Throughout history, there have been those whose extraordinary ideas have shaped today's world. Essential Lives offers access to these incredible individuals and their stories. With these biographies, readers will learn about their families, educational backgrounds, and what inspired them. They will discover how these fascinating figures overcame challenges and persevered through failure to impact humanity. Easy-to-read text allows readers to discover how these Essential Lives changed the course of history and continue to inspire people today. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Essential Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.