Personalities & Problems: Interpretive Essays in World Civilization, Volume II

By Ken Wolf

Book Overview

Assuming no previous knowledge of history, Personalities and Problems is a unique collection of original essays about real people whose lives or careers demonstrate solutions to problems of their... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0072565667
• ISBN13: 9780072565669
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.3" x 5.4"

Customer Reviews

An interesting idea

This was an interesting little book. The idea is one I really like, which is to compare and contrast different historical periods and figures. The idea of looking at two different historical people in similar situation, and then contrasting how each dealt with their own situation gives the reader an interesting perspective on these people and their times. Just seeing that Gandhi and Ho Chi Minh are juxtaposed was enough to really grab my interest. The essay on Teller and Sakharov was my favorite. How each man dealt with the implications of their research was fascinating. This one essay sparked an interest in the men who made the bomb, and how and what they thought of the moral problems that the development posed. What I have come to find out through more research is more than a little disturbing, but I have this book to thank for sparking that interest. This book is filled with interesting essays, and I really enjoyed reading each of them. I feel like I got a little more perspective on these times and the people who influenced them. I will say that readers always need to be careful how much stock they put into these comparative histories. While it may be fun to look at these figures and their times side by side, it is essential that we recognize the very real gulf that lays between them. It is fun and educational, but we must always be careful not carry the comparison too far. With that said this is a fun, little book that is a quick read. I think the amateurs will enjoy it along with the pros. (This book probably deserves four stars, but since one reviewer bashes the book not for content but instead for price and thickness? I am giving it 5 stars to make up for terrible review).

Interesting Book

Wolf writes interesting comparative evaluations of historical personages in both volumes of this little pair of books. His comparisons are useful, not profound in any way, but short biographies which point out characteristics of the historical figures as well as similarities and differences between them. The chapters are clearly written, almost too simply,and should certainly give students no problem whatsoever. You will note that I am commenting on the actual book itself -- and not the price my college bookstore charged me for it. Presumbably, the troubled soul who could not see beyond the price his college bookstore charged, was later able to sell it back to the bookstore. Shouldn't he have mentioned that? Probably forgot. Did he even read it? We'll never know. Probably forgot.