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Alun Roberts's book Welsh National Heroes is a series of sixty short essays featuring people who the author believes deserve the title of National Hero. Interestingly, with only one exception, all of Alun Roberts's heroes could be featured in his companion book Discovering Welsh Graves; for him Wales's great and good are largely dead. They are also in great majority male. As Alun Roberts himself tells us in his introduction, 'this particular book is about Welsh heroes, not notables, who are not necessarily the same thing'. He doesn't really offer us his definition of heroes, but one would suppose they are individuals who have in some way or other influenced the history of Wales. Among those chosen are, unsurprisingly, Owain Glyndwr, Aneurin Bevan and David Lloyd George. From the arts there are Saunders Lewis and composer Joseph Parry, with Laura Ashley one of only five women mentioned. Each essay is short and factual. The book would be a good source for anyone looking for a starting point for more detailed research, or who is simply interested in finding out a few biographical details about those contained. Such a list is bound to be subjective and in a slim volume can't be exhaustive. So it is easy to ask, 'Where is . . .?' and it would be unfair to dwell for too long on the question. However, the book does leave one wondering if there are really so few Welsh heroines? Surely Sian Lloyd deserves a mention. After all, she did survive the jungle . . . Alun Roberts obtained a Ph.D. in modern history from the University of Leeds, and is director of the College/NHS Liaison Unit at the University of Wales College of Medicine in Cardiff. -- Michael Nobbs @ www.gwales.com

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