Written for young people and busy adults, these short biographies follow a dozen men who changed their worlds with minds and pens rather than swords: Savonarola, William the Silent, Tycho Brahe, Cervantes, Giordano Bruno, Grotius, Voltaire and others. The Voltaire chapter, for instance, does not spare Frederick the Great’s brutal treatment of his departing guest at Frankfurt.
Clear, humane portraits of thinkers and dissenters, a good first step before longer biographies. Download the free EPUB.