This is the first installment of a series that will focus on Michael H. Hart's nonfiction book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History (Citadel Press). I first purchased this book back in my college years – that would be the original 1978 edition. Hart revised the book for a new edition published in 1992, which I gave to my nephew, now a Howard Law student, as a gift a couple of years ago; he graciously lent it back for this project.
I long ago misplaced my original copy, but before that, I noticed that friends who picked up the book usually spent some time poking through it; unless history bores you, the subject matter's just naturally interesting and entertaining.
As you might guess from the title, Hart (who has earned degrees in law, physics, and astronomy) has attempted to survey the whole of human history from early civilization through the late 20th century and identify the 100 individuals whose undertakings have most affected, for good or ill, the largest number of fellow humans. For each, the author provides a brief bio combined with an explanation of his or her historical influence.
As Hart states in his introduction:
This book is solely involved with the question of who were the 100 persons who had the greatest effect on history and on the course of the world. I have ranked these 100 persons in order of importance: that is, according to the total amount of influence that each of them had on human history and on the everyday lives of other human beings.
Now, two disclaimers: First, though I've enjoyed my share of History Channel programs, and I've bled vicariously on most of the gruesome battlefields depicted in Ken Burns's documentary masterpiece, "The Civil War," I make no claim to bona fide history buff status. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of Hart's biographical sketches, though I assume that in most cases he's managed to avoid mistaking fable and fiction for established fact. All the same, there's plenty of room for argument with respect to his analysis. If you are like me, you'll find names on this list that you've never, or barely, even heard of before. On the other hand, if history's your thing, you may hotly dispute what Hart has to say about one or more individuals on his list, or whether so-and-so really deserves a place in the elite 100 in contrast to a hero of your own who, by Hart's estimation, fails to make the cut.
Second, a persusal of the author's Wikipedia entry, followed by additional Googling, indicates that in more recent times he apparently has ventured into Tom Tancredo-type racial superiority and separation nonsense. I feel disappointed and dismayed to discover this about Hart, for I certainly had not detected such overtones in his commentary as contained in The 100 (maybe thanks to his editors?). Regardless, in my opinion the book is essentially apolitical and stands on its own as a springboard for learning, thinking about, and discussing history; it's not too shocking to me, though, if others, feeling otherwise, decide that they do not wish to lend credence to an author whose current political and racial views they may deplore.
Again, in his intro the author explains:
Because this book is concerned with individual, personal influence, I have tried to divide the credit for a given [historical] development in proportion to each participant's contribution. Individuals, therefore, are not ranked in the same order as would be the important events or movements with which they are associated.
Hart gives several examples of important historical developments with respect to which, he argues, "a large number of persons contributed, but in which no one individual was of overriding importance": the development of explosives and firearms, the women's liberation movement, and the rise of Hinduism.
Hart also has excluded mythical persons who probably never really existed, such as Adam and Eve, though in some cases the evidence that a person (e.g., Homer) on Hart's list actually lived is at least somewhat controvertible.
In short form, Hart's top 100 list (1992 edition), starting with the most influential, is (and no, don't look for Moulitsas or Limbaugh): Muhammad; Newton; Jesus; Buddha; Confucius; St. Paul; T'sai Lun; Gutenberg; Columbus; Einstein; Pasteur; Galileo; Aristotle; Euclid; Moses; Darwin; Shih Huang Ti; Augustus Caesar; Copernicus; Lavoisier; Constantine; Watt; Faraday; Maxwell; Luther; Washington; Marx; Wright Brothers; Genghis Khan; Adam Smith; de Vere a/k/a Shakespeare; Dalton; Alexander; Napoleon; Edison; Leeuwenhoek; Morton; Marconi; Hitler; Plato; Cromwell; Bell; Fleming; Locke; Beethoven; Heisenberg; Daguerre; Bolivar; Descartes; Michelangelo; Pope Urban II; 'Umar ibn al-Khattab; Asoka; St. Augustine; Harvey; Rutherford; Calvin; Mendel; Planck; Lister; Otto; Pizarro; Cortes; Jefferson; Isabella I; Stalin; Julius Caesar; William the Conqueror; Freud; Jenner; Röntgen; Bach; Lao Tzu; Voltaire; Kepler; Fermi; Euler; Rousseau; Machiavelli; Malthus; Kennedy; Pincus; Mani; Lenin; Sui Wen Ti; da Gama; Cyrus; Peter the Great; Mao; Bacon; Ford; Mencius; Zoroaster; Elizabeth I; Gorbachev; Menes; Charlemagne; Homer; Justinian I; Mahariva.
Hart's honorable mentions: St. Thomas Aquinas; Archimedes; Babbbage; Cheops; Marie Curie; Franklin; Gandhi; Lincoln; Magellan; Da Vinci.
Individuals who made the 1978 list but not the 1992 list: Bohr; Picasso; and Becquerel (replaced by Gorbachev, Rutherford, and Ford). It ia not clear why Hart did not move these names to the Honorable Mentions list.
On a blog like Daily Kos, I would be shocked if no one raised objection to the extremely limited representation of women (Isabella I and Elizabeth I) on Hart's top 100 list. In his introduction, he offers the following defense:
The influence of women on human affairs, as well as the contributions that females have made to human civilization, is obviously far greater than might be indicated by their numbers in this list. But a galaxy of influential figures will naturally be composed of individuals who had both the talent and the opportunity to exert a great influence. Throughout history, women have generally been denied such opportunities, and my inclusion of only two females is simply a reflection of that regrettable truth. I see no point in trying to cover up the disagreeable fact of discrimination by adding a few token women to my list. This book is based on what actually did occur in the past; not on what should have occurred, or on what might have occurred had human institutions been more equitable. Similar observations might be made concerning various racial or ethnic groups whose numbers have been disadvantaged in the past.
My plan is to go through the list from top to bottom and, with each installment, provide bullet point summaries of Hart's biographical sketches, supplemented with synopses of Hart's subjective commentary. Again, I feel unqualified to offer much, if any, opinion of my own in matters of history.
One selection that may raise some hackles: Hart embraces the theory that the literary works traditionally attributed to William Shakespeare were actually authored by Edward de Vere (No. 31). That controversy will be further addressed when we reach the appropriate portion of the list.
I cheerfully acknowledge the inspiration of fellow Kossack plf515 and his thoroughly enjoyable "Lets read a book together" series.
I welcome you to suggest other names that should be on Hart's list. Keep in mind, though, that any such suggestion necessarily implies that someone on the list should be dropped. If you can, please tell us which name or names you'd like to toss into the ash heap of history.
So, let's get started with a review of Hart's Top Three.
1. Muhammad 570-632
• founder of Islam, one of the world's great religions, one that exerts great influence on the lives of its followers
• was responsible for the theology of Islam, its main ethical and moral principles, and religious practices, AND played the key role in proselytizing the faith
• author of the Qur'an
• became effective ruler of southern Arabia
• driving force behind one of the greatest military conquests in history, extending from the Atlantic to the borders of India
Hart expresses the opinion that religion has been one of the dominant influences in the lives of individuals and in the course of history; thus, the most important religious personalities figure prominently in his list. In comparing Muhammad's influence with that of Jesus, he argues that Muhammad had a greater influence on the formulation of Islam than did Jesus on the founding of Christianity, which owed its spread, in large measure, to the work of St. Paul. Hart finds no reason to believe that the Arab conquests would ever have occurred had Muhammad not lived.
2. Isaac Newton 1642-1727
• discovered law of universal gravitation
• discovered 2nd and 3rd laws of motion
• invented integral calculus
• demonstrated how, using calculus, universal laws could be applied to solve actual problems such as predicting the motions of the planets
• made significant contributions to thermodynamics and acoustics
• discovered principles of optics
• discovered binomial theorem
Newton was the most influential individual in the development of scientific theory, which transformed the everyday lives of most humans who have lived since his time. He found a disorganized collection of theories about aspects of nature, and left behind a comprehensive and interconnected system of scientific principles that could be applied to the understanding of a wide range of phenomena.
3. Jesus Christ c. 6 BC - c. 30 AD
• inspired the development of Christianity, the most influential religion in history
• established the religious principles of Christianity and formulated its basic ethical principles, including emphasis on the Golden Rule
• highly charismatic personality
• taught followers not only to love God and one another, but to "love thine enemy" - a novel, even revolutionary, teaching, but one probably not closely observed by the majority of Christians through the ages
• executed by civil authorities at a young age
• unlike Muhammad, had little or no influence on the political events of his time or in the early decades following his death
The long-term impact of Jesus upon history is so obvious that there should be little question that he deserves a prominent place on this list. All the same, Hart attributes much of the credit for Christianity's rapid spread to the efforts of St. Paul. Although devout Christians may take offense at the notion that Hart, who is Jewish, ranks Jesus lower than Muhammad, Hart is writing from a secular perspective, not a religious one. He comments:
This does not imply, of course, that I think Muhammad was a greater man than Jesus.
Next time, let's check out the remainder of Hart's Top 10: Buddha; Confucius; St. Paul; T'sai Lun; Gutenberg; Columbus; and Einstein.