This is not a self-help book.
But it is a provocative first step toward understanding the nature of heroes, one that will hopefully spark a lively 21st century debate of this important subject..
Presumably, there is more to be said.
This book does not purport to be an exhaustive analysis of a hero\'s nature.
The two appendices validate philosophic principles that underlie the theory of Heroes elucidated here: That human life is the standard of moral value and that human beings possess free will.
Finally, Chapter Ten shows the life-giving importance of hero worship.
Chapter Eight discusses an appropriate response to morally flawed heroes--and Chapter Nine explains the errors of the modern antihero mentality.
Chapters Five, Six, and Seven dispute the time-honored notion that Heroism involves self-sacrifice and demonstrate, rather, that heroism, properly understood, involves actions self-fulfilling; Heroism and self-sacrifice are, in fact, moral antipodes.
Chapter Four raises the question of whether, under appropriate circumstances, everyman and everywoman can rise to heroic heights--and answers in the affirmative.
Chapters One, Two, and Three focus on the nature and definition of a hero, and provide a method for distinguishing a hero from non-heroes.
If we are to promote human life, it is necessary for us to clearly understand that and why mass murderers are definitively excluded from the echelon of heroes.
Some persons, for example, at various times have considered as Heroes Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Osama bin Laden.
This is a matter of life and death.
Before we can emulate heroes, we must properly identify them, we must understand who and what they are....
And what they are not.
Rather, it is a theoretical book, explaining what Heroes are and why mankind needs them.
Its purpose is to not to show us how to apply the lessons of a hero\'s life in our own.
This is not a self-help book
