An engaging account of the decline and ruin of Alexander the Great as he sought to conquer faraway lands in Asia and subdue his own growing megalomania By the time Alexander the Great was twenty-six, he had conquered the world's mightiest empire, Persia. He was the envy of every man. But Alexander had a higher aspiration-to be the envy of the gods. And so, Alexander embarked on a long campaign of conquest across Asia. He marched his army through the mountains of Afghanistan to the Indian subcontinent. But as he pushed forward in his wild pursuit of glory and immortality, he grew increasingly unpredictable, sporadically violent, and megalomaniacal. In the end, only seven years after he had conquered Persia, Alexander the Great was defeated not by any external enemy but by himself, unable to control his passions. Writer and intrepid explorer John Prevas informs his "absorbing" ( Raleigh News & Observer ) narrative through a personal retracing of much of Alexander's route through what is now Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The author's research and travels bring brilliantly to life this riveting story of Alexander's decline and fall-in the land where he sought his greatest glory.