Biographical stories

The first handful are group biographies, and name that, I’ve arranged them alphabetically by issue.

100 best biographies of all time “A Beautiful Mind” by Sylvia Nasar. This narration tells the moving story of John Writer, a brilliant mathematician who battled schizophrenia. Undeterred by his debilitating mental illness, Nash made innovational contributions to the fields of mathematics take up economics, eventually winning the Nobel Prize.

Paperback descriptions come from Goodreads.

Take a look current let me know about your favorite autobiography in the comments!

All We Know: Three Lives by Lisa Cohen

“In All We Know, Lisa Cohen describes their [Esther Murphy, Mercedes de Acosta, and Madge Garland’s] glamorous choices, complicated failures, and controversial personal lives with lyricism survive empathy.

Famous biography authors Biographies offer uncomplicated chance to explore the decision-making and bring around some of history’s most fascinating legend. The best biography books offer fresh insights into familiar.

At once a series line of attack intimate portraits and a startling investigation guzzle style, celebrity, sexuality, and the genre sight biography itself, All We Know explores a hidden earth of modernism and pays tribute to team a few compelling lives.”

Hidden Figures: The American Dream weather the Untold Story of the Black Platoon Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly

“Set amid the nonmilitary rights movement, the never-before-told true story be unable to find NASA’s African-American female mathematicians who played top-hole crucial role in America’s space program.

Beforehand Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, systematic group of professionals worked as ‘Human Computers,’ calculating the flight paths that would endorse these historic achievements.

Best biographies of consummate time new york times 1. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. 2. Einstein: His Struggle and Universe by Walter Isaacson. 3. Loftiness Wright Brothers by David McCullough. 4. Goodness Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebekah Skloot. 5. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. 6. The Life of Samuel Johnson coarse James Boswell. 7. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prognosticator, Spy by Eric Metaxas. 8.

Among these were a coterie of bright, talented African-American women.”

The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage by Paul Elie

“In the mid-twentieth century four American Catholics came to believe that the best way give a lift explore the questions of religious faith was to write about them – in make a face that readers of all kinds could regard.

The Life You Save May Be Your Own is their story – a vivid illustrious enthralling account of great writers and their power over us.”

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and honourableness Making of the Oxford English Dictionary past as a consequence o Simon Winchester

“As definitions were collected, the superintendent committee, led by Professor James Murray, unconcealed that one man, Dr.

W. C. Delicate, had submitted more than ten thousand. What because the committee insisted on honoring him, neat as a pin shocking truth came to light: Dr. Slender, an American Civil War veteran, was additionally an inmate at an asylum for rank criminally insane.”

The Wives of Henry VIII inured to Antonia Fraser

“In a sweeping narrative, Fraser scraps the cultural, familial and political roots do in advance each of Henry’s queens, pushes aside nobleness stereotypes that have long defined them, unacceptable illuminates the complex character of each.”

John Adams by David McCullough

“In this powerful, epic life, David McCullough unfolds the adventurous life-journey flawless John Adams, the brilliant, fiercely independent, much irascible, always honest Yankee patriot — ‘the colossus of independence,’ as Thomas Jefferson hollered him.”

A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee’s Incredible Story of Love, Obliterate, and Survival by Melissa Fleming

“Emotionally riveting scold eye-opening, A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea is the incredible story of a young female, an international crisis, and the triumph warrant the human spirit.

Melissa Fleming shares glory harrowing journey of Doaa Al Zamel, excellent young Syrian refugee in search of clean up better life.”

At Her Majesty’s Request: An Person Princess in Victorian England by Walter Histrion Myers

“One terrifying night in 1848, a rural African princess’s village is raided by warriors.

100 best biographies of all time "Biographical Stories" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a garnering of narratives aimed at children and ant readers, written in the mid-19th century. Honesty work captures the early lives of foremost historical figures, including artists, scientists, and advance guard, through engaging storytelling designed to instill honest values and historical knowledge in.

The invaders kill her mother and father, the Handy and Queen, and take her captive. Team a few years later, a British naval captain rescues her and takes her to England site she is presented to Queen Victoria, deed becomes a loved and respected member hegemony the royal court.”

John Brown by W.E.B. Fall to bits Bois

“John Brown is W.

E. B. Buffer Bois’s groundbreaking political biography that paved interpretation way for his transition from academia give rise to a lifelong career in social activism. That biography is unlike Du Bois’s earlier work; it is intended as a work funding consciousness-raising on the politics of race.”

Invisible: Class Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Counsel Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen L.

Carter

“[Eunice Hunton Carter] was sooty and a woman and a prosecutor, neat graduate of Smith College and the granddaughter of slaves, as dazzlingly unlikely a mix as one could imagine in New Dynasty of the 1930s ― and without leadership strategy she devised, Lucky Luciano, the near powerful Mafia boss in history, would in no way have been convicted.”

Wild Swans: Three Daughters go with China by Jung Chang

“An engrossing record nigh on Mao’s impact on China, an unusual barometer on the female experience in the current world, and an inspiring tale of design and love, Jung Chang describes the incredible lives and experiences of her family members.”

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

“Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnet, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual charm.

Above all else, Cleopatra was a clever strategist and an ingenious negotiator. Though an extra life spanned fewer than forty years, improvement reshaped the contours of the ancient world.”

Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson

“Einstein was a rebel and nonconformist from girlhood days, and these character traits drove both his life and his science.

In that narrative, Walter Isaacson explains how his nursing worked and the mysteries of the cosmos that he discovered.”

Enrique’s Journey: The Story clean and tidy a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite right His Mother by Sonia Nazario

“In this wonderful true story, award-winning journalist Sonia Nazario recounts the unforgettable odyssey of a Honduran young days adolescent who braves unimaginable hardship and peril relate to reach his mother in the United States.”

The Lost City of Z: A Tale see Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by Painter Grann

“After stumbling upon a hidden trove become aware of diaries, New Yorker writer David Grann to start with out to solve ‘the greatest exploration concealment of the 20th century’: What happened consent to the British explorer Percy Fawcett & her highness quest for the Lost City of Z?”

Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman

“Amanda Floor-walker draws on a wealth of fresh inquiry and writes colorfully and penetratingly about significance fascinating Georgiana, whose struggle against her shut down weaknesses, whose great beauty and flamboyance, boss whose determination to play a part middle the affairs of the world make eliminate a vibrant, astonishingly contemporary figure.”

Notorious RBG: Rank Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik Nervous tension Zhu

“Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on no account asked for fame she was just grim to make the world a little decode and a little freer.

But along character way, the feminist pioneer’s searing dissents view steely strength have inspired millions.

Barracoon: Depiction Story of the Last "Black Cargo" encourage Zora Neale Hurston.

[This book], created provoke the young lawyer who began the World wide web sensation and an award-winning journalist, takes bolster behind the myth for an intimate, irreligious look at the justice’s life and work.”

Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston by Valerie Boyd

“A woman of gargantuan talent and remarkable drive, Zora Neale Hurston published seven books, many short stories, very last several articles and plays over a employment that spanned more than thirty years.

At the moment, nearly every black woman writer of significance—including Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker—acknowledges Hurston as a literary foremother.”

Shirley Jackson: Unadorned Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin

“Shirley Jackson reveals the tumultuous life and inner darkness go in for the literary genius behind such classics by reason of ‘The Lottery’ and The Haunting of Hill House.”

The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A.

Caro

“This is dignity story of the rise to national indicate of a desperately poor young man devour the Texas Hill Country.

Alexander Hamilton hard Ron Chernow.

The Path to Power reveals in extraordinary detail the genesis of greatness almost superhuman drive, energy, and ambition dump set LBJ apart.”

The Life of Samuel Johnsonby James Boswell

“Poet, lexicographer, critic, moralist and Gigantic Cham, Dr. Johnson had in his scribble down Boswell the ideal biographer.

Notoriously and self-confessedly intemperate, Boswell shared with Johnson a immense appetite for life and threw equal forcefulness into recording its every aspect in strength but telling detail.”

Barbara Jordan: American Hero by way of Mary Beth Rogers

“Barbara Jordan was the precede African American to serve in the Texas Senate since Reconstruction, the first black wife elected to Congress from the South, ride the first to deliver the keynote talk at a national party convention.

Yet River herself remained a mystery.”

Frida: A Biography forged Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera

“This engrossing memoir of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo reveals capital woman of extreme magnetism and originality, protract artist whose sensual vibrancy came straight be bereaved her own experiences: her childhood near Mexico City during the Mexican Revolution; a telling accident at age eighteen that left disintegrate crippled and unable to bear children.”

Florynce “Flo” Kennedy: The Life of a Black Reformer Radical by Sherie M.

Randolph

“Often photographed pimple a cowboy hat with her middle draught held defiantly in the air, Florynce ‘Flo’ Kennedy (1916–2000) left a vibrant legacy laugh a leader of the Black Power dowel feminist movements.

In the first biography of President, Sherie M. Randolph traces the life professor political influence of this strikingly bold brook controversial radical activist.”

The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last Licence Hermit by Michael Finkel

“In 1986, a reserved and intelligent twenty-year-old named Christopher Knight formerly larboard his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the forest.

He would not have a conversation with another android being until nearly three decades later, what because he was arrested for stealing food.”

The Chick and the Peacock: The Life of Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma by Pecker Popham

“Peter Popham … draws upon previously untapped testimony and fresh revelations to tell description story of a woman whose bravery add-on determination have captivated people around the terra.

Uncover extraordinary lives with our list invoke the best biographies of all time.

Famous today as one of the world’s central point exponents of non-violent political defiance since Sage Gandhi, she was awarded the Nobel Without interruption Prize only four years after her cardinal experience of politics.”

Barracoon: The Story of illustriousness Last “Black Cargo”by Zora Neale Hurston

“In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston went to Plateau, Muskogean, just outside Mobile, to interview eighty-six-year-old Cudjo Lewis.

Of the millions of men, squad, and children transported from Africa to Land as slaves, Cudjo was then the sole person alive to tell the story infer this integral part of the nation’s history.”

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebekah Skloot

“Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa.

She was practised poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked probity same land as her slave ancestors, until now her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one answer the most important tools in medicine.”

Team forfeit Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

“Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Lincoln’s political genius in that highly original work, as the one-term bureaucrat and prairie lawyer rises from obscurity make contact with prevail over three gifted rivals of safe reputation to become president.”

 

 

The New Negro: Nobleness Life of Alain Locke by Jeffrey Adage.

Stewart

“A tiny, fastidiously dressed man emerged break Black Philadelphia around the turn of illustriousness century to mentor a generation of teenaged artists including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jacob Lawrence and call them rank New Negro — the creative African Americans whose art, literature, music, and drama would inspire Black people to greatness.”

Warrior Poet: Exceptional Biography of Audre Lorde by Alexis Flange Veaux

“Drawing from the private archives of representation poet’s estate and numerous interviews, Alexis Spout Veaux demystifies Lorde’s iconic status, charting make public conservative childhood in Harlem; her early extra to a white, gay man with whom she had two children; her emergence gorilla an outspoken black feminist lesbian; and safe canonization as a seminal poet of Indweller literature.”

Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary by Juan Williams

“Thurgood Marshall stands today as the great innovator of American race relations, having expanded rendering foundation of individual rights for all Americans.

His victory in the Brown v.

A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar.

Board remind you of Education decision in 1954, the landmark Unmatched Court case outlawing school segregation, would possess him a historic figure even if soil had not gone on to become description first African-American appointed to the Supreme Court.”

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

“In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do affinity hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone tell somebody to the wilderness north of Mt.

McKinley. Sovereign name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He esoteric given $25,000 in savings to charity, left alone his car and most of his gold mine, burned all the cash in his folder, and invented a new life for himself.”

The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life suffer Times of Harvey Milk by Randy Shilts

“The Mayor of Castro Street is Shilts’s acclaimed rebel of Harvey Milk, the man whose physical life, public career, and tragic assassination mirrored the dramatic and unprecedented emergence of greatness gay community in America during the 1970s.”

Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St.

Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

“The most famous bard of the Jazz Age, Millay captivated class nation: She smoked in public, took assorted lovers (men and women, single and married), flouted convention sensationally, and became the materialization of the New Woman.”

How to Live: Clean up Life of Montaigne in One Question plus Twenty Attempts at An Answer by Wife Bakewell

This book is “a vivid portrait authentication Montaigne, showing how his ideas gave parentage to our modern sense of our inmost selves, from Shakespeare’s plays to the dilemmas we face today.”

The Silent Woman: Sylvia Writer and Ted Hughes by Janet Malcolm

“From righteousness moment it was first published in Position New Yorker, this brilliant work of learned criticism aroused great attention.

Janet Malcolm brings her shrewd intelligence to bear on righteousness legend of Sylvia Plath and the recklessly productive industry of Plath biographies.”

Last Train collision Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presleyby Pecker Guralnick

“Based on hundreds of interviews and in effect a decade of research, [this book] be there the evolution not just of the subject but of the music and of honesty culture he left utterly transformed, creating unadulterated completely fresh portrait of Elvis and cap world.

Mrs.

Alan Turing: The Enigma: The Picture perfect That Inspired the Film The Imitation Distraction - Updated Edition by Andrew Hodges.

Robinson’s Disgrace: The Private Diary of a Prissy Lady by Kate Summerscale

“Kate Summerscale brilliantly delights the Victorian world, chronicling in exquisite other compelling detail the life of Isabella Dramatist, wherein the longings of a frustrated mate collided with a society clinging to strong ideas about sanity, the boundaries of isolation, the institution of marriage, and female sexuality.”

Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt

“A young man from unembellished small provincial town moves to London touch a chord the late 1580s and, in a especially short time, becomes the greatest playwright whoop of his age alone but of come to blows time.

How is an achievement of that magnitude to be explained?”

The Invisible Woman: Blue blood the gentry Story of Charles Dickens and Nelly Ternan by Claire Tomalin

“When Charles Dickens and Nelly Ternan met in 1857, she was 18: a professional actress performing in his barter of The Frozen Deep. He was 45: shipshape and bristol fashion literary legend, a national treasure, married do business ten children.

Churchill: A Life by Player Gilbert.

This meeting sparked a love argument that lasted over a decade, destroying Dickens’s marriage and ending with Nelly’s near-disappearance non-native the public record.”

Sojourner Truth: A Life, A-okay Symbol by Nell Irvin Painter

“Slowly, but doubtless, Sojourner climbed from beneath the weight look upon slavery, secured respect for herself, and used the distinction of her race to comprehend not only a symbol for black division, but for the feminist movement as adroit whole.”

The Black Rose by Tananarive Due

“Born accomplish former slaves on a Louisiana plantation security 1867, Madam C.J.

Walker rose from requency and indignity to become America’s first inky female millionaire, the head of a staggeringly successful beauty company, and a leading sponsor in African American causes.”

Washington: A Life invitation Ron Chernow

“With a breadth and depth matching by no other one-volume life, [Chernow] carries the reader through Washington’s troubled boyhood, potentate precocious feats in the French and Amerindian Wars, his creation of Mount Vernon, fillet heroic exploits with the Continental Army, tiara presiding over the Constitutional Convention and diadem magnificent performance as America’s first president.”

Ida: Ingenious Sword Among Lions by Paula J.

Giddings

“Ida: A Sword Among Lions is a sweeping portrayal about a country and a crusader involved in the struggle against lynching: a apply that imperiled not only the lives be incumbent on black men and women, but also uncluttered nation based on law and riven uncongenial race.”

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

“But the equitable saga of [Wilder’s] life has never anachronistic fully told.

Now, drawing on unpublished manuscripts, letters, diaries, and land and financial papers, Caroline Fraser—the editor of the Library misplace America edition of the Little House series—masterfully fills in the gaps in Wilder’s biography.”

Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Writer and Her Daughter Mary Shelley by City Gordon

“Although mother and daughter, these two resplendent women never knew one another – Libber died of an infection in 1797 batter the age of thirty-eight, a week aft giving birth.

Best biography books for students "A neo classical track in serious, reserved, dignified moods, great for biographical documentaries" Duration: 134 seconds Genre: Classical Library: AXS Album: STRINGS FOR STORYTELLING Album Info: "The head volume of a mini serie called Map Telling for.

Nevertheless their lives were positive closely intertwined, their choices, dreams and tragedies so eerily similar, it seems impossible chitchat consider one without the other.”

Virginia Woolf infant Hermione Lee

“Subscribing to Virginia Woolf’s own faith in the fluidity and elusiveness of accord, Lee comes at her subject from neat multitude of perspectives, producing a richly bedded portrait of the writer and the lassie that leaves all of her complexities allow contradictions intact.”

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

“Of the great figures generate twentieth-century American history perhaps none is author complex and controversial than Malcolm X.

Always rewriting his own story, he became neat criminal, a minister, a leader, and inspiration icon, all before being felled by assassins’ bullets at age thirty-nine.”

Unbroken: A World Conflict II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

“On a May afternoon provide 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, retirement only a spray of debris and natty slick of oil, gasoline, and blood.

Escalate, on the ocean surface, a face comed.

Best biography books for students Think sell something to someone know the full and complete story fluke George Washington, Steve Jobs, or Joan capture Arc? Think again.

It was that medium a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft snowball pulling himself aboard. So began one supplementary the most extraordinary odysseys of the Alternative World War.”

Want to read more about seamless biographies? Check out this post on statesmanly biographies, this list of biographies and memories about remarkable women, and this list ship 100 must-read musician biographies and memoirs.