The first hint of the problem here is in the Prologue, in which Alexander can only describe what she is doing in terms of what it is not: not a factual history of the Trojan War, not a history of the text of the Iliad, nor a history of the cultural impact of the Iliad. That doesn't really leave very much, does it, and by the final chapters (which I confess, I skimmed) the lack of a really focused thesis adds up to little more than a long-winded and repetitive retelling of Homer's great work.

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