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reviews

Alcibiades: Fact, Fiction, Farce

Jack Meyer
Trafford Publishing (2009)
ISBN 9781426918339
Reviewed by Andrey Bilko for RebeccasReads (07/10)


There are a number of elements that make this book unique and unusual (at least to me!), one of which is the fact that it combines fiction, fact, and farce into one text. Taking the historical figure of Alcibiades, whose life revolved around the Peloponnesian War, and whose political loyalty changed on a number of occasions, the book throws us into Ancient Athens. Most of the factual information was gathered from Thucydides’ account of the previously mentioned war. And some of Plato’s writing provided a base for everyday activities of Greeks at that time. From the first pages the reader begins to experience streets of Athens with Socrates walking around voicing his “voice of reason and judgment”. There are a number of excellent dialogues present throughout the story, the structure of which is very similar to ones written by Plato and Socrates themselves. The dialogues serve a great purpose of putting the reader into the street, making the reader listen to the main characters, bringing elements of a screenplay. I enjoyed reading these dialogues, which got quite philosophical and thought-provoking at times.

One of the main goals of the book is to critique American foreign policy. Alcibiades, who historically supported a very aggressive foreign policy while being in Athens, is very similar to the U.S. And later, when the main hero ran away to Sparta, he was one of the main strategists behind several major campaigns against Athens. What a flip-flopper! (We have seen some contemporary politicians, who would do (or have done already) the exactly same thing, whenever needed). Sometimes, it is hard to believe how many similarities are there between two democracies separated by over two millennia. Some things never change… Politics, military… and most importantly, their failures have been around for thousands of years. And of course, they are there for us to study from, preventing same mistakes from happening over and over again. What can the U.S. government and American people learn from Alcibiades? His mistakes should not be repeated. American foreign policy needs to reevaluate itself.

The book is interesting to read, but is slightly difficult to follow at times. It jumps around, and sometimes it takes a little bit to realize how you got to reading about a completely different event. I wish the transitions were slightly smoother, less jumpy. I also wish the text was divided into some sort of chapters. Overall, a fun read with lots of history and allegory.