Spartacus : the gladiator who brought Rome to its knees -- Attila the Hun : The Mafioso-warrior -- Richard the Lionheart : England's greatest warrior-king -- Cortés : the renegade conquistador -- Tokugawa Ieyasu : Japan's legendary Shogun -- Napoleon : the master tactician and military genius -- The warrior mind : the psychology of warriors

Acclaimed historian Frank McLynn focuses on six of the most powerful and magnetic leaders of all time: Spartacus, Attila the Hun, Richard the Lionhearted, Cortes, Tokugawa Ieyasu and Napoleon. How did these mortal men rise to positions of seemingly invincible power? What were the motives, the personal strength, or more often weaknesses, that drove them to achieve what no one else dared?