Famous Men Of The Middle Ages by John Henry Haaren and Addison B. Poland 

Point: History is full of individuals who stepped out and fought for something.

Path: This book begins with the gods of the Teutons (the race of men descended from the Goths, Vandals, Franks, and Anglo-Saxons). These gods were Woden, Thor, etc. From there, it traces the famous individuals from this group who sought to be like their gods.

It included characters such as Attila the Hun, Alaric, Theodoric the Ostrogoth, to William Tell, Joan of Ark, the Kings of England, William Wallace, and many more.

Sources: Imagination, myth, and stories.

Agreement: Reading this book (written for a youth/teen audience) was akin to walking past a large chronological chart of history and reading short stories of the brightest stars. The stories were short, easy to understand, and generally placed in order of time.

Disagreement: The first page reveals the bias which is so common, “From them [the Teutons] have come the greatest nations of modern times. All except the Huns belonged the same race and are known as Teutons. They were war-like, savage, and cruel.” It was this mentality that moved men like Theodore Roosevelt to claim that the Teutons were the only race fit to rule.

Stars: 3 out of 5

It would be worth another read and I would recommend it as a quick overview to give someone a taste for history.

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