The controversy created by Alexander has outlasted his glory. [In "The Nature of Alexander"] Mary Renault lists the detractors and their accusations that Alexander was no more than an egoistic despot, a lustful conqueror riding fast to dust and judgment; then the witnesses idolizing a magnetic military genius. From the conflicting testimony, propaganda and legend, she sets out to discover the real Alexander.

What she discovers is not long in doubt, nor, to readers of her novels, much surprise. From his precocious boyhood Alexander presumed fear and defeat did not exist…. He never ratted on friendships, never missed his morning prayers, never boasted….

Taking into account the author's concession that he was also "one of the vainest men in human history," a skeptical reader might begin to wonder if the embodiment of such a load of virtue isn't going to emerge as an insufferable prig. But Mary Renault...