Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 215 implied HN points • 02 Jan 26
- Some people argue that Alexander’s victories show an exceptional, even divine, greatness and that modern critics are too materialistic or small-minded to recognize this kind of extraordinary leadership.
- Others insist that centering the victims and the violent realities of his campaigns makes it hard to call him admirable, and modern scholarship highlights his imperial aggression and moral costs.
- The dispute is tied to larger cultural fights over how to teach and define "Western civilization," with critics pushing for narrower, historically grounded frames like the "Dover Circle" rather than a grand, continuous West narrative.