Here is a fascinating insight into the influence of the gospel on people who lived through the World Wars of the last century and the events leading up to them. Don Stephens tells thirteen stories, among them the Japanese pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbor, the German pastor prepared to suffer imprisonment and death for his faith, the British general charged with defending Malta against Hitler and Mussolini, the American airman converted while a prisoner of the Japanese, and the British secret agent said to have inspired Ian Fleming's Q.

The chapters are short and well told, and the thread running through them is not heroism but grace: in each case the subject is brought to faith in Christ and then into the service of others, often at considerable cost. Stephens writes for the general reader rather than the historian, which makes this a good gift for someone drawn to the period and an unusually accessible way into Christian biography. 288 pages, Evangelical Press.