2014 in world history has been a personal Year of Alexander for me. Although I started on a much larger stage with Bill Bryson's Short History of Everything (which I classed out of world history to "non-fiction: other"), I experience the before, during, and after in three books. Not too long ago I had read another account of the chaotic time of the "Successors" who slowly and bloodily carved up Alexander the Great's empire called Dividing the Spoils by Robin Waterfield. Romm acknowledges the timing of the two books was a bit uncanny, both released in 2011. I'm a little fuzzy on Waterfield's book, but this one felt different, and I certainly didn't feel like I was reading the same book. Romm keeps the period of analysis fairly tight, from the death of Alexander (323 BC) to the annihilation of the Argeads around 315, while I think Waterfield went a little further.The collapse of Alexander's empire is so spectacular, it was certainly not a problem to revisit the period. What's interesting is how pretty much all of the Successors would kill themselves off (along with the royal family) except for Ptolemy, who wisely kept to Egypt (even he got a little frisky at times, though). Once the dust settled, if it even really did, the men who inherited Alexander's empire were either the children of the initial successors (e.g. Cassander) or minor players circa 323 (e.g. Antigonus, Seleucus). Again, only Ptolemy violates this observation, but what do you expect from Cleopatra's great-times-seven grandfather?
As previously stated this book marks the end of my world history reading for 2014. The two other titles were Tom Holland's Persian Fire (the "before" if you will), and Ian Worthington's By the Spear (the "during"). 2015 will focus more on the rise and fall of the Rome, with an excellent slate of books lined up and ready to go.
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