A handy two-volume set that makes it easy to look up 550 worldwide cultural icons: actors in theatre and film, architects, novelists, writers, creative journalists, composers, conductors, virtuoso performers, choreographers, dancers, film directors and producers, opera performers, painters, sculptors, photographers, poets, popular music figures, impresarios, television personalities and playwrights. World Cultural Leaders of the Twentieth & Twenty-First Centuries provides entries (many of them illustrated) covering the individual's works, achievements, and professional career in a thorough essay and offers interesting facts and statistics.