The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived

The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived: How Characters of Fiction, Myth, Legends, Television, and Movies Have Shaped Our Society, Changed Our Behavior and Set the Course of History
by Allan Lazar, Dan Karlan, and Jeremy Salter
317 pages

This is a book about all of the influential characters throughout the history, through legends and literature.  It's very tongue in cheek and not scholarly at all, but that's why I liked it.  The authors lay out why they ranked the way they did and how they came to include the 101 characters.  Some of these characters include: Big Brother,  Lady Chatterly, Robin Hood, Don Quixote, Jay Gatsby, just to name a few.  It's a quick read and very insightful.