"This 1904 publication is essentially designed for teaching history. It offers extended summaries, rather than in-depth detail, of thirty famous men - and one woman (Joan of Ark) - of the Middle Ages.

The study of history, like the study of a landscape, should begin with the most conspicuous features. Not until these have been fixed in memory will the lesser features fall into their appropriate places and assume their right proportions.
The famous men of ancient and modern times are the mountain peaks of history. It is logical then that the study of history should begin with the biographies of these men.
Not only is it logical; it is also pedagogical. Experience has proven that in order to attract and hold the child's attention each conspicuous feature of history presented to him should have an individual for its center. The child identifies himself with the personage presented. It is not Romulus or Herecules or Alexander that the child has in mind when be reads, but himself, acting under similar conditions."