You all had people you admire--what about just interesting people or people who changed history? When I was in mid-high school, I read everything about Henry VIII (Lorel's avatar), did projects, reports, etc. then spread it into historical English monarchy.
DS13 has read biographies of many tycoons (his favorite was the Warren Buffet one, also one about the guy who started McDonald's, one about Steve Jobs).
One book that my boys have absolutely LOVED is the "THE BIG BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES"--as soon as my kids could read independently, they're take that to bed and on are trips and it would keep them entertained.
