Best Biographies

[po'richsaunders]

Favorite biographies?


I usually read a fair amount of the genre but haven't picked up anything new recently. Suggestions?

 

[Thomas]

I just finished The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. I thought it was fantastic.

 

[Manton]

Plutarch

Life of Johnson

Marlborough: His Life and Times

American Ceasar

Last Lion

Flexner on Washington

Malone on Jefferson

Charnwood on Lincoln.

 

[mordecai]

black boy is pretty fantastic.

 

[RSN125]

Originally Posted by Manton

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

 

[Manton]

Originally Posted by RSN125

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.

 

[Sherlockian]

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.

 

[coachvu]

Hellfire by Nick Tosches

 

[Jerome]

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.

 

[Mujib]

Originally Posted by Manton

Life of Johnson

Considered by many to be the greatest biography written in English.

 

[runner-guy]

Churchill: A Life by Martin Gilbert

American Caesar by William Manchester

 

[coldarchon]

me too ..

 

[darnelled]

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.

 

[GlenCoe]

Looking forward to Yohji's biography http://www.ablogcuratedby.com/yohjiy...ohji-yamamoto/

 

[spb_lady]

"Diary of a genius" Salvador Dali