The best biographies of all time
The 30 Best Biographies of All Time
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Blog â Posted on Monday, Jan 21
Biographer Richard Holmes once wrote that his work was âa kind of pursuit⌠writing about the pursuit of that fleeting figure, in such a way as to bring them alive in the present.â
At the risk of sounding clichĂŠ, the best biographies do exactly this: bring their subjects to life. A great biography isnât just a laundry list of events that happened to someone. Rather, it should weave a narrative and tell a story in almost the same way a novel does. In this way, biography differs from the rest of nonfiction.
All the biographies on this list are just as captivating as excellent novels, if not more so. With that, please enjoy the 30 best biographies of all time â some historical, some recent, but all remarkable, life-giving tributes to their subjects.
If you're feeling overwhelmed by the number of great biographies out there, you can also take our second quiz below to narrow it down quickly and get a personalized biography recommendation đ
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1. A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
This biography of esteemed mathematician John Nash was both a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the basis for the award-winning film of the same name. Nasar thoroughly explores Nashâs prestigious career, from his beginnings at MIT to his work at the RAND Corporation â as well the internal battle he waged against schizophrenia, a disorder that nearly derailed his life.
2. Alan Turing: The Enigma: The Book That Inspired the Film The Imitation Game - Updated Edition by Andrew Hodges
Hodgesâ biography of Alan Turing sheds light on the inner workings of this brilliant mathematician, cryptologist, and computer pioneer. Indeed, despite the title (a nod to his work during WWII), a King: A Life Jonathan Eig&#;s &#;King: A Life&#; was published early last year to nearly instant acclaim and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Biography earlier this year. Eig is a journalist and author previously best-known for his biographies &#;Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig&#; () and &#;Ali: A Life&#; (). Until now, David J. Garrow&#;s Pulitzer Prize winning biography of MLK (published in ) was widely considered the standard review of King&#;s life. Eig&#;s biography, however, is the first book on MLK built upon a towering base of newly released documents including thousands of pages of White House and FBI transcripts, oral histories recorded by MLK&#;s father and wife and interviews with more than members of King&#;s orbit and inner-circle. Although Eig&#;s biography is substantial, with pages of text, it could easily have been much longer. But while ideal biographies are generally a judicious balance of colorful, eloquent prose and incisive, penetrating history, Eig has largely eschewed the former in favor of a searing focus on the latter: on King&#;s persona, the daunting challenges of his time, and the resulting cause-and-effect. In this respect, Eig exhibits the investigative and analytical tendencies of a journalist rather than the literary inclinations of a poet. But King&#;s life does not easily lend itself to quaint scene-setting or mesmerizing one-liners; significant stretches of his life prove heavy and dark rather than light and uplifting. Eig is adroit, however, at magnificently capturing King&#;s very best, and his most dramatic, moments. No reader will soon forget Eig&#;s description of the eighteen-year-old&#;s entrancing cadence delivering his first sermon, the utterly enthralling chapter devoted to MLK&#;s &#;dream&#; speech or his subject&#;s struggle to balance opposition to the Vietnam War with his thirst fo 50 Youâre probably familiar with The Count of Monte Cristo, the revenge novel by Alexandre Dumas. But did you know it was based on the life of Dumasâs father, the mixed-race General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, son of a French nobleman and a Haitian slave? Thanks to Reissâs masterful pacing and plotting, this rip-roaring biography of Thomas-Alexandre reads more like an adventure novel than a work of nonfiction. The Black Count won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in , and itâs only a matter of time before a filmmaker turns it into a big-screen blockbuster. 49 Now 30% Off Few biographies are as genuinely fun to read as this barnburner from the irreverent English critic Craig Brown. Princess Margaret may have been everyoneâs favorite character from Netflixâs The Crown, but Brownâs eye for ostentatious details and revelatory insights will help you see why everyone in the sâfrom Pablo Picasso and Gore Vidal to Peter Sellers and Andy Warholâwas obsessed with her. When book critic Parul Sehgal says that she âripped through the book with the avidity of Margaret attacking her morning vodka and orange juice,â you know youâre in for a treat. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below 48Reading the Best Biographies of All Time
by Jonathan Eig
pages
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: May Reading the Best Biographies of All Time
Custer Custer&#;s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America by T.J. Stiles Stalin Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, (Vol 1) by Stephen Kotkin Marx, Karl Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Lifeby Jonathan Sperber Dumas, Alex The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss Kennedy, Joseph P The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy by David Nasaw Washington, George Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow REVIEW (5 stars) Lincoln, Abraham The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner REVIEW (not rated) Vanderbilt, Cornelius The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles Wilson, Woodrow Woodrow Wilson: A Biography by John Milton Cooper REVIEW (3ž stars) Jackson, Andrew American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham REVIEW (3ž stars) Roosevelt, Franklin Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of FDR by H. W. Brands REVIEW (4Ÿ stars) Carnegie, Andrew Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw Newton, Isaac Isaac Newton by James Gleick Beethoven Beethoven: The Music and the Life by Lewis Lockwood Adams, John John Adams by David McCullough REVIEW (4½ stars) Grant, Ulysses Grant by Jean Edward Smith REVIEW (4½ stars) Bach, Johann Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician by Christoph Wolff Franklin, Benjamin The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by HW Brands Johnson, Lyndon Master of the Senate (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume III) by Robert Caro Lindbergh, Charles Lindbergh by A. Scott Berg Mozart Mozart: A Life by Maynard Solomon Roosevelt, Franklin No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt by Doris Kearns Goodwin REVIEW (4Ÿ stars) Genet, Jean Genet: A Biography by Edmund White The 50 Best Biographies of All Time
Crown The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, by Tom Reiss
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, by Craig Brown
Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller, by Alec Nevala-Lee