Why is Jesus a giant? Because he was the founder of Christianity, the largest religion in the world with 2 billion adherents; because Christianity is one of the five great religions of the world, with followers in every country on the planet and a history stretching back two thousand years; because there remains great interest in the teaching of Jesus, his personality and his life. The origins of a great religion which has filled so immense a place in the history of the world must surely be of interest to everyone.

The world was stunned when little-known Karol Wojtyła became the first non-Italian pope for 450 years. As Pope John Paul II, he continued to surprise, directly confronting Communist regimes, flying hundreds of thousands of miles to meet the faithful, and building bridges with other faiths. John Paul II became a bête noire in the eyes of liberals for his staunch refusal to accept contraception or the ordination of women. But for others he was a Churchillian figure who took on the forces of godlessness and moral relativism. He gained a stature that left secular statesmen in his shadow. Love him or loathe him, few could deny that he was a man of rare courage. He survived two assassination attempts, fought off cancer and waged a very public battle with Parkinson's disease. Seven years after his death he continues to exert a hold over the Church and to inspire an almost cult-like devotion.

Why is Constantine a giant? Because he gave Christians freedom of religion. Yet also because he radically and thoroughly changed our society, in particular church-state relations, thereby creating the opportunity for the Christian community to experience exponential growth. Because his changes in government, law, religion and art and architecture are so enormous we still see the consequences of his decisions to this very day. Because Constantinian history is relevant to everyone.

Sigmund Freud is rightly called the godfather of psychoanalysis. He forever changed the way we view ourselves and developed our understanding of human nature. His concepts have become part of our psychological vocabulary: unconscious thoughts and feelings, conflict, the meaning of dreams, the sensuality of childhood. He dared to try new methods and treatments. Everyone knows the term Freudian slip and has a basic understanding of his theories, however, Freud gave us a great deal more. From education to critical theory he changed the way we think. His ideas and clinical practices offer psychological insights that bring help and healing. Freud's work has suffused contemporary Western thought and popular culture. He is the epitome of a pocket GIANT.

The President who ‘freed’ the slaves and held the Union together in the face of the slaveholding South’s bid to create a separate Confederacy. The teller of ribald stories, and the author of the most sublime speeches in the English language. A clever, complex, secretive man who rose from frontier obscurity to become the central figure at the moment when the United States of America came close to disintegration. Was Lincoln the ‘Great Emancipator’, whose wartime leadership helped free four million enslaved people? Or was he a nationalist who jumped late on the antislavery bandwagon? Was his intransigence the cause of much bloodshed? Or was he a pragmatist whose leadership minimised the destruction of the war?. This concise biography situates Lincoln in his time and place. A very human figure who, after his assassination by a leading Shakespearean actor, was turned into an icon.

Why is King Arthur a giant? Because his story has had such strong influences on our understanding of the history of Europe and the English-speaking world. Because the debate about Arthur as a historical figure has been central to understanding the fall of Roman Britain and the formation of England for much of the last 1,300 years. Because Arthur is one of the best-known kings in world history, whose reign was viewed as a golden age, an epoch in which to centre tales of right and wrong, of faith and faithlessness, and of courage and falseness, the moral and spiritual values of which continue to resonate today not least among those who dismiss Arthur as a late literary construct. Because an understanding of Arthur and all the different things he has meant to scores of generations up to the present is fundamental to our understanding of our own past, our understanding of ourselves and the ways in which we can benefit from history.

Why is Nelson a hero? Because he was a captain before he was 21, a man who shaped the course of history from the decks of his ships, hailed as a saviour of the nation, a hero killed in action at the moment of his greatest victory at the Battle of Trafalgar and immortalized ever since. What lies beneath the romantic legend of Horatio Nelson? What did he do before he became famous? Why did he fall from grace twice? Did he really put a telescope to his blind eye? Why did Victory’s signal lieutenant change his ‘England expects . . . .’ signal at Trafalgar? What made his leadership special? This book traces Nelson’s spectacular and often controversial career from a Norfolk parson’s son who entered the Royal Navy at the age of twelve, through his youth as a difficult and ambitious naval subordinate, his rise to admiral and celebrity, his fighting career and his outstanding victories at the battles of the Nile, Copenhagen and ultimately Trafalgar.

Portraying themselves as challenging blind religious dogma with evidence-led skepticism, the neo-atheist movement claims that the New Testament contains unreliable tales about a mythical figure who, far from being the resurrected Lord of life, may not even have lived. This comprehensive critique documents the falsehood of these neo-atheist claims, correcting their historical and philosophical mistakes to show how we can get at the truth about the historical Jesus.

Isaac Newton had an extraordinary idea. He believed the physical universe and everything in it could be described in exact detail using mathematical relationships. He formulated a law of gravity that explained why objects fall downwards, how the moon causes the tides, and why planets and comets orbit the sun. While Newton's work has been added to over the years, his basic approach remains at the heart of the scientific worldview. Yet Newton's own had little in common with that of a modern scientist. He believed the universe was created to a precise and rational design – a design that was fully understood by the earliest people. Over time this knowledge was lost, and Newton considered it his life's work to rediscover it, whether through applied mathematics or a painstaking study of the Bible and other ancient texts. In chasing his impossible goal, Newton managed to contribute more to our understanding of the universe than anyone else in history. Andrew May went to the same Cambridge college, Trinity, as Sir Isaac Newton. After gaining his first degree in Natural Sciences he went on to do a PhD in astrophysics at Manchester University. This was on the subject of galactic dynamics, and the only physics he needed to know he was a Newtonian. He continued as a postdoc in the same area for four years, before moving into the more lucrative if shadowy world of defence science. He worked first in private industry, then in the Civil Service and then in private industry again, for a total of 24 years. He now earns his living as a freelance writer and defence consultant.

'Alfred is one of the most remarkable rulers of any time or place. This clear, readable and insightful book shows why.' - Michael Wood Why is Alfred the Great? A simple answer is that he has been seen as a man who saved England, invented English identity and pioneered English as a written language. He is the first Englishman for whom a biography survives so that we know more about Alfred and his ideals than we do for most people who lived over a thousand years ago. A slightly longer answer would say that things are a bit more complicated, and that one reason Alfred seems to be so 'great' was that he made sure we were told that he was. To get the measure of Alfred we need to look at what he actually managed to achieve. Can we resurrect the 'real' King Alfred? There may be limits, but even if we have to part company with some of the Victorian adulation, we are still left with a pretty impressive and surprising person. Barbara Yorke has recently retired from the University of Winchester where she worked in the History Department for many years, ultimately as Professor of Early Medieval History. She is now a Professor Emerita there, and also an Honorary Professor at the Institute of Archaeology, University of London where she has advised on a number of projects. She has written extensively on the early middle ages in books and academic papers, as well as more popular works such as History Today and BBC History magazine (including on King Alfred). She has appeared on various radio and television programmes on Anglo-Saxon topics. In 2008 she curated an exhibition on King Alfred in the Discovery Centre, Winchester.