The well-known author of the last century, Will Durant, died in 1981. This manuscript was found only a year ago practically in its completed form. It is a treasure of the literary world. Durant’s oeuvre during his lifetime was an eleven-volume series entitled The Story of Civilization, where he focused on an age in each book and gave history lesson that had never really been given before with this Herculean collection.
The result was a most unique series which had the unintended effect of appearing too daunting to average readers with its great size. So in the seventies Durant began working on a single word that would condense the eleven volumes into one book, with twenty-two chapters on specific ages and people in the history of civilization. While he was writing chapter twenty-two, he died shortly after the death of his wife. The manuscript disappeared and was not discovered until 2000. Heroes of History is a book with a hundred history classes in just 350 pages, a gem that any history buff should own.
Originally published on May 13th 2002.
Originally published in the Long Beach Union.
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