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Kofi Annan stands out as one of the most pivotal figures of the early twenty-first century. As the secretary-general of the United Nations, he became an enduring icon and a voice for peace and freedom all over the world.

The Beatles came onto the scene like a force of nature. Their songs became the anthems of generations of fans, and their emergence marked a high-water mark of popular music. But beyond the Beatles themselves, there is one man who can be credited with engineering this perfect maelstrom of musical majesty, and that man is former Beatles manager Brian Epstein.

While these are ancient events, they do have direct relevance to the world in which we live today. Scientists have spent a great deal of time looking at the Great Ice Age, principally because understanding it could help us understand the complex web of linked factors that lead to climate change. That, in turn, may help us to understand the changes in climate we seem to be facing today. This is the fascinating story of the Great Ice Age.

Raoul Wallenberg lived at a time when one of the worst outrages of inhumanity was occurring: the Holocaust. As a Swedish businessman in Hungary, he bore witness to this tragedy firsthand as Hungarian Jews were being shipped off to Auschwitz.

Shirley Chisholm was a force to be reckoned with. Emerging from the humble beginnings of a working-class family in Brooklyn, New York, she carved a path that few dared to tread. With her family barely scraping by, Chisholm witnessed first-hand the trials of living paycheck to paycheck and facing adversity at every turn. Yet it was this very struggle that forged her into the powerhouse she would become.

When the American Civil War finally drew to an end in 1865, victory for the North seemed to herald a new beginning for African Americans. Emancipation for thousands of former slaves appeared, for the first time, to offer people the chance of full and equal participation in American society. That dream didn't last for long, particularly in the Southern states where new Jim Crow laws prevented African Americans from exercising fundamental rights, including the right to vote.

Robert Oppenheimer had a lot resting on his shoulders. During the Second World War, he was tasked with directing the development of the world’s first nuclear arsenal. Known as the Manhattan Project, this super-secretive wartime project had the stoic visage of Oppenheimer overseeing the greatest experiment ever conducted by humankind. Much had happened in Oppenheimer’s life to lead him to this point, and much would subsequently take place after, but this moment was indeed the pinnacle of his career and his life.

For many generations, the Aniyunwiya (meaning the “real people” or “principal people”) lived in harmony with the land they inhabited. They worshipped their ancestors and believed that every living thing—people, animals, trees, and plants—had a spirit and an important place in the world.

Neil Armstrong is often referred to as an American hero for his service both as an astronaut and a veteran of the US Armed Forces, but in truth, Armstrong isn’t just America’s hero—he’s a global one.

Many of us dream of finding instant wealth. Just imagine if you were able to go to a place where you could simply gather from the ground gold worth many thousands of dollars. Now imagine that at a time when the average wage for an unskilled worker was barely ten dollars per month.

Whitney Houston was a rare star. She burst onto the music scene like a supernova one might only see once in a million years. Despite a humble beginning, she rapidly rose to fame on the strength of her voice and unbeatable charisma.

Few figures in Irish history are as well known as James Joyce. He was born into hardship in a country mired in political conflict, but rather than allow himself to get bogged down, he used his experiences to create some of the finest pieces of modernist literature to date.

The Spanish Empire was the first truly global empire and the first to be described as one on which “the sun never sets.” It rapidly grew to become one of the largest and most powerful empires in the history of the world and brought us goods such as potatoes, chocolate, and chewing gum.

Bob Hope was the kind of entertainer who only comes along once in a lifetime. Spanning the decades, he worked through just about every era of the 20th century. Hope grew up doing his best vaudeville routine and ended up performing far and wide with the USO during World War II and the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq. In later life, he slowed down a bit, but he still found time to perform both in movies and in person.

The Battle of Jutland, fought near Denmark’s Jutland peninsula in 1916, was unique in the first World War as the only major battle to be fought at sea. In this audiobook, you will hear about these battles, the personalities of the men involved, the planning, and the skirmishes that finally led to the confusion and devastating loss of life at the Battle of Jutland.

Sean Connery is still well remembered for his role in the epic James Bond series. Although we often picture him as a smooth, daring, and debonair agent, surviving all manner of incredible stunts, Sean Connery was more than just James Bond. His films were indeed action-packed, but so was his personal life.

Often referred to as the quiet Beatle, George Harrison’s demure and slightly moody visage can be seen peeking out at us from countless Beatles and solo albums. It seemed that George was such a powerful presence, he really didn’t even need to speak. This was the man who bid us to listen while his guitar gently wept.

Apartheid, a state-sponsored policy of discrimination and segregation, was introduced and brutally enforced in South Africa for more than 40 years. It led to thousands of deaths, mass arrests, torture of prisoners, and to the suspension of the most basic human rights for the majority of Black South Africans. How did this come to be, and how did a modern state come to enact and enforce a series of laws deliberately designed to ensure poverty and lack of opportunity for the majority of its population?

Nikita Khrushchev came to power in the aftermath of the notorious Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s death. Although Khrushchev came on the scene with aggression and fury (the world would never forget how he declared that he would bury the West), he was ultimately a much more peaceful Soviet leader than Stalin ever was. Even when the Cold War was at its most dangerous point during the Cuban Missile Crisis, it was, in many ways, the measured restraint of Khrushchev which helped to avoid unleashing nuclear Armageddon.

The creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922 was one of the defining events of the 20th century. This new federation, created to embody the ideals of communism and the notion of rule by the people, was intended to be different from any other nation in the world. This utopian vision inspired people around the world, and soon, communism became an international movement. However, the history of the Soviet Union did not develop in the way its originators envisaged.