People of the Century: One Hundred Men & Women Who Shaped the Last One Hundred Years

by Walter Isaacson, Dan Rather

Profiles one hundred of the most influential political leaders, artists, scientists, intellects, tycoons, and heroes of the twentieth century

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Leadership

448 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1999

About the author

Walter Isaacson, a professor of history at Tulane, has been CEO of the Aspen Institute, chair of CNN, and editor of Time. He is the author of 'Leonardo da Vinci; The Innovators; Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life; and Kissinger: A Biography, and the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. Visit him at Isaacson.Tulane.edu and on Twitter at @WalterIsaacson

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1998 and 1999, Time Magazine published five special issues. Each highlighted twenty People of the Century, separated into five categories: Leaders and Revolutionaries, Scientists and Thinkers, Builders and Titans, Artists and Entertainers and Heroes and Icons. Time and CBS News thought they would make some extra money by compiling all of them together into a hardcover book. Not sure how well this coffee table book sold (I bought it off the bargain shelves at Barnes and Noble).

Due to its nature, this book is by no means a comprehensive book of 20th Century history. Interesting for the general interest reader and history buffs alike. Not meant to be read cover to cover, but full of interesting mini-biographies.

[Garret Macko · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the exception of a few idiosyncrasies, if I'd been told this book was written a few years ago—rather than over two decades ago—, I'd have believed it. This feat is made more remarkable by the fact that each biography is penned by a different author (e.g., The Wright Brothers is written by Bill Gates and Ludwig Wittgenstein is written by Daniel Dennett); each coheres quite nicely into a cohesive whole. In this same vein, I found myself wondering: is there anyone on the 1999 list that probably wouldn't make the cut if it were recompiled in 2021, and vice versa?

[Kauther · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is generally a good one, quite informative. The thing with it is every person in the book is written by a different writer. Some are great, some are less so.
Personally, I found the rapid change of subjects and writing styles dizzying.

Besides, there are some people presented in the book about whom I could not care less—who needs sports anyway?

[Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

I generally liked the selection of people. Each biography / commentary was written by a different person. It was interesting to see the different perspectives and writing styles. This unfortunately often lead to a biased perspective in some cases. For example, Ronald Reagan's legacy is much much more complicated and much much less glorious than the rah-rah he ended the Cold War story staunch supporters want to portray and the rah-rah perspective is all we get. Nonetheless, I did learn a lot about people that had a great effect on the last century which I was previously unfamiliar with. It is also nice to see a pre-9/11 world.

[Bryan]

Omission awarded?: Despite the Israeli policy towards the Palestinians fits the definition of genocide given in the book, Power ignores the Palestinian case. I wonder if this book was awarded for its contents or its omission. It could be a good book if complete! If you want to know about genocide, read Charny , Finkelstein and others, authors with a wider vision.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance]

Some expected choices: Einstein, T. And F. Roosevelt, Hitler. Some strange combinations: Lindbergh's son writing about his own father, for example. Some surprises: Bart Simpson, David Smrnoff (who?) and why did Teddy, Franklin, and Eleanor each get his own page, but the Kennedys are clumped together?

[Kristy aka yukisukinomoto · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think it is a very interesting book but personally it felt too much like I was back in high school, studying for a test.