In comparison to John Gray's commentary on 1st and 2nd Kings in the Old Testament Library series (Westminster Press), House's volume is less academic but provides far more interaction with theological matters. Gray's work might be chosen by a seminary professor, but House's commentary would be far more practical for preachers and lay teachers in churches and Bible institutes.

A companion commentary that takes a similar stance on interpretive issues, is based upon the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, and is referred to often by House, would be "1, 2 Kings" by Richard Patterson and Hermann Austel in volume 4 of The Expositor's Bible Commentary (Zondervan).

The New American Commentary series is the continuation of the tradition established by the older An American Commentary series under the editorship of Alvah Hovey at the end of the nineteenth century. The format makes the materials available to layman and scholar alike. The commentaries are based upon the NIV. Individual commentators, however, have the freedom to develop their own translations of the original text where they differ from the NIV. Technical points of grammar and syntax are placed in the footnotes rather than in the text. Footnotes also provide the reader with a wealth of significant bibliographic references to a wide range of resources. Students and professors alike will find these paths to further research extremely helpful and rewarding.

It is obvious the list was written by an American (four of the top five are U.S. presidents), and by someone very into current affairs (George W. Bush, Rudy Giuliani, and Todd Beamer all clock in at one point or another). Most of it is the usual suspects, but the list holds a few surprises, like Giuseppe Petrosino, the NYPD's first Italian-American detective, who battled the Mafia. The list also attempts to cover all the bases by including pacifists like Martin Luther King and Gandhi (both of whom are overrated in this writer's opinion), and women such as Joan of Arc (overrated) and Elizabeth Blackwell (significant only by virtue of her gender), and a single Arab figure (Anwar Sadat of Egypt), but fails to include any Oriental people, where Sun Yat-Sen and Syngman Rhee would certainly have been candidates.

The list is definitely not politically correct in a partisan way, however, Ronald Reagan ranks very high and Theodore Roosevelt, Douglas MacArthur, George S. Patton, Audie Murphy, Sergeant York, Lord Mountbatten, and Wild Bill Donovan (founder of the OSS and later the CIA) all are on the list. However, the list also includes certainly influential but not really all that moral figures such as Napoleon and Alexander, and controversial figures such as Charles Lindbergh (whose flirtation with Nazism isn't glossed over but whose racism is) and Eugene V. Debs, who in fact was a Communist agitator thrown into prison by Wilson during WWI for opposing entry into that conflict.

The list is also light on ancients and a little light on medievals: Theban liberator Eponomanidas, Athenian leader Pericles, Roman leader Scipio Africanus, Byzantine emperor Heraclius, Irish high king Brian Boru, and medieval knightly types Charles Martel, Charlemagne, El Cid, Richard the Lion-Hearted, William Wallace, and Robert the Bruce are all missing from the list, though all of them certainly have as good a claim as those the author did put in.

Still, in the end the question of who is a hero and why is something only the indivdual can answer. At the very least, this book provides a good cross-section of the answers most would give, and is believable as a list of those adult historians and readers would give, rather than a ham-handed list of those only the liberal community and the NEA would approve.

Good, but not detailed enough, map of central Madrid. One would still need a more detailed map for a lot of walking around the city.

It has interesting case studies from around the globe and engaging illustrations that really convey an understanding of the state of the world. However, I would have liked to see a more prescriptive section with recommendations for action as well.

I recommend checking out the table of contents on the "Look inside" link, because the TOC is very representative in this book's case. I also recommend checking out World Resources 2000-2001, the companion book to Bill Moyers' series "Earth on Edge." It's perhaps a bit more engaging although not as focused on population.