An acclaimed biography of Alexander the Great wins the Baillie Gifford prize

LONDON — An “immersive” biography of Alexander the Great won the prestigious Baillie Gifford Prize for nonfiction Wednesday, in the latest sign of booming interest in the world of ancient Greece.

Edmund Richardson’s “Alexander: God, King, Man” was named winner of the 50,000 pound ($67,000) prize at a ceremony in London.

British journalist Kirsty Lang, who chaired the judging panel, said the book is the first work of ancient history to win the prize and “reads like a novel.”

“It’s very immersive. You really feel that you’re there on the battlefield, marching across Central Asia and Egypt with Alexander,” she said. “And it contains a lot of new research,” including Richardson’s translations of sources from 12 ancient languages.

Richardson, a professor of classics at Durham University in England, spent a decade — “far too long, down far too many rabbit holes” — researching the life of Alexander, who inherited a debt-ridden Macedonian kingdom at 20, conquered territory stretching from Greece to India and died at 32.

“No one called him Alexander the Great in his lifetime,” Richardson told The Associated Press. “No one thought he was going to conquer the world. He was his father’s slightly disappointing son, even when…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business