Contents

Introduction: What Is a Hero?

1

God’s Heroes: Deborah, Judith, Samson and David

2

Earthshakers: Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar

3

Feminist Fire and Slaughter: Boudica

4

Exemplary Heroes: Henry V and Joan of Arc

5

Heroism in the Age of the Axe: St. Thomas More, Lady Jane Grey, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Ralegh

6

In the Roar of the Cannon’s Mouth: Washington, Nelson and Wellington

7

Tortured Heroism in a Man’s World: Jane Welsh Carlyle and Emily Dickinson

8

Two Kinds of Nobility: Lincoln and Lee

9

Cerebral Heroism: Ludwig Wittgenstein

10

The Heroism of the Hostess: Lady Pamela Berry et al.

11

A Generous Hero and a Heroic Monster: Churchill and de Gaulle

12

Heroism Behind the Greasepaint: Mae West and Marilyn Monroe

13

The Heroic Trinity Who Tamed the Bear: Reagan, Thatcher and John Paul II


Epilogue: Any Future for Heroism?

Notes on Further Reading

Searchable Terms

About the Author

Other Books by Paul Johnson

Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher