Reddit reviews The Virtues of War: A Novel of Alexander the Great

The one where Alexander the Great fought Darius, in part because among the casualties was one of his beloved dogs, Peritas:

"Without his dog, Peritas, Alexander the Great might have been Alexander the So-So. When the warrior was swarmed by the troops of Persia's Darius III, Peritas leapt and bit the lip of an elephant charging his master. Alexander lived to pursue his famed conquest, forging the empire underlying Western civilization as we know it."

More info on the dogs in Alexander's time here:

"There are, moreover, historic proofs that the dogs of the strongest breeds are indigenous to Asia, where we still find the dog of Thibet, the most colossal of all; in fact, in Pliny we read the following narrative: Alexander the Great received from a king of Asia a dog of huge size. He wished to pit it against bears and wild boars, but the dog remained undisturbed and did not even rise, and Alexander had it killed. On hearing of this, the royal donor sent a second dog like the first, along with word that these dogs did not fight so weak animals, but rather the lion and the elephant, and that he had only two of such individuals, and in case that Alexander had this one killed, too, he would no longer find his equal. Alexander matched this dog with a lion and then with an elephant, and he killed them both. Alexander was so afflicted at the premature death of the first dog, that he built a city and temples in honor of the animal..."

I'm struck by this battle in large part because Alexander was such a brilliant tactician, but also because I like dogs.

The book I read it in is called "The Virtues of War", by Steven Pressfield. I highly recommend it. The Amazon reviews will give you a better overview than I can.

He also wrote Gates of Fire (which is on the USMC reading list), and Tides of War; both are excellent.

Non-Fiction:

Alexander, I did not read this one, but I did enjoy his chapter on Alexander in the same author's book, The Great Captains.

The Mask of Command, while not only about Alexander, it's hard to go wrong with Kegan.

If you're interested in some historical fiction, try Steven Pressfield's The Virtues of War.

As mentioned, the Afghan Campaign is really good. However, Steven Pressfield actually has a book that is about Alexander the Great directly, call The Virtues of War

If you like Iggulden and Cornwell, you will like Pressfield. Also, I cannot recommend highly enough his most well known book, The Gates of Fire. That one is about the last stand of the Spartans (and others) at Thermopylae and is exceptional. If you are into Greek historical fiction as a whole rather than only Alexander the Great, definitely give that one a try.