Revolutionaries

This is the first book in a series entitled 'Rebels with a Cause', dedicated to highlighting the lives and struggles of people who have defied the social and political circumstances of their times. The ten biographies in the current volume range from Samuel Adams and Toussaint L'Ouverture to Michael Collins and Mao, and take in local mavericks like Geronimo and the American anarchist Emma Goldman as well as national figures like Lenin and Bol$iGvar. Each life story is accompanied by a sketch of the circumstances against which the protagonists rebelled. The tone here is factual, but the facts of course militate against 'neutrality'. The book is clearly and accessibly written with a stimulating array of contemporary illustrations neatly integrated with the text. A pity, then, that the cover is so drab and with such a wide ranging coverage, I found the omission of Che Guevara, surely one of the most intriguing, inspiring and archetypal of revolutionaries, both puzzling and disappointing. But these are quibbles; this is a useful and welcome book on a much neglected theme.