The 100 Most Influential Persons in History

 By Bruce Shawkey

The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History is a book by Michael H. Hart I ran across on the Internet. Such a book is, by definition, subjective. One person's influencer is another person's monster or idiot. 

So now let us dissect Mr. Hart's choices. First off, his list contains three men from the Bible: Jesus Christ, Moses, and St. Paul. Whether these men actually existed or not is a matter of debate among Christians and atheists. That Christianity has been (and is) a powerful force in the world is indisputable. There are estimated to be 2.4 billion Christians in the world. But even then, there are huge divisions within the various types of Christians -- 200 alone in the United States: Lutheran, Baptist, Born-Again, Methodist, etc.

Next, Mr. Hart lists Adolph Hitler as one of the 100 greatest influencers. Certainly a controversial choice, which Mr. Hart admits:

I must confess that it is with a feeling of disgust that I include Adolf Hitler in this book. His influence was almost entirely pernicious, and I have no desire to honor a man whose chief importance lies in his having caused the deaths of some thirty-five million people. However, there is no getting away from the fact that Hitler had an enormous influence upon the lives of a very great number of persons.  

Here is a link to the first 84 pages:

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_100_A_Ranking_Of_The_Most_Influentia/jvbNRbDKY1wC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA3&printsec=frontcover

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