"Into the Land of Bones" is the fullest narrative of Alexander's campaigns in Afghanistan available
in English. It is informed by a comprehensive knowledge of the ancient sources, geography, and archaeology
of Afghanistan. The work uses the history of Alexander to raise provocative questions about current affairs.
Its long-term value, however, lies in its detailed and masterly account of Alexander's Bactrian campaigns
in light of the history and geography of Afghanistan. This is one of the most important works on Alexander
to appear in the last ten years."--Stanley Burstein, author of "Outpost of Hellenism: The Emergence of
Heraclea on the Black Sea"

"The terrain, climate, and volatile socio-political milieu of Afghanistan have always been a logistical
nightmare for invaders. Holt's vivid evocation of Alexander the Great's grueling, brutal, inconclusive war,
and the telling parallels he draws with British, Soviet, and U.S. attempts to bludgeon the region into
submission, make for grim reading."--Amelie Kuhrt, author of "The Ancient Near East, c.3000-330 BC"

What George W. Bush called the "first war of the twenty-first century" actually began more than 2,300
years ago when Alexander the Great led his army into what is now a sprawling ruin in northern Afghanistan.
Accounts of Alexander's invasion of ancient Bactria read eerily like news from our own day. In this vivid,
meticulously researched, and elegantly narrated book, Frank L. Holt follows Alexander's historical,
archaeological, and numismatic legacy back and forth between ancient Bactria and modern Afghanistan.
Recounting the plight of the most powerful leader of the time as he led the most sophisticated army of its
day into the treacherous world of tribal warlords, Holt describes those grueling campaigns and the impact
they had on Alexander, his generals, their troops, and the world. "Into the Land of Bones "also examines
the conflict from the point of view of the local warlords who pushed the invading Greeks to the limits of
their endurance--and sometimes beyond, into mania and mutiny. The lively narrative situates the current war
in Afghanistan in a broader historical perspective. Holt explains how the three modern superpowers that have
invaded Afghanistan--Britain in the nineteenth century, the Soviets in the twentieth, and the United States
in the twenty-first--are continuing the struggle that Alexander began centuries ago. That this legacy
continues to play itself out today is a testament to the timeliness of Holt's fascinating and original
account.

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