From the back cover of the Baen first edition: "The turning point - One of the most fascinating pastimes for readers of science fiction is speculation concerning what might have happened if events at certain historical pivot points had turned out other than they did. Alas, such "macro events" are generally composites of great numbers of contending social forces, and not determinable answer is possible. Seldom indeed does the will and intent of one man stand obviously and totally supreme. Such a man and such a time was Alexander of Macedon poised at the Oxus, ready to invade India in his drive for world domination and his search for earth-encircling Ocean. Though he was never defeated in battle, the endeavor ended din disaster, and the physical debility brought on by the trans-Oxus campaign may well have caused his death a few years later. What might have happened had Alexander, at the height of imperial splendor, instead turned West, to face the power that was Rome?"
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