 883.01   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22

Blackwell review:
Out now in paperback, Caroline Alexander's utterly engaging and accessible account of the Iliad and what it says about war in general. Raises provocative questions about the actions of Homer's heroes, something which can also be asked of their modern counterparts.

Out now in paperback, Caroline Alexander's utterly engaging and accessible account of the Iliad and the questions it raises about war in general.



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