'Recent scholarly approaches to the lives of ancient Iranian monarchs have opted for the Reception Studies approach, filtering the rulers through the long-lens of ancient and modern historiography. Not so Richard Stoneman. He boldly bucks the trend and in his Xerxes: A Persian Life proves that it is possible to write a very good biography of a long-dead Persian. He takes a cradle-to-grave (or harem-to-ossuary) approach in doing so and tackles the complex, conflicting, multi-layered sources with gusto.'-Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, THE -- Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones Times Higher Education "A biography that awakens curiosity and whets the appetite for more information."-Kirkus Reviews Kirkus Reviews