We are in need of genuine heroes and fine role models and the book points us to 8 wonderful people. It is for this quality that I give the book 5 stars.
While reading, I forgot the author, and I think that if this approach is taken then all readers will find the book uplifting.
In a time when most of our heroes come from soaps or the sports field it is refreshing to find a book that focuses on real men and women of substance. Who could not be moved by the courage of each one?
Some of the reviews have trashed the book, giving it only one star. This made me both sad and angry, not for the author but for the people he writes about. Consider Bonhoeffer and Cavell, each well aware of the likely consequences of doing what was right, but doing it anyway - and then facing death with the same courage with which they had lived their lives. I found the experience both uplifting and humbling.
Unless you are familiar with the 8 stories told, this is well worth a read.