Seven Men and Seven Women: And the Secret of Their Greatness

This single-volume edition combines two of Eric Metaxas's popular works. The book explores what makes a great person great through the stories of fourteen historical figures who changed the course of history. The profiles include George Washington, who led his country to independence but refused to become king; William Wilberforce, who fought to end the slave trade; Susanna Wesley, mother of nineteen children and mother to evangelist John Wesley and hymn-writer Charles Wesley; Jackie Robinson, who endured racist threats and abuse with dignity; Corrie ten Boom, who hid Dutch Jews from the Nazis during World War II, survived a concentration camp, and later forgave her tormentors; and Rosa Parks, whose sense of justice helped launch a major twentieth-century social movement. These lives reveal a common thread: the secret to greatness lies in responding to a call to live for something greater than oneself.