Heroes : history's greatest men and women

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 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 Charles Darwin