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2 books match the query 'Intrigue'
The Complex Friendships of Alexander the Great
Loyalty, Love, Advantage, and IntrigueJoseph Roisman
University of Texas Press, 2026
A first-of-its-kind study of Alexander the Great that examines the diverse manifestations and pivotal role of friendship in his campaigns, decisions, and enduring legacy.
Modern scholarship has illuminated nearly every aspect of Alexander the Great’s life and campaigns––but Joseph Roisman turns to a dimension of Alexander’s world that has yet to receive sustained analysis: the structure and function of friendship in the king’s regime. In this first-of-its-kind study, The Complex Friendships of Alexander the Great explores the central role friendship played in Alexander’s social, political, and cultural world. Moving beyond utilitarian perspectives, Roisman shows that friendship with the king involved affective, noninstrumental bonds that shaped his decisions, successes, and failures.
Using Aristotle’s philosophy of friendship as a starting point, Roisman examines the making, breaking, and remaking of bonds with Macedonian companions, including his closest allies, as well as with foreigners encountered during his campaigns. The book concludes with the first comprehensive list of Alexander’s friends drawn from ancient sources. Combining meticulous scholarship with new interpretive insight, this study reevaluates how we understand Alexander the Great’s leadership, social networks, and legacy.
Wallis's War
A Novel of Diplomacy and IntrigueKate Auspitz
University of Chicago Press, 2015
The facts: reviled by the British as a social-climbing seductress even as Time magazine named her its 1936 Woman of the Year, Simpson was the American socialite whose affair with King Edward VIII led him to abdicate the throne on the eve of WWII. In this fanciful novel written in the form of a fictional memoir, Auspitz imagines an alternative history in which Simpson was encouraged by Allied statesmen to remove defeatist, pro-German Edward from the throne, forever altering the course of the war. A comically unreliable narrator who knows more than she realizes, and reveals more than she knows, Simpson leads us from historic treaties and military campaigns to dinner parties and cruises as she describes encounters with everyone from Duff and Diana Cooper to Charles Lindbergh, Coco Chanel, and Hitler—all the while acting as a willing but seemingly oblivious pawn of international intrigue.
A rare blend of diplomacy and dalliance, fashion and fascists, this meticulously researched satire offers witty and erudite entertainment and leaves us speculating: who really brought about the abdication and—always—what were they wearing?