Thursday, October 27, 2011

First Paragraph

'How can a hundred people be led by a single person?' That was one of the essay questions in my Cambridge University entrance exam and, although it has long fascinated me, it has taken me twenty years to get round to trying to answer it. Yet this question lies at the heart of history and civilisation. If one person could not command one hundred others there would be no wars, but neither could there have been any cathedrals, space exploration or philharmonic orchestras. The ability of one person to make a hundred others do his bidding is the basic building block upon which all collective human endeavor is based, for better or worse. So how does it happen?

- From Hitler & Churchill by Andrew Roberts

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