The other day Indian finance minister P. Chidambaram said the United States retains its ability to attract the best minds to its shores and would continue to be the world's dominant economy for another 20-30 years. As I heard him say this at the recently concluded India Economic Summit, my thoughts wandered to the book I’d just been given to review. This hardbound, which goes with the catchy title of 1000 years, 1000 people— Ranking the Men and Women Who Shaped the Millenium, has been written by three journalists— Henry Gottlieb, Barbara Bowers and Brent Bowers— along with journalism historian Agnes Hooper Gottlieb.
The book has been driven by a desire to chronicle “the real frontrunners in a thousand-year marathon of the human race.” Therefore, the authors came up with a method to grade the candidates according to five criteria— lasting influence, contribution to wisdom and/or beauty, influence on contemporaries, singularity of contribution and charisma. In order to define “importance”, they awarded points for each criterion, with the highest possible total score being 24,000.
They then sifted through the centuries and rated thousands of probables, to come up with an outcome that educates, surprises, shocks and makes you sit up in wonder.
Some samples: As many as 417 of the people listed lived in the 19th century, the highest number in a single century, in contrast to the 10th, which contributes only seven. William ‘Bill’ Gates, the Harvard dropout who started Microsoft, is not included. The exclusion appears all the more unjustified, given that the authors say they would only consider him for a future edition “when he starts giving his zillions to charity.” Had they just googled, they would have found that as of 2007, Gates had donated $28 billion to charity.
The book is deftly written, with a single pithy paragraph capturing the essence of each person's life and work (if you want more, there is of course the internet). A key attribute is its irreverent take on the people and their contributions. However, it is an absolute tragedy that it lacks pictures. While it is not possible to have pictures of everybody, surely some were available?
Despite this, the book can be read in installments, as if in a time machine, flipping back and forth through history.
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The list of 1000 people begins with Johannes Gutenberg, the goldsmith who developed the printing press and, according to the authors, helped spread “truth, beauty, and yes, heresy throughout the world.” He gets 21,678 points. The list ends with American Andy Warhol, the American pop artist, who coined the famous term “15 minutes of fame”. He gets 1000 points in comparison.
In between, the authors take you through a rather startling description of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (Gadadhar Chatterji). They tell the rags to riches story of King Gillette and an amazing tale of psycho-analyst Karen Horny, who offered so different an explanation for female hysteria, that even Sigmund Freud, who attributed it to penis envy, adopted her explanation.
Then there is Hung Hsiu Chuan, self-proclaimed younger brother of Jesus Christ, described as the “delusional destroyer” who raised an army that almost toppled the Manchu dynasty. There is also Daniel Edgar Sickles, the first killer to win freedom through plea of temporary insanity.
In case you are wondering why this review begins with a quote by Chidambaram, the answer is in the data analysis by the authors. Of the 1000 people, associated with 59 countries, as many as 267, the highest grouping by region, lived under the stars and stripes of the American flag. That is a lot, considering that the United Kingdom, the island nation which had the largest empire in history, comes in second with 173 people, followed by France with 114 and Germany with 88.
India, a land where the past millennium accounts for only 20 per cent of its recorded history, contributes 13 people to the list, the 11th largest grouping among the 59 countries. Twenty-four countries including Pakistan, Iraq, Ghana and Australia have one person each, while five including Afghanistan, Israel, Cuba, Ethiopia and Nigeria have two each.
While those in the creative pursuits, like artists, writers and musicians, account for a domineering 312 people on the list, historians and lawyers come in at 18, the smallest grouping by far.
It is indeed a fun book that makes for fascinating reading.
1000 YEARS, 1000 PEOPLE RANKING THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO SHAPED THE MILLENIUM
Henry Gottlieb, Barbara Bowers and Brent Bowers
Flywell Publications/Mosaic Books
Price: Not stated; Pages: 331