This lively and fascinating book by a professor of history deals with human greed and power and how these determine world events. Gigantes takes the reader on a hair-raising journey through time, introducing on the one hand the great rule makers for just society, men such as Moses, Solon, Jesus and Muhammad, and on the other, the rule-breakers, termed 'Grand Acquisitors'. The latter, motivated by greed, use every means fair and foul to acquire more than their share - from the warring chieftains of early societies to the so-called robber barons of the nineteenth century and in our own times, the emergence of the superpower states.