Profiles in Audacity

A journey through history’s great decisions—and the people who had the courage to make them: “Insightful.” —Booklist

In brief, compelling, and inspiring vignettes, bestselling author and historian Alan Axelrod pinpoints and investigates the make-or-break event in the lives and careers of some of history’s most significant figures. Axelrod explores the fascinating question of why the people who made history made their choices—and conveys the resonance of those choices today.

The forty-six profiles range from ancient times to the present day and include:

• Cleopatra’s decision to rescue Egypt
• Washington’s decision to cross the Delaware and win
• Gandhi’s decision to prevail against the British Empire without bloodshed
• Truman’s decision to drop the A-bomb and end WW II
• Rosa Parks’s decision to sit in for civil rights
• Boris Yeltsin’s decision to embrace a new world order
• Flight 93’s decision to take a stand against terror, and more