Archaeology Magazine - September 1948 - 53

Autumn 1948

BRIEF

173

NOTICES

Alexander
The
the Great.
Meeting of East and West in
World Government and Brotherhood.
Alexander
By Charles
Robinson, Jr. 252 Pages. E. P.
Dutton & Co., Inc., New York, 1947
$3.75

RECENT

BOOKS

ume and a popular approach of weight of first hand knowledge of the
problems involved is adopted. Sub- remains which enable us to get a
jective interpretations of motives and glimpse of the history of pre-Columactions are given preference and a bian America.
well-balanced scheme in the descripThe territory which they cover is
tion of battles, military moves and
their significance is profitably fol- immense, ranging from the borders of
lowed. As a result, the reading is Mexico to the Eskimo Northlands,
Few men in the course of history
and pleasant and out of it and is divided into eighteen districts.
have moved the imagination of pos- easy
emerges not only Alexander the Con- The archaeological evidence available
terity as much as Alexander, the son queror but also an Alexander inspired to date for each district is outlined
of Philip; and this was not without with the idea of
the "brotherhood of and arranged in a chronological sereason. For in his brief life of only
and determined to bring about quence and the basic trends of cultural
man,"
33 years, Alexander succeeded in "one world" in which Greek and developments are explained. The outsolidifying his rule over the barbaric Barbarian would live in amity and line of the remains uncovered is preraces of the Balkans, in uniting, in
peace. Robinson's
biography of ceded by a discussion of topics of
some measure, the divided Greek Alexander should have a wide
appeal, general interest to laymen. Some of
cities, in defeating the armies of because it possesses all the elements the topics discussed with brevity and
Darius and in conquering his vast that commend a
good book to the lucidity are: What Archaeology is
Persian Empire. His victorious march
general public; it is written in a and how archaeologists work; the
from the shores of the Agean to the
flowing language, and the story is origin of the American Indian; and
Indus and the Hydaspes, his amazing told in a
how pottery, tools, baskets and woven
simple and straightforward
versatility and generalship that invar- manner and is permeated with the materials are made. A full bibliogiably gave him victory and that won dramatic element that keeps un- raphy and a glossary add to the comfor him Napoleon's praise, the im- abated the interest of the reader from pleteness of the volume. Perhaps one
mense wealth which came to his posof the outstanding merits of the book
beginning to end.
session and which he gave away freely
G. E. M. is the complete frankness with which
to friends and worthy soldiers, make
its authors attack their problems.
him indeed one of the most striking
They do not seem to be troubled with
figures in world history. His efforts
the obsession of the great antiquity o*
Indians
Columbus.
Before
to explore the inhabited world, to
American relics that has plagued
of American scholars in the past, nor
Thousand
Years
build cities that were to serve not Twenty
ReHistory
only as military outposts but also as North American
are they tainted by the dogmatism
cultural centers, and his dream of vealed by Archaeology.
By Paul
which created so many absurd situacreating one world for Greek and S. Martin, George I. Quimby, and tions in the study of American relics.
Barbarian alike, give us another as- Donald Collier,
xxiii, 582 pages, They do not hesitate to use the words
pect of his great personality and re- 122 illustrations, 18 charts. Univer- "guess" and "conjecture" whenever
veal him as an up-to-date leader of sity of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1947, they are indicated by the evidence at
men.
$6.00.
hand. And so a very satisfying story
of the Indians before Columbus is
Because of his personality, that
This volume is a welcome addition
lends itself to misunderstanding and to the growing scientific bibliography pieced together.
criticism as well as to praise, Alex- on American Archaeology, a study
It begins with the coming of the
ander has attracted the interest of which has suffered so much in the past Indians to North America from norththe scholar from Hellenistic times to from the neglect of the trained scholar eastern Asia and the Bering Straits
the present. The present biography, and the enthusiasm of the amateur some 20,000 years ago and at a time
primarily addressed to the layman, and the collector of curios. The au- when they were still in a simple hunthas resulted from Robinson's belief thors are recognized scholars who have ing and food-gathering stage of culthat "the summing up for the public conducted expeditions in the territories ture. From the north they moved
of the essential meaning of specialized they describe and who have special- to the south and gradually occupied
research is the final end of all scholar- ized in the fields they discuss. Their the North American continent and
ship." Naturally enough, controver- work therefore carries with it the developed their different cultures.
sial issues are by-passed in this vol- prestige of original research and the The appearance of agriculture and the

Archaeology Magazine - September 1948

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - September 1948