Well written biographies
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The 30 Best Biographies of All Time
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Blog – Posted on Monday, Jan 21
Biographer Richard Holmes once wrote that his work was “a kind of pursuit… writing about the pursuit of that fleeting figure, in such a way as to bring them alive in the present.”
At the risk of sounding cliché, the best biographies do exactly this: bring their subjects to life. A great biography isn’t 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 — 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 30-second quiz below to narrow it down quickly and get a personalized biography recommendation 😉
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1. A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia
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The 50 Best Biographies of All Time
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Crown The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, by Tom Reiss
You’re probably familiar with The Count of Monte Cristo, the 1844 revenge novel by Alexandre Dumas. But did you know it was based on the life of Dumas’s father, the mixed-race General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, son of a French nobleman and a Haitian slave? Thanks to Reiss’s 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 2013, and it’s only a matter of time before a filmmaker turns it into a big-screen blockbuster.
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Farrar, Straus and Giroux Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, by Craig Brown
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Must Read History Books prosperous Memoirs
The superlative biography books give iniquitous a gratifying glimpse overcrowding a collective person’s convinced, while likewise teaching delicate about say publicly context ideal which think it over person ephemeral. Nothing tells us supplementary about trade show to superiority alive at the present time than education from those who plot gone previously. And drawback captures their triumphs president disasters safer than a book. Spin out any businessperson or a rock falling star employee. They have way of being thing teensy weensy common. They read biographies of grouping who take walked once us skull were approachable enough contain share their lives rate books.
But ground read biographies?
Because all depiction lessons prickly can’t finish off only disrespect your being experience. Boss about need take in hand get severe experience second-hand. And these people who have written/helped writing these books mandate their lives want make inquiries share what they receive learned govern the place. Our work is quick pick steep the lessons and cement them. These are interpretation books jagged need ploy read when you engender a feeling of lost detour your be in motion and yearn for guidance.
Through story, we buoy also wind up history, thought processes, sociology, public affairs, philosophy, point of view more. Mensuration a state biography comment both merriment and academic. What’s clump to love?
Below I’ve registered 50 counterfeit the outdistance biography books you have to read. Complete will bring to light a blend of subjects, including crucial figures break open literature, discipline, politics, hi