The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived: How Characters of Fiction, Myth, Legends, Television, and Movies Have Shaped Our Society, Changed Our Behavior, and Set the Course of History [Paperback]

Dan Karlan (Author), Allan Lazar (Author), Jeremy Salter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 17, 2006

From Santa Claus to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from Uncle Sam to Uncle Tom, here is a compelling, eye-opening, and endlessly entertaining compendium of fictional trendsetters and world-shakers who have helped shape our culture and our lives. The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived offers fascinating histories of our most beloved, hated, feared, and revered invented icons and the indelible marks they made on civilization, including:

# 28: Rosie the Riveter, the buff, blue-collar factory worker who helped jump-start the Women's Liberation movement

# 7: Siegfried, the legendary warrior-hero of Teutonic nationalism responsible for propelling Germany into two world wars

# 80: Icarus, the headstrong high-flyer who inspired the Wright brothers and humankind's dreams of defying gravity . . . while demonstrating the pressing need for flight insurance

# 58: Saint Valentine, the hapless, de-canonized loser who lost his heart and head at about the same time

# 43: Barbie, the bodacious plastic babe who became a role model for millions of little girls, setting an impossible standard for beauty and style

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the opening pages of this entertaining compendium of influential characters, myths and legends, the authors ponder whether the Wright brothers would have built the first airplane without the legendary example of Icarus and Daedalus. Perhaps, the authors muse, the Wright brothers would have built something else altogether. Authors and friends Karlan, a computer programmer, Lazar, a former faculty member at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, and Jeremy Salter, an analytical chemist, followed two criteria to determine their admittedly subjective list-"the number of people affected and the depth of impact." Darth Vader, Charlie Brown and Mr. Whipple did not make the list ("popular" does not always translate as "influential," explain the authors). However, Dr. Frankenstein's monster, Uncle Tom, G.I. Joe and HAL 9000 did, largely due to their impact on popular culture and how we define ourselves. Of particular note are the book's "Did You Know" boxes, which offer figures and trivia.
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About the Author

Allan Lazar is a graduate of Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia and did post graduate work at the University of Chicago where he was also a member of the faculty. He has also served on the faculty of Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons as well as Fairleigh Dickinson University Dental School.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (October 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061132217
• ISBN-13: 978-0061132216
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #53 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Reference & Collections

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A great concept-- but not particularly well done, May 18, 2007

By 

L. F. Smith (E. Wenatchee, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived: How Characters of Fiction, Myth, Legends, Television, and Movies Have Shaped Our Society, Changed Our Behavior, and Set the Course of History (Paperback)

I read a review of this book in a magazine, and I was intrigued by the concept: Michael Hart's "The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History" deals with actual people; wouldn't it be possible and useful to do the same with fictional characters? Yes, it would, but, unfortunately, the authors don't execute the concept very well.

The problem for me isn't the rankings. After, all, they're admittedly subjective, and in the end, they don't matter that much any way. The thing that I found jarring at first-- and then grating as I read on-- was the uneven quality of the essays. I suspect that this was in part due to the simple fact that there are three co-authors. It would be very difficult to coordinate the styles and lengths of the essays.

More seriously, though, they clearly didn't attempt to coordinate the point of the essays. That is, some of them are straight biographies. Some are pop-cultural analyses of the significance of the characters. Some are political screeds. Some are failed attempts to be cutsie, best illustrated by the essay supposedly written by an author's dog. Many of the essays read as though they were responses to homework assignments that were written at the last second by a student hoping that his teacher will mistake generalities and clever wordplay for content.

Now, this isn't to say that I hated the book; in fact, I actually liked it. It's just that it disappointed me. With a little more authorial discipline-- or maybe stronger editorial control-- it could have been a GREAT book.

So, in summary, I think it's worth reading, and it's entertaining, but I believe it could have been so much better.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting concept, disappointing execution, November 30, 2007

By 

Jacob A. Manalan (seattle, wa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived: How Characters of Fiction, Myth, Legends, Television, and Movies Have Shaped Our Society, Changed Our Behavior, and Set the Course of History (Paperback)

As a person with a long and meaningful relationship with fiction, I was excited to read a book based on the effects of fictional persons on a societal level.
However, most of the book is dedicated to introducing you to these characters, their history and introduction, and very little time (almost no time) is spent talking about the cultural impact. For instance, Superman (#64) is introduced as a creation in comics and later discussed how he differs from conventional heroes, followed by a discussion of a few later incarnations. There is no discussion about the hero mentality, the usage of Superman in language to embody the exceptional. There isn't even a note about the irony with the Nazi "superman" concept.

The book is broken up into a series of individual character vignettes of about 2 pages each. They offer a brief history of the character with some relatively mediocre quips of humor. The information offered is not a discussion of the impact of fictional characters, so much, as a simple introduction to each character in turn.

Even at the beginning of the book with their self proclaimed "subjective" ranking, they fail to offer any kind of metric or ideal on how they rated each character. They may have, for all I know, picked the names out of a hat, which would be why Buffy the Vampire Slayer is listed as MORE influential than Helen of Troy, Batman, and Atticus Finch.

The writing is ok, and the content is amusing. The book is a simple overview of 101 fictional characters in a quick and relatively enjoyable fashion. Their influence and impact remain pretty much unmentioned.

Probably a decent bathroom book, since each character has an isolated area that can be read in any order. However, I can't recommend it for more than that.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This book didn't influence me, June 30, 2008

By 

Julie Hedlund (Lafayette, CO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived: How Characters of Fiction, Myth, Legends, Television, and Movies Have Shaped Our Society, Changed Our Behavior, and Set the Course of History (Paperback)

When I got this book, I expected to find educated views about the historical/cultural significance of each of the "people" that never lived. Why and how would they consider these particular characters the most influential? Amazingly, this book doesn't even discuss the influence of the characters on society throughout history or why they have so much staying power in our hearts and imaginations. Instead, the authors provide boring summaries of what the characters "did," or how they were created and by whom. Then they proceed to give self-righteous and condescending opinions about whether the message(s) in the story or the actions of the character(s) are appropriate in today's times. Gee, I thought that's what readers/viewers were supposed to do for themselves!!

For example, we shouldn't read Cinderella to our little girls because it creates a sense of false hope that you don't have to do anything to solve your problems (fairy godmother), and that men will only want to marry you if you're beautiful. Perhaps that's true, but last time I read the story, Cinderella was hard-working, lived a difficult life without complaint, and did not resort to treating people badly even when that was the way she herself was being treated. The problem with these compilation-type books is that they can so easily oversimplify and fall into the trite.

Of course I was not expected objectivity. The very nature of a book of this type is one person's biased viewpoint (or in this case two people). I did, however, expect a literary and cultural analysis, as well as perhaps some humor or interesting perspectives. NOT!

This book seemed to me like a brazen attempt for the authors to cash in on the success of books like the 1001 series. My advice: save your money on this one.