The Dangerous Book of Heroes

by David Iggulden and Conn Iggulden

Book Overview

Conn Iggulden, co-author of the phenomenally successful The Dangerous Book for Boys, and David Iggulden now bring us The Dangerous Book of Heroesfeaturing great stories of courage and adventure to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061928240
• ISBN13: 9780061928246
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.1" x 1.4" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

Ripping Tales from History

This book is a collection of condensed biographies of various remarkable individuals dating from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. The stories are all interesting, most are inspiring, and the facts seem to be relatively accurate. The stories are brief; I don't think any are more than 20 pages. The blurb on the back cover makes it sound like this is a collection of American heroes, but the assortment seems to be primarily British. Here's who's in it: George Washington, American colonial officer, Revolutionary general, first president of the United States. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 20th century explorer, adventurer and Incredibly Tough Guy. Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, Victorian adventurer, translator of the Arabian Nights into English. Daniel Boone, archetypal American frontiersman. The Royal Air Force Command, "The Few" who defended Britain's airspace in WWII. The Magna Carta Barons, founders of the modern concept of liberty. The oldest heroes in this book. Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England during the years of the Commonwealth. Helen Keller, deaf and blind girl. Captain James Cook, pathfinder of the seas. Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay, first men to reach the top of Mt. Everest. Various lawyers and politicians who worked to abolish slavery in the British Empire. Sitting Bull, the last Sioux chief to defy the United States government. Edith Cavell, brave nurse of WWI. Thomas Paine, author of _Rights of Man_. The Women of SOE, undercover operatives during WWII. The Texan defenders of the Alamo. Sir Henry Morgan, king of the buccaneers. Lawrence of Arabia. Florence Nightingale, inventor of modern nursing. The passengers of Flight 93 who fought back against the terrorist hijackers. Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England during WWII. The Gurkhas, formidable elite British troops from Nepal. Horatio Nelson, the admiral who defeated Napoleon at sea. The Marines at Iwo Jima, one of the hardest-fought battles in WWII's Pacific theater. Billy Bishop, flying ace of WWI. Codebreakers of Bletchley Park, inventors of the first computers during WWII. William Bligh, captain of the HMS "Bounty" of mutiny fame. The Apollo 11 astronauts, first men on the moon. Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Alcock and Brown, first to fly nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean. Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake, two Elizabethan adventurers. Harry Houdini, escape artist. Scott of the Antarctic, the first to explore Antarctica. The Men of Colditz, escape-prone inmates of a Nazi prison during WWII. The Unknown Warrior, symbol of all fallen servicemen. Britain was the first to officially honor one. Martin Luther King, Jr. civil rights pioneer. As you can see, these are all heroes of Western culture. No Asian, African or Middle Eastern heroes here. Taken for what it is, though, the book is very entertaining. A few of the articles towards the end seemed to drag, but my overall impression is favorable. It was fun to

Very Interesting Profiles

"Dangerous Heroes" was a pleasant surprise, although I'm still a little puzzled by the title. I think my definition of Hero is different than the authors'. But I guess "Dangerous Book of VERY INTERESTING PEOPLE" wouldn't have the same effect. I love the profiles in this book. Some of the personalities are familiar (like George Washington) and some were completely unknown to me (like Edith Cavell). Each profile is about 20-30 pages long, which is just long enough to give you a deeper insight than you'd get from a Wikipedia article, but not the same commitment as reading an entire biography on the person. That's great for me, because I appreciate the exposure to all these rich stories, yet there's no way I'd want to read hundreds of pages about some of these figures. However, each section includes recommended additional reading for anyone interested in further details. My favorite part about this book though, is the non-American viewpoint of the authors (not "un-American" or "anti-American", just NOT American). I like to think I have a broad perspective for an American man, but the truth is that it's very easy for us to overlook the viewpoint of the "rest" of our planet's inhabitants. For example, the telling of George Washington's story from the perspective of these two British authors points out the differences in the American perspective of the "Revolutionary War" compared to the British perspective of the "American War of Independence". All in all, these human profiles are well written and very interesting. I couldn't help be feel like the element of "heroism" wasn't as strong as I'd expected from such a boldly titled book, but that doesn't take away from the stories themselves. I applaud the results from these two brothers who researched all of these interesting personalities and compiled their stories into a well written and nicely illustrated collection. I feel personally enriched for reading their tales.

History presented the correct way

Once upon a time, I like most kids hated history. It was so boring! Then at a family get together, a relative of mine who was a history teacher revealed the truth. The history in my school books was the sanitized and political correct version. The truth was a much more interesting to read. Ever since then, History has been a favorite subject of mine and I only wish a book like this had been available back then for me to read. This book picks several "Heroes" of history, and provides an overview of the achievements of their lives, both the good & the bad. One thing that gets to me is how some of their lives interact. The man who financed Daniel Boone's father's farm? Benjamin Franklin. And Harry Houdini once caught a child falling down some stairs and gave "Buster" Keaton his nick name. If your kids have been raised on "school history", then this book would be a good transition to the accurate history knowledge they will need for college. Or just a good book to read on a long trip.

Brothers

I am a fan of Conn Iggulden's historical fiction book series. Along with his brother he has written two really terrific books for young boys. The first was The Dangerous Book for Boys which outlined all sorts of grand adventures for young minds. This book covers some great heroes throughout history. Though written simply for younger readers, I found myself flipping through the book with my son as we stumbled upon a few names I didn't recognize. Really interesting read and great for your son or adventurous daughter.

Not as good as the previous titles, but still very interesting!

My wife and I own the Dangerous Book for Boys and Dangerous Book for Girls, in fact one year we each got eachother the books and have enjoyed them tremendoulsy, so when I got the opportunity to get my hands on the Dangerous Book of Heroes I jumped at the opportunity. It's important to note that the style of the book written is not one where you would sit down and read it cover to cover. While it is true you can, I think how this book is broken up is more in line with reading about one item a day, or in a single session. And what I love about it is each part of the book is very short, but detailed enough to get you interested in the people that are written about. And I'll be honest, I have yet to read the entire book, but from what I've read it is really inline with the authors previous titles. This really is one of those books that you could put on a shelf and constantly pick up and read when you get bored. I remember reading books like this when I was growing up and this is the book that sparks imagination in youngsters because it doesn't bore you with mundane details. Instead it keeps it short and interesting. If you come across a hero you want to read more on (and you will!) you can get online or find a biography on that particular hero, this book really is a cliff notes version of sorts on each of the heroes it lists. That all being said, you will NOT find every hero in this book exciting to read about, but the beauty of the book is you know very quickly if it's a hero you admire or one you don't much care for, and the next hero is literally right around the corner on the next page. It moves fast, keeps you interested and is a great book on the famous and not so famous heroes that shaped this world. I recommend getting this for people of all ages, and if you already have the "Dangerous Books" this is a nice addition to your collection.