Rating: 
Summary: Send in the proofreaders!
Review: All kidding aside, this is a fantastic volume for the end of the century. The one-page articles are informative and well-written, and the b&w photographs are quite striking--I never imagined I'd see a photo of Mikhail Gorbachev hand-feeding a squirrel! I was, however, taken aback to see "Queen Elizabeth I" listed as an icon of the 20th century. I'm sure Elizabeth Tudor (1533-1603) and The Queen Mother would get a kick out of that! (Actually, this is pretty funny, coming from a book published by "The Overlook Press".) Enough of my carping: I highly recommend this book to every home in the country, and imagine it being a treasured posession in fifty years or so--especially by the children now who are too young to have known of any of these fascinating people. Thanks, Santa Claus--great choice!
Rating:
Summary: Send in the proofreaders!
Review: All kidding aside, this is a fantastic volume for the end of the century. The one-page articles are informative and well-written, and the b&w photographs are quite striking--I never imagined I'd see a photo of Mikhail Gorbachev hand-feeding a squirrel! I was, however, taken aback to see "Queen Elizabeth I" listed as an icon of the 20th century. I'm sure Elizabeth Tudor (1533-1603) and The Queen Mother would get a kick out of that! (Actually, this is pretty funny, coming from a book published by "The Overlook Press".) Enough of my carping: I highly recommend this book to every home in the country, and imagine it being a treasured posession in fifty years or so--especially by the children now who are too young to have known of any of these fascinating people. Thanks, Santa Claus--great choice!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent, well-designed & -illustrated book
Review: But, alas, too American in the perspective. The selection includes people who are only of importance in the U.S. area. I.e. baseball & football players and t.v. entertainers (Oprah!)And in choosing Oppenheimer and Fermi instead of the far more important Niels Bohr. Further, Karen Blixen is presented by her alias Isak Dinesen - quite embarassing. The photos, though, are phantastic and the layout creative. In spite of an American chauvenism in the selection, the book makes a brilliant statement heading for the millennium.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent, well-designed & -illustrated book
Review: But, alas, too American in the perspective. The selection includes people who are only of importance in the U.S. area. I.e. baseball & football players and t.v. entertainers (Oprah!)And in choosing Oppenheimer and Fermi instead of the far more important Niels Bohr. Further, Karen Blixen is presented by her alias Isak Dinesen - quite embarassing. The photos, though, are phantastic and the layout creative. In spite of an American chauvenism in the selection, the book makes a brilliant statement heading for the millennium.
Rating:
Summary: The pictures alone are worth the price -- but why Madonna?
Review: Great photos have been collected and most of the choices are the ones you would expect -- except for perhaps Madonna. And that from a person who does not mind they included Mick Jagger but left off a few US Presidents.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous photography and brilliant historical esssays.
Review: If history is indeed personality, this book is the most fascinating take on the history of the 20th Century, refracted through the faces and the lives of 200 of the world's cultural icons . Every facet of 20th century life is invoked: political, military, scientific, literary, cinematic, musical, spiritual and pure personality are all represented. The selection of the iconic personages is itself fascinating and puts the century into a new perspective: only 66 years, for example, separate the Wright brothers first faltering flight from the first steps on the moon! This is a terrific book that would make a fine present for anyone born in any year of the 20th century.
Rating: 
Summary: How ICONS came to be
Review: The book is a concept, really, more than a statement that there are only these 200 people who have greatly influenced the twentieth century. I think that everyone loves lists, especially definitive lists. They're fun and challenging and it's interesting to compare opinions. In the case of ICONS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, the list is also controversial. Originally I was going to include 100 icons, but there were just too many fabulous men and women to stop there.Soon after I came up with the idea for the book, I realized that no one would care who I thought were the 200 most important people of the last 100 years. So I decided to create a multi-national board of advisors composed of distinguished individuals from all over the world that would do the actual selection. I combed the newspapers, special editions of magazines, and award lists and came up with a few thousand people who were respected experts in their various fields--artists, curators, writers, directors, architects, politicians, etc. My goal was a diversified board whose members reflected a variety of nationalities and cultures as well as ages so that icons from the full historical spectrum of the century would be chosen. How did the board choose the icons? The two most important criteria were achievement and recognizability. What impact that person had on the century and that the person's face is well known. For those of you who are curious, here are the top 10 icons selected by the board. Adolph Hitler was number one. World War II was the defining event of the century and Hitler the evil genius behind it-and behind the inconceivable carnage that resulted from it. Behind the Furher, in no particular order, was Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, Chairman Mao, Mother Teresa, Fidel Castro, Muhammad Ali, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, President John Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein.
Rating:
Summary: fine,never-before-seen photographs of most icons
Review: The book was representative of true icons in our century,though other African Americans such as Jimi Hendrix , Sidney Poitier, and Diana Ross were worthy of inclusion as opposed to Michael Jackson or Oprah Winfrey.The information accompanying each icon was valuable as well,because there were several I was not familiar with.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully reproduced and unusual photographs.
Review: The clear, concise and lively text that accompanies this information packed book is a pleasure to read. The beautifully reproduced photographs are unusual and surprising. Not the stock pictures you would expect in a more common end-of-millenneum tome. The people here range from the well known like John F. Kennedy to the less well known but important Emmeline Pankhurst (look her up). A most enjoyable and informative book that you'll go back to again and again.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully reproduced and unusual photographs.
Review: The clear, concise and lively text that accompanies this information packed book is a pleasure to read. The beautifully reproduced photographs are unusual and surprising, not the stock pictures you would expect in a more common end-of-millenneum tome. The people here range from the well known like John F. Kennedy to the less well known but important Emmeline Pankhurst (look her up). A most enjoyable and informative book that you'll go back to again and again.
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