Customer Reviews

Icons of the 20th Century: 200 Men and Women Who Have Made a Difference

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Unlike a number of other books about the ranking of the "greatest" of the 20th century, this book does not rank anyone. This book lists the 200 men and women, in alphabetical order, who have made a difference during the last 100 years.

Cady blends detail with a personal touch in each biographical synopsis. The photos, in black and white, give the reader a face to put to the story. Photographer Jean-Jacques Naudet is a master of capturing the essence of the person on film.

While the price of the book is a bit hefty, your money is well spent in this collectable piece of work. For the past hundred years you have read stories about JFK, Ali, Mother Theresa, Michael Jordan now you can own a part of history.

I was most impressed by the author's ability to remain unbiased in the reporting. While I may not have include some of the people, I was no doubt impressed by the list. I am certain that this book will be real family or school crowd pleaser well into the next century.

But, alas, too American in the perspective. The selection includes people who are only of importance in the U.S. area. I.e. baseball & football players and t.v. entertainers (Oprah!)And in choosing Oppenheimer and Fermi instead of the far more important Niels Bohr. Further, Karen Blixen is presented by her alias Isak Dinesen - quite embarassing. The photos, though, are phantastic and the layout creative. In spite of an American chauvenism in the selection, the book makes a brilliant statement heading for the millennium.

If history is indeed personality, this book is the most fascinating take on the history of the 20th Century, refracted through the faces and the lives of 200 of the world's cultural icons . Every facet of 20th century life is invoked: political, military, scientific, literary, cinematic, musical, spiritual and pure personality are all represented. The selection of the iconic personages is itself fascinating and puts the century into a new perspective: only 66 years, for example, separate the Wright brothers first faltering flight from the first steps on the moon! This is a terrific book that would make a fine present for anyone born in any year of the 20th century.

This is a massive book in terms of physical size. It has to weigh at least 5-10 pounds and could probably be used as a home protection device. Great gift idea. Giant!

The clear, concise and lively text that accompanies this information packed book is a pleasure to read. The beautifully reproduced photographs are unusual and surprising. Not the stock pictures you would expect in a more common end-of-millenneum tome. The people here range from the well known like John F. Kennedy to the less well known but important Emmeline Pankhurst (look her up). A most enjoyable and informative book that you'll go back to again and again.

All kidding aside, this is a fantastic volume for the end of the century. The one-page articles are informative and well-written, and the b&w photographs are quite striking--I never imagined I'd see a photo of Mikhail Gorbachev hand-feeding a squirrel! I was, however, taken aback to see "Queen Elizabeth I" listed as an icon of the 20th century. I'm sure Elizabeth Tudor (1533-1603) and The Queen Mother would get a kick out of that! (Actually, this is pretty funny, coming from a book published by "The Overlook Press".) Enough of my carping: I highly recommend this book to every home in the country, and imagine it being a treasured posession in fifty years or so--especially by the children now who are too young to have known of any of these fascinating people. Thanks, Santa Claus--great choice!

Great photos have been collected and most of the choices are the ones you would expect -- except for perhaps Madonna. And that from a person who does not mind they included Mick Jagger but left off a few US Presidents.

This isn't really that bad a book. The text was well written for each individual mentioned and the photographs were quite good, my favorite was the one with Mikhail Gorbachev hand feeding a squirrel on a tree. Still, there are certain individuals this book left out who I thought should have made it. Below is a list of those who I feel should have been in this book.

Pope John Paul II
Nikita Khruschtev
J. Edgar Hoover
Ayatollah Khomeni
Wayne Gretzky
Vince Lombardi
Howard Stern
Jimi Hendrix
Thelonius Monk
The Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen
Lenny Bruce
George S. Patton
Joe Montana
Gloria Steinman
Janis Joplin
Harrison Ford
Irving Berlin
Bill Clinton
Charles Manson
Howard Cosell

The clear, concise and lively text that accompanies this information packed book is a pleasure to read. The beautifully reproduced photographs are unusual and surprising, not the stock pictures you would expect in a more common end-of-millenneum tome. The people here range from the well known like John F. Kennedy to the less well known but important Emmeline Pankhurst (look her up). A most enjoyable and informative book that you'll go back to again and again.

The book was representative of true icons in our century,though other African Americans such as Jimi Hendrix , Sidney Poitier, and Diana Ross were worthy of inclusion as opposed to Michael Jackson or Oprah Winfrey.The information accompanying each icon was valuable as well,because there were several I was not familiar with.