Kirkus Reviews QR Code
HEROES FOR OUR TIME by Will & Ken Giniger--Eds. Yolen

HEROES FOR OUR TIME

By

Pub Date: Oct. 22nd, 1968
Publisher: Stackpole

Unfortunately, most of the writers of these twelve portraits take the book's title too literally. The book originated when the Overseas Press Club polled its membership (of 3500 former and current foreign correspondents) to find out ""Who are the men and women who have left the greatest mark for good upon these times."" The twelve most frequently named are portrayed here; Sir Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Jonas Salk, Mahatma Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Pope John XXIII, Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King and Dag Hammarskjold. The notable essays are by photographer Margaret Bourke-White on Gandhi--she points out his inconsistencies as well as his virtues--and by Rome correspondent Barrett McGurn, who admits that the Pope was ""not, in short, a man for great sociological, ideological or theological pronouncements,"" but his intuition and warmth ""could work miracles of good will."" On the other hand, Fannie Hurst says of Eleanor Roosevelt that ""She cared,"" while Alden Hatch exhorts, ""And thank God for Franklin Delano Roosevelt."" A book which could have been more than it is.