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Edmund Richardson wins £50,000 prize for Alexander the Great biography
Edmund Richardson has won the £50,000 Baillie Gifford prize for his biography of Alexander the Great, a ruler whose conquests reshaped the ancient world but whose empire began to unravel before his death. Richardson says Alexander’s ambition to transform the world left it in ruins, and argues that the story speaks to present-day questions about the limits of wealth and power.
Titled *Alexander: God, Man, King*, the book presents its subject as capable of both exceptional cruelty and kindness. Alexander became king of Macedon aged 20 in 336BC, conquered much of the known world by the time he was 30, and died in Babylon aged 32; Richardson estimates his campaigns killed 1% of the population. He also traces their lasting effects through the movement of science, art and scholarship between regions.
In short
- Edmund Richardson won the £50,000 Baillie Gifford prize.
- His biography explores Alexander’s conquests and their lasting effects.
- Richardson sees a warning about the limits of power in Alexander’s story.
Read the full article at the source →
Originally published by The Guardian as “‘He left the world in ruins’: the author who defied the Taliban and burning tyres to tell Alexander the Great’s epic story”.