This book made a number of Top 10 list in 2003 but I beg to differ.It's maddeningly difficult to keep track of the sprawling cast of characters (particularly if you leave the book for a while). A "Dramatis Personae" would be very useful.The book is a not much more that a descriptive chronology with too few observations and distillations by the author. It's also long and the story could have been effectively told with 50% fewer pages.Given that the subjects' lives are not inherently that interesting, Le Blanc needs to add something. After while it all starts to blur and, in the absence of an thematic development by the author, you wonder why are wading through this.