World-famous Rebels

From ancient times to the present day the world has been deeply changed by rebels. Their lives make fascinating stories. In the India of the sixth century B.C. the young Siddharta rebelled against religious corruption and started a world religion, Buddhism. About two thousand years later another young rebel, Martin Luther, shook the foundations of Europe by introducing the Reformation and Protestantism in Germany. The Greek philosopher Socrates, defying the unreasonable traditions of his native Athens, was the first man to live by his own principles — despite all hazards. Galileo waged a long and lonely battle in the interests of science against the ignorant establishment of the sixteenth century. In our own times Bertrand Russell has always been in rebellion since his youth. The author here deals with 21 men and women who risked their lives for great things and strong convictions. Among them the political revolutionaries rank high - the intriguing Roman Emperor, Julian the Apostate; Wat Tyler leading 30,000 Kentish men in open revolt against King Richard II and his scandalous ministers; the Puritan John Hampden; Alexander Hamilton, statesman of American Independence; Danton, spokesman of the French Revolution. Here also are Lenin, staging the Russian Revolution, Ireland's Michael Collins, and last but not least, Aneurin Bevan. The great English women rebels Mary Wollstonecraft and Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst naturally have a place of honour in their midst. Rebels have such as Shelley, Wagner, Epstein and D. H. Lawrence have also left their mark on literature and the arts.