In The Footsteps Of Alexander The Great
Michael Wood’s documentary-adventures are always informative and great fun to watch. The attractive, tall, lean and first-rate story-teller is a true historian: one who loves the search for the truths of the past and one who is eager to plunge into the tide-pool of history to see it up close.
Alexander of Macedonia, in the Western World known as the Great, is also, in the lands he conquered, known as Alexander the Devil or Demon. (History is personal perspective, you’ll understand.) In the fourth century B.C.E., this young and quite possibly mentally-disturbed prince- and-then-king of the Northern Greek city-state of Macedonia, conquered the then-known world, from Greece to India. In less than ten years, his fanatical search for fame and immortality led him to a painful death at age 32, burned-out in body and spirit. But what he did in spreading Greek culture to formerly unknown parts of his world, has strong resonance today.
Wood brought a camera crew with him to those parts of the middle-east and Asia that Alexander, son of Phillip, visited. This all happened in 1996/7, when the historian was not quite 50. A good-looking and articulate scholar, with early training in acting, he makes the documentaries watchable as well as informative.
Some of his previous documentaries include GREAT RAILWAY JOURNEY’S, ART OF THE WESTERN WORLD, CONQUISTADORS, IN SEARCH OF MYTHS AND HEROES and THE STORY OF INDIA. His books on British history include IN SEARCH OF THE DARK AGES, THE DOMESDAY QUEST, IN SEARCH OF ENGLAND and IN SEARCH OF SHAKESPERE.
A Fellow of the Royal historical Society, his work on illuminating history – putting an authentic face to what is often dull on the page – makes him a valuable teacher and entertainer, indeed.
In this DVD, Wood takes us on a 20,000-mile journey through Lebanon, Iran, Greece and India, traveling over mountain passes in winter and fording rivers, braving bandits and revolutionaries in Afghanistan and Iraq, finding a community in Pakistan that speaks a Greed-derived language (developed after being conquered by Alexander), among many other extraordinary adventures. The videography is luscious, director David Wallace and producer (and Wood’s wife) Rebecca Dobbs support Wood’s cogent explanations. Another notch in this historian’s belt.