Heroes: A History of Hero Worship

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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Mar 24, 2010 - Biography & Autobiography - 528 pages
Beginning beneath the walls of Troy and culminating in 1930s Europe, a magisterial exploration of the nature of heroism in Western civilization.

In this riveting and insightful cultural history, Lucy Hughes-Hallett brings to life eight exceptional men from history and myth to explore our timeless need for heroes. As she re-creates these extraordinary lives, Hughes-Hallett illuminates the attractions and dangers of hero worship. This is a fascinating book about dictatorship and democracy, seduction and mass hysteria, politics and culture, and the tensions between being good and being great.
 

Contents

PROLOGUE
ACHILLES
ALCIBIADES
CATO
EL
FRANCIS DRAKE
WALLENSTEIN
AUTHORS NOTE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
Copyright

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About the author (2010)

Lucy Hughes-Hallett is a critic for The Sunday Times (London) and the author of Cleopatra: Histories, Dreams and Distortions. She lives in London with her husband and daughter, and is at work on a book about Gabriele d'Annunzio and the origins of Italian fascism.

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