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Best Biographies

post #1 of 16
8/3/10 at 7:11pm
Thread Starter 
Favorite biographies?


I usually read a fair amount of the genre but haven't picked up anything new recently. Suggestions?
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post #2 of 16
8/3/10 at 7:13pm
I just finished The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. I thought it was fantastic.
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post #3 of 16
8/3/10 at 7:16pm
Plutarch

Life of Johnson

Marlborough: His Life and Times

American Ceasar

Last Lion

Flexner on Washington

Malone on Jefferson

Charnwood on Lincoln.
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post #4 of 16
8/3/10 at 7:19pm
black boy is pretty fantastic.
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post #5 of 16
8/3/10 at 7:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Manton View Post
Plutarch

Life of Johnson

Marlborough: His Life and Times

American Ceasar

Last Lion

Flexner on Washington

Malone on Jefferson

Charnwood on Lincoln.

I have read a few of these but the Last Lion (in particular part 2) was my favorite. I know there is some controversy as to the light in which Manchester portrayed Churchill/Chamberlain - I just don't care. Manchester generally got the story right and his prose is amazing.

Add to the list:

LBJ by Caro

Robert Moses by Caro

Benjamin Franklin by Issacson
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post #6 of 16
8/3/10 at 7:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RSN125 View Post
I have read a few of these but the Last Lion (in particular part 2) was my favorite. I know there is some controversy as to the light in which Manchester portrayed Churchill/Chamberlain - I just don't care. Manchester generally got the story right and his prose is amazing.

Add to the list:

LBJ by Caro

Robert Moses by Caro

Benjamin Franklin by Issacson

That one is also a grand classic.
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post #7 of 16
8/3/10 at 7:51pm
Little Boy Blue - Edward Bunker

Mr Nice - Howard Marks

Marching Powder - Rusty Young / Thomas McFadden

All a bit more subversive than your average biography, but hell of a great read and quite an insight into how the lives of the very intelligent can go if the path of fate leads them onto the wrong side of the law. But for the grace of God, and all that.
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post #8 of 16
8/3/10 at 8:25pm
Hellfire by Nick Tosches
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post #9 of 16
8/3/10 at 9:19pm
I like biographies, the British do them best:

e.g.

Carpenter: J.R.R. Tolkien

The Confessions of Aleister Crowley

Thesiger: The Life of my Choice.

p.s. also very good for those who can read German: Kinski: Ich bin so wild nach deinem Erdbeermund and: Helmut Berger: Ich.
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post #10 of 16
8/4/10 at 5:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Manton View Post
Life of Johnson

Considered by many to be the greatest biography written in English.
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post #11 of 16
8/4/10 at 11:02am
Churchill: A Life by Martin Gilbert American Caesar by William Manchester
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post #12 of 16
8/4/10 at 11:13am
me too ..
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post #13 of 16
8/6/10 at 2:13pm
Clapton: The Autobiography

This guy is lucky to be alive and seems to have made excellent amends for his past life. It's the only book that's ever made me cry ( my son was the same age as I read as his when he died). It was great hearing where so many of his great songs came from.
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post #14 of 16
8/18/10 at 5:29pm
Looking forward to Yohji's biography http://www.ablogcuratedby.com/yohjiy...ohji-yamamoto/
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post #15 of 16
8/18/10 at 5:48pm
"Diary of a genius" Salvador Dali

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