History is more shaped by Famous Men, than Famous Men by the course of History. Or so implies the biographer of Lawrence of Arabia and Count Luckner, long known for his admiration of men who think boldly and act accordingly. Here he examines the history of the West from Solomon to the present in the light of 101 famous lives. Each it seems had that ""vital spark"" of thought, ambition or decisive action which permanently altered the destinies of men. Nowhere in this series of vignettes however is this ""vital spark"" defined. Instead, in brief and succinct biographies, the lives speak for themselves as vital and disturbing forces working within a given period. Proceeding chronologically through such figures as Pericles, Charlemagne, Elizabeth I, Luther, Byron, Foch and ending with Churchill, we see them complement or clash with society, and often with each other. Almost every kind of person is included. Not all are virtuous: Tamerlaine shares equal honors with Joan of Arc. Not all are complex: the gentle Francis of Assisi is considered as important as, say, Richelieu. In some it is love of power, in others the simple love of fellow man, and in still others the tortures of psychopathic minds which drive them onward. And----through war, politics, exploration, art, and science----the world is drastically altered by each. The book is over-simplified in every sense, shallow in characterization, questionable as philosophy. Yet thanks to its range and facile style, its interesting focus on personality, it makes good reading for the wide audience this writer-explorer has enjoyed for so long.