Books in Why They Became Famous series

Describes Anne Frank's childhood in Frankfurt, Germany, explains why her family had to go into hiding from the Nazis, and recounts their fate at Auschwitz

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A biography of the German musician who composed most of his greatest works after his hearing was gone.

Recounts the life of the dedicated man who survived a difficult childhood, became a country lawyer, and as sixteenth president of the United States guided the country during the Civil War.

An account of Columbus's four transatlantic voyages

A biography of the Dutch painter who was a strange and difficult child and a tortured adult, and whose genius for expressing his artistic vision was not appreciated until after his death

Recounts the adventures of the thirteenth-century Venetian merchant who traveled in Asia and lived at the court of Kublai Khan

Traces the life of the humanitarian who gave up a comfortable academic existence to become a missionary doctor in the jungles of Gabon.

An account of Columbus's four transatlantic voyages

Recounts how the sixteenth-century Portuguese explorer launched the first voyage around the world, although he met his death before his men completed the expedition.

Recounts the life of the dedicated man who survived a difficult childhood, became a country lawyer, and as sixteenth president of the United States guided the country during the Civil War

Traces the life of the Jewish girl who hid with seven other people in an attic for two years in Nazi-occupied Holland and chronicled her day-to-day life in a diary which was discovered after her death in a German concentration camp.