BY PAUL JOHNSON
While you may not find some of your heroes in the book, you will enjoy what you learn from the list the author provides
4 stars out of 5 stars
When asked to name heroes, from antiquity to the present, probably all of us would include conquerors of empires, statesmen who made singular contributions to country/society, and military warriors who won wars that changed history. Beyond these groups, diversity emerges, depending on the respondent. Folks who are trained in science or engineering may name a few of their heroes in their disciplines, which are different from those who are trained in the humanities and social sciences. It is thus not surprising that I agree with many of the names in Paul Johnson’s list of heroes, but several would not make my list. Indeed, I am completely ignorant of several of them until I read the book. One of these was a hostess, which Johnson recognized as a special type of heroism. In all, there are 30 heroes, 17 male and 13 female.
Among Johnson’s heroes which I did not know anything about included Deborah and Judith, of biblical times, and the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Deborah prophesied the defeat of Sisera, commander of the Canaanite army. During his escape, Sisera was killed by another lady named Jael, who hammered a tent peg into his temple. .Judith, with the help of her maid, beheaded the invading Assyrian General Holofernes.
Wittgenstein was taken in by Bertrand Russel as a student. However, in an astonishing short time, the role of tutor-pupil had been reversed, and Russel found himself learning from Wittgenstein or rather, trying desperately to resist his pupil’s tendency to destroy his work. Wittgenstein enlisted in World War I and was known for his bravery. He was praised by Russel as a true genius. However, his personality was somewhat eccentric. While at Cambridge, he learned to despise intellectuals. In the trenches, he found the “common man” equally, if not more repellent.
Even among those which I had read books about, such as Churchill, Washington, and Lincoln, I learned something new in Johnson’s accounts. For example, he emphasized Washington’s 6 feet 3 inches height, towering over everyone in gatherings and literally quelling a riot in his army through his display of physical strength. Churchill published over 5 million words, 2,050,000 in his six volume “Second World War” alone. In 1949, aboard Aristotle Onassis’s yacht, Churchill boasted that “If all the whisky and brandy I have drunk in my life was added up, it would fill this state-room to overflowing”. Lord Cherwell, his scientific adviser, who doubted Churchill’s assertion, was given his master’s daily intake and, after taking measurements of the stateroom, concluded that the spirits Churchill had drunk in his life would fill the room only up to a depth of five inches. Churchill was mortified.
Below are some amusing episodes as well as some serious quotes:
- Churchill attributed his success in life to “Conservation of energy: ‘Never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit down when you can lie down”.
- Clark Gable found Marilyn Monroe hard to work with. He told a friend that “she damned nearly gave me a heart attack”. He spoke too soon. The next day, he suffered a heart attack which killed him.
- “Words are the only things that last forever.”
- ‘There have been times in this office when I’ve wondered how you could do the job if you hadn’t been an actor.” – Ronald Reagan.
In conclusion, while you may not find some of your heroes in the book, you will enjoy what you learn from the list the author provides.
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