The hero of this book was working in a coal mine at age twelve. Despite his lack of education, he pulled himself up to become a highly successful businessman. There is something quintessentially heroic about defying the hopeless hand one was dealt . . . and turning it into straight aces. The fact that our hero John lost it all on another gamble just makes him more truly human and fragile. "From pride, from greed, he fell anew; by woman's wiles was pierced through. Like Icarus, he flew too high and tried too hard to touch the sky."