Heroes of My Time

Pulitzer Prize winner Salisbury, hero to countless journalists, here writes about his own heroes. The 25 figures he chooses--all from Russia, China or the U.S., Salisbury's beats--are men and women ``whose bravery burns in his mind.'' By Salisbury's admission, not all are necessarily role models: one, Malcolm X, he categorizes as an anti-hero. The profiles presented are affecting and telling: Solzhenitsyn, Gulag prisoner SHCH 232, remains a zek , and although he takes issue with Solzhenitsyn's ``often cruelly distorted'' visions, Salisbury considers the world ``a better place for his beliefs.'' Among other heroes are journalist David Halberstam, ``conscience of the American heritage,'' and Robert Kennedy, whom Salisbury initially perceived as his brother John's capo, but came to admire when ``tragedy tested him and found him true.'' Two Roman Catholic nuns are elected to the pantheon: Chinese Huang Roushan, who has nursed lepers in her country for 52 years, and American-born Brigid Temple, who established a language learning center in China. Salisbury also makes a case for including his late employer Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger, daughter of New York Times founder Adolph Ochs, and Sue and Lawrence Brooks, a married couple in their 90s who represent the ``essence of Boston-ness.'' If not all of these folk are likable, their heroism is well noted by a reporter who, during a career spanning six decades, has met 'em all. 25,000 first printing; $30,000 ad/promo. (June)