The President who 'freed' the slaves and held the Union together in the face of the slaveholding South's bid to create a separate Confederacy. The teller of ribald stories, and the author of the most sublime speeches in the English language. A clever, complex, secretive man who rose from frontier obscurity to become the central figure at the moment when the United States of America came close to disintegration. Was Lincoln the 'Great Emancipator',...

Henry V is the best-known military hero in English history: better known than Marlborough or Wellington, or his grandfather, Edward III. He enjoyed more success against the French than any of them, coming tantalisingly close to conquering that vast country and imposing an English dynasty; this in a reign of just nine years, in only seven of which he was at war. Even before he died the heroic myth, later enshrined by Shakespeare, was being created....

The world was stunned when little-known Karol Wojtyla became the first non-Italian pope for 450 years. As Pope John Paul II, he continued to surprise, directly confronting Communist regimes, flying hundreds of thousands of miles to meet the faithful, and building bridges with other faiths. John Paul II became a bête noire in the eyes of liberals for his staunch refusal to accept contraception or the ordination of women. But for others he was a Churchillian...

The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most famous and bestselling books of all time, yet the girl who wrote it remains an enigma. The real Anne Frank has been lost, hidden behind the phenomenon that her posthumously published Diary produced. This concise biography will rediscover Anne Frank: telling her story from the beginning to the tragic end. It will place her life within the wider context of the Holocaust itself, and also explore her afterlife:...

Why is Nelson a hero? Because he was a captain before he was 21, a man who shaped the course of history from the decks of his ships, hailed as a saviour of the nation, a hero killed in action at the moment of his greatest victory at the Battle of Trafalgar and immortalized ever since. What lies beneath the romantic legend of Horatio Nelson? What did he do before he became famous? Why did he fall from grace twice? Did he really put a telescope to his...

Why is King Arthur a giant? Because his story has had such strong influences on our understanding of the history of Europe and the English-speaking world. Because the debate about Arthur as a historical figure has been central to understanding the fall of Roman Britain and the formation of England for much of the last 1,300 years. Because Arthur is one of the best-known kings in world history, whose reign was viewed as a golden age, an epoch in which...

Nelson Mandela's place in history is secure: he was one of the best known prisoners in the world, the first president of post-apartheid South Africa, and a global icon with a degree of moral authority matched by very few. This biography explores his various identities-dashing young urbanite, charismatic nationalist politician, underground military commander and Black Pimpernel, tried, convicted, and a political prisoner for 27 years; president of...

Why is Constantine a giant? Because he gave Christians freedom of religion, yet also because he radically and thoroughly changed society, in particular church-state relations, thereby creating the opportunity for the Christian community to experience exponential growth. His changes in government, law, religion and art and architecture are so enormous that we still see the consequences of his decisions to this very day, making Constantinian history...

In 218, Hannibal Barca, desperate to avenge the defeat of Carthage in the First Punic War, launched an ambitious ground invasion of Italy. With just a small force, he crossed the Alps and pitted his polyglot army against Rome's elite citizen infantry. At Cannae, in 216, Hannibal destroyed an 80,000-strong Roman force in one afternoon, delivering a blow unequalled in Roman history for half a millennium to come. The Romans had no answer to Hannibal...

John Lennon is a giant of popular music and culture. As one-quarter of the Beatles, he was in the vanguard of music, art, fashion and popular culture during the sixties. He stands as an iconic figure even for those who grew up long after his untimely death in 1980. Above all, Lennon was one of the 20th century's greatest and most important songwriters. Songs he wrote with Paul McCartney define an era. Others he wrote alone, such as "God", "Help!"...