What makes a king? Who were the great ones in history? Why were some good, others evil? Where did these kings rule, and what did they do to make themselves remembered?

Here are the briefly-drawn lives of twenty-five great kings of ancient and modern times. Some were great soldiers. Others were famous statesmen and lawmakers. Some were strong kinds, others not so strong. But all twenty-five stand out in the vast sweep of history.

From Hammurabi, the law-giver, to Napoleon, the conqueror — from Alexander the Great, master of the ancient world, to George VI, England's most recent kind — all are presented as they lived, accomplished and ruled.

Here, too, are Montezuma, King of the Aztecs; Kamehameha, Hawaii's greatest ruler; Genghis Khan, terror of the Orient; Louis XIV, the Sun King; and both the legendary and real King Arthur of England. 

Read now about some of the best-remembered rulers of history — each realistically illustrated — and see why, out of all the thousands of kings who reigned over hundreds of lands, these are some of the most famous.

From the dust jacket