101 World Heroes

101 World Heroes, by Simon Sebag Montefiore is a book where the author sets out to inspire the modern age with tales of heroes past. In doing so, the definition of a hero is challenged. When one thinks of a hero, one thinks of a brave warrior or an individual selflessly saving the lives of many others. One doesn't tend to think of Tchaikovsky or Oscar Wilde as heroic. With the inclusion of these men and many other similar figures, Montefiore argues that one can be heroic by being inspirational and standing up for your values. Perhaps one can infer that the author feels that this is lacking in today's age, with the strap-line to the book "Great Men & Women for an Unheroic Age". Be so as it may, this is an interesting, well-written book, with plenty of people that you have heard of, but also plenty that you may not, ensuring that their memory lives on. Some exclusions may seem a little strange given some inclusions (Elvis Presley is there, but no Martin Luther King for example), but if as you read the biographies of these men and women, there can only be one conclusion at the end: These people were inspirational.