In "101 World Heroes", bestselling historian Simon Sebag Montefiore presents his personal selection of the 100 most heroic figures from the pages of world history. Emperors and queens, soldiers and statesmen, religious leaders and philosophers rub shoulders with composers and poets, scientists and explorers, artists and storytellers from three millennia. All are united not just by what they did in their own lifetimes, but also by the enduring legacy they have bequeathed to the sum of human experience and achievement. The central spine of the book consists of a series of narrative entries recording the lives and legacies of the 101 heroes and heroines. Each entry is accompanied by a brief essay opening a window on the times in which he or she lived. Thus the life of Egypt's greatest pharaoh, Ramses II, is accompanied by an essay looking at the gods and goddesses of Ancient Egypt, while the entry for Admiral Horatio Nelson explores the tactics and gunnery of a ship-of-the-line. The book is illustrated throughout with maps, diagrams, paintings and photographs, and an appendix celebrates a further 100 individual deeds of heroism with a special claim to immortality. The heroes include: Ramses the Great, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, King Solomon, Elizabeth I of England, Winston Churchill, The Buddha, Tokugawa Ieyasu, M. K. Gandhi, Aristotle, William Shakespeare, F.D. Roosevelt, Alexander the Great, Thomas Jefferson, David Ben Gurion, Hannibal, Voltaire, George Orwell, Jesus, Napoleon Bonaparte, Elvis Presley, Marcus Aurelius, Horatio Nelson, J. F. Kennedy, Mohammed, Duke of Wellington, John Paul II, Charlemagne, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Leo Tolstoy, and Charles Darwin.
Author
Simon Sebag Montefiore is the author of the global bestsellers 'The Romanovs' and 'Jerusalem: the Biography,' 'Stalin: the Court of the Red Tsar' and Young Stalin and the novels Sashenka and One Night in Winter and "Red Sky at Noon." His books are published in 48 languages and are worldwide bestsellers. He has won prizes in both non-fiction and fiction. He read history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University, where he received his Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD). 'The Romanovs' is his latest history book. He has now completed his Moscow Trilogy of novels featuring Benya Golden and Comrade Satinov, Sashenka, Dashka and Fabiana.... and Stalin himself. Buy in the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Winter-... "A thrilling work of fiction. Montefiore weaves a tight, satisfying plot, delivering surprises to the last page. Stalin's chilling charisma is brilliantly realised. The novel's theme is Love: family love, youthful romance, adulterous passion. One Night in Winter is full of redemptive love and inner freedom." Evening Standard "Gripping and cleverly plotted. Doomed love at the heart of a violent society is the heart of Montefiore's One Night in Winter... depicting the Kafkaesque labyrinth into which the victims stumble." The Sunday Times "Compulsively involving. Our fear for the children keeps up turning the pages... We follow the passions with sympathy... The knot of events tugs at a wide range of emotions rarely experienced outside an intimate tyranny." The Times "The novel is hugely romantic. His ease with the setting and historical characters is masterly. The book maintains a tense pace. Uniquely terrifying. Heartrending. Engrossing. " The Scotsman “Delicately plotted and buried within a layered, elliptical narrative, One Night in Winter is also a fidgety page-turner which adroitly weaves a huge cast of characters into an arcane world.” Time Out “A novel full of passion, conspiracy, hope, despair, suffering and redemption, it transcends boundaries of genre, being at once thriller and political drama, horror and romance. His ability to paint Stalin in such a way to make the reader quake with fire is matched by talent for creating truly heartbreaking characters: the children who find themselves at the centre of a conspiracy, the parents…. A gripping read and must surely be one of the best novels of 2013. ” NY Journal of Books "Not just a thumpingly good read, but also essentially a story of human fragility and passions, albeit taking place under the intimidating shadow of a massive Stalinist portico." The National "Seriously good fun... the Soviet march on Berlin, nightmarish drinking games at Stalin's countryhouse, the magnificence of the Bolshoi, interrogations, snow, sex and exile... lust adultery and romance. Eminently readable and strangely affecting." Sunday Telegraph " "Hopelessly romantic and hopelessly moving. A mix of lovestory thriller and historical fiction. Engrossing." The Observer “Gripping. Montefiore’s characters snare our sympathy and we follow them avidly. This intricate at times disturbing, always absorbing novel entertains and disturbs and seethes with moral complexity. Characters real+fictitious ring strikingly true.It is to a large extent Tolstoyan …..” The Australian “Enthralling. Montefiore writes brilliantly about Love - from teenage romance to the grand passion of adultery. Readers of Sebastian Faulks and Hilary Mantel will lap this up. A historical novel that builds into a nail-biting drama … a world that resembles… Edith Wharton with the death penalty.” Novel of
