Invisible Giants: Fifty Americans Who Shaped the Nation But Missed the History Books

What an incredible idea for a book! The brief chapter focusing upon Albert Jay Nock is superb, an excellent summary of the man and his iconoclastic ideas.

This is a really cool book--perfect for stirring up exticement about the figures who've made american history. The bios are fascinating, and I love the celebrity introductions. I hope this is the first of a series.

This book is such a fun, interesting read. Not only are you introduced to 50 very interesting characters from history, but the famous people selecting them have written wonderful introductions to their biographies. You also gain new insight into the selectors. Ed Koch picked Malcolm X? He makes the case that Malcolm X is overlooked for his true contribution, but I'm sorry, he's hardly invisible. But the editor of the book did not put any restrictions on the selectors. The biographies are the perfect magazine-article length--great for beach reading, night-stand reading, or anytime you don't want to get bogged down with a huge book. Simon Winchester's pick is amazing--and I loved Katie Brown's. Cheers to Mark Carnes for putting this book together--he's got a real gift for these things. Check out "History goes to the Movies" for another (although not quite so saucy) great idea for presenting American history in a delightful package. We need more books like this.