The Great Book of American Heroes: 32 True Tales From American History That Made Them Legends Paperback – July 28, 2020

Author Bill O’Neill has authored many books on Trivia and stands as somewhat of an expert in this field! His topics include movies, football, baseball, wars, rock music, simply random trivia facts and US States. Now with a nod to providing interesting reading material while passing the time at home, Bill offers a cascade of stories that provide not only a celebration of American Heroes, but also a sense of proportion to our life as materialized by these significant people.Providing an overview of the topics of interest in this book, Bill outlines his content in the Introduction – ‘In this book, you’ll read about what made these exceptional people great and why they are considered heroes today, sometimes decades or even hundreds of years after they died. This book goes beyond the big events and brings you closer to the heroes themselves, revealing some little known facts about these important people. There are heroes and heroines form all walks of American life in this book: some who went form rags to riches and others who had plenty of privileges and opportunities and took full advantage to make themselves a success and leave their imprint on American history…The United States has always been know for being a country of individuals…’Bill O’Neill outdoes himself in his reportage of the concept of heroism and the people who represent that ideal. Some of the heroes he covers include Thomas Edison, Booker T. Washington, Jesse James, Martin Luther King Jr., Helen Keller, George Washington, Neil Armstrong, Susan B. Anthony, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Henry Ford, Sequoyah, 911 First Responders and more. Each individual is honored for the public reason for which they are designated as heroes, but Bill adds significant insights into each person’s special traits.Not only is the book entertaining – it is also very instructive. For those familiar with Bill O’Neill’s talent for tickling the brain, this book is a must read – one of his best. For those who are simply looking for solid entertaining reading to while away the hours, welcome to the field expert! Highly recommended – especially during these times… Grady Harp, July 20

This book is an excellent well-written and well-organized book. The author of the book is correct when he says that the term hero is often very subjective. Who one person may consider a hero might be considered a villain by somebody else. Those of us who have the ability to see and hear are very blessed and should be very thankful. Losing one or more of our senses would be incredibly tragic and difficult. Helen Keller was an individual who lost both her hearing sense and eye sense. Yet, she did not give up. Despite her disabilities, she lived a very productive life. After all, it was she who paved the way for the acceptance of people with disabilities in the mainstream society. As the author of the book says, she was always eager to learn until she died at the age of 87 in the year 1968. She was a lifelong learner. Helen Keller never married and had no children. The term Miracle Worker was given to Helen Keller by Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). The examples of people mentioned in this book who were heroes and what they achieved is truly inspiring. I highly recommend that people read this book.

By and large a very enjoyable book that told of the many heroic people in American History. I don’t believe that Jesse James should have been included because he was a war criminal in that he murdered non-combatants including women and children.

Heroes aren’t made; they are individuals born to do great things, great things that got done through their trials and tribulations, and their accomplishments that wound up making them heroes to millions and millions of Americans.While most individuals view individuals as being HEROes because of the HEROic deeds, heroes actually come in all shapes and sizes because of their contributions to a myriad of groups of individuals. These individuals, like the heroes they’re perceived to be, have made enormous contributions to the United States and its citizens, albeit their limitations had hampered them. For example, take Helen Keller, although blind and deaf, she amounted to do incredible things for individuals like her, beginning with learning how to speak and write.• Muckraker author, Upton Sinclair, wrote stories which changed America’s views of how business got done in America. The stories he wrote brought about social change. The Jungle by Sinclair had been an expose of the large meatpacking industry in Chicago, showing Americans the severe maltreatment of its hapless workers.• Lewis and Clark are considered to be America’s first explorers made numerous discoveries in their trek across the United States.• Benjamin Franklin had been a true Renaissance Man, with all the things he accomplished during his life.• Through her actions, Molly Pitcher became America’s first war heroine.• Alexander Graham Bell’s invention changed forever how we communicated.Despite Al Capone’s criminal history, he’s still considered to be a hero of America’s drinking class, how and why gets discussed in the pages of Mr. O’Neill’s book. Naturally, the book covers a few presidents. As readers peruse the 32 stories of individuals covered in the pages of the book, they’ll discover why Babe Ruth, John Wayne, Charles Lindbergh, and even Elvis Presley are considered to be American heroes. Many of the individuals the book covers had to overcome their struggles to achieve their greatness.For enlightening his readers as to who/why the individuals mentioned in his book as considered to be heroes, I’ve given Mr. O’Neill, 5 STARS for his endeavor here.

I don't do book reviews........ I read the book and if I liked it I give it up to 5 stars, if I didn't then it gets a 2, if I didn't finish then it's a 1, that's it I'm afraid.I read it, I like it, I want more from the author.I don't write reviews that describe the content of the book as I don't see the point of telling everyone the storyline, plot or subject as I feel it spoils the book if you already know what it's about or what's going to happen.As with a vast number of Kindle books there might be the odd spelling and punctuation errors.After reading hundreds of Kindle books of all types and subjects you get use to them and they become less noticeable, unless there is an effect on the storyline.The more these errors effect the reading of the book the less stars I give it even if the story is a good one.Some of the books I read have been gifted to me by its author for review and my reviews and ratings are not biased in anyway.

Another great read from Bill - Very readable and informative as always - I always read Bills books when I`m on holiday or relaxing on a beach with my Kindle - Cant wait for his next book

Full of facts and all written with care,I found a great amount new information.A great book for students study.In all a great read.