The War That Killed Achilles Hardcover - 2009

by Caroline Alexander

A groundbreakingreading of the Iliadthat restoresHomer's vision ofthe tragedy of war,by the bestsellingauthor ofThe Bounty

Few warriors, in life or literature, have challenged their commandingofficer and the rationale of the war they fought as fiercelyas did Homer's hero Achilles. Today, the Iliad is celebrated asone of the greatest works in literature, the epic of all epics; manyhave forgotten that the subject of this ancient poem was war-notmerely the poetical romance of the war at Troy, but war, in all itsenduring devastation.

Using the legend of the Trojan war, the Iliad addresses thecentral questions defining the war experience of every age: Is awarrior ever justified in standing up against his commander? Musthe sacrifice his life for someone else's cause? Giving his life for hiscountry, does a man betray his family? How is a catastrophic warever allowed to start-and why, if all parties wish it over, can it notbe ended?

As she did with The Endurance and The Bounty, CarolineAlexander lets us see why a familiar story has had such an impacton us for centuries, revealing what Homer really meant. Writtenwith the authority of a scholar and the vigor of a bestselling narrativehistorian, The War That Killed Achilles is a superb and utterlytimely presentation of one of the timeless stories of our civilization.