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Author Topic: Any historical biography suggestions?  (Read 7473 times)
cgfunmathguy
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« Reply #15 on: October 14, 2009, 08:48:12 PM »
A biography of Theodore Roosevelt during the White House years. I don't think it was Theodore Rex that I read (it's been over a year and a half since I read it), but it might have been.
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astronomygal
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« Reply #16 on: January 31, 2010, 10:28:51 PM »
I'm looking for some good biographies to read.

Does anyone have anything else to add to this list? It could include biographies of more recent figures as well.
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alstein
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« Reply #17 on: February 06, 2010, 08:52:15 PM »
Catherine de Medici, by Ivan Cloulas
Caesar: Life of a Colossus, by Adrian Goldsworthy
Churchill: A Study in Greatness, by Geoffrey Best
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llanfair
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« Reply #18 on: February 06, 2010, 08:54:03 PM »
The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance by Paul Strathern.
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casvelyn
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« Reply #19 on: February 07, 2010, 08:14:48 AM »
Quote from: llanfair on February 06, 2010, 08:54:03 PM
The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance by Paul Strathern.

^^Such a very good book - and they made it into an equally interesting documentary that aired on PBS a few years back.

Fire in the City: Savonarola and the Struggle for the Soul of Renaissance Florence (Lauro Martines)
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Kai Bird & Martin J. Sherwin)

I'm not normally a fan of biographies, because I've been forced through some incredibly dull ones, but these two are especially good, I think.
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philrels108
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« Reply #20 on: February 07, 2010, 10:41:23 AM »
I'm in the middle of Anthony Everitt's Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor and quite enjoying it.
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larryc
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« Reply #21 on: February 07, 2010, 11:50:32 AM »
Jesse James by TJ Stiles is a model of historical biography on every level. It is deeply researched, beautifully written, and original in its insights.
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llanfair
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« Reply #22 on: February 07, 2010, 08:25:28 PM »
That one on Savonarola looks great, Casvelyn.  Thanks!
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history_grrrl
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« Reply #23 on: February 09, 2010, 01:12:32 AM »
I really enjoyed Nick Salvatore's biography of Eugene V. Debs. Can't think of the name of it, but the author does an excellent job of contextualizing Debs' life and work. I just finished a biography of a U.S. senator for an article I'm revising, and I'd forgotten that many of these bios are just a laundry list of the person's activities. Not the Debs book.
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astronomygal
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« Reply #24 on: February 09, 2010, 11:10:38 AM »
I had been considering the Oppenheimer one and the Medici biographies sound interesting. Thanks for the suggestions.

I ordered the David McCullough biography on John Adams and a Benjamin Franklin autobiography from Half.com.

I also wanted to get Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor, even though it is more of a memoir than a biography.
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"If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe you'll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey, free dummy." - Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy
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