Best Biographies

1
Jane Austen: A Life
by Claire Tomalin
1,603 members
33 reviews
4
7 Members
Minthe, smc1, thorold, AnnaClaire, souloftherose, Diane-bpcb, mazurat,
2
Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie
by Barbara Goldsmith
482 members
11 reviews
3.8
4 Members
smc1, AnnaClaire, mazurat, catstaley
3
The Life of Samuel Johnson
by James Boswell
3,892 members
42 reviews
4.2
4 Members
smc1, thorold, JuliaMaria, John_Vaughan
4
His Excellency: George Washington
by Joseph J. Ellis
3,817 members
59 reviews
4
4 Members
AnnaClaire, John_Vaughan, Bretzky1, Diane-bpcb
5
John Adams
by David McCullough
13,695 members
199 reviews
½ 4.3
4 Members
smc1, AnnaClaire, Bretzky1, kara.shamy
6
Eudora Welty: A Writer's Life
by Ann Waldron
51 members
1 review
½ 3.3
3 Members
smc1, smcwl, mazurat
7
Einstein: His Life and Universe
by Walter Isaacson
5,493 members
94 reviews
4.2
3 Members
smc1, John_Vaughan, mazurat
8
Two Lives
by Vikram Seth
1,193 members
27 reviews
½ 3.7
3 Members
thorold, souloftherose, mazurat
9
Tolkien: A Biography
by Humphrey Carpenter
2,774 members
22 reviews
4
2 Members
souloftherose, raperper
10
American Lion
by Jon Meacham
3,198 members
64 reviews
½ 3.7
2 Members
AnnaClaire, tomryan
11
Madame Curie: A Biography
by Eve Curie
1,204 members
25 reviews
4
2 Members
smc1, mazurat
12
Joan of Arc: Her Story
by Régine Pernoud
324 members
3 reviews
3.9
2 Members
AnnaClaire, mazurat
13
Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self
by Claire Tomalin
1,725 members
32 reviews
4.1
3 Members
smc1, smcwl, John_Vaughan
14
The Sun King
by Nancy Mitford
906 members
16 reviews
½ 3.7
3 Members
smc1, souloftherose, Diane-bpcb
15
The Life of Elizabeth I
by Alison Weir
2,799 members
40 reviews
4
3 Members
AnnaClaire, Diane-bpcb, kara.shamy
16
Edith Wharton
by Hermione Lee
538 members
12 reviews
3.9
2 Members
JuliaMaria, Diane-bpcb
17
Sarah Orne Jewett
by Elizabeth Silverthorne
11 members
1 review
3
2 Members
Diane-bpcb, lornah02
18
The Last Lion, Winston Spencer Churchill, Volume I: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932
by William Manchester
2,327 members
34 reviews
½ 4.5
2 Members
smc1, smcwl
19
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
9,916 members
229 reviews
½ 4.4
2 Members
AnnaClaire, kara.shamy
20
Evelyn Waugh: A Biography
by Christopher Sykes
136 members
2 reviews
2.9
3 Members
smc1, thorold, John_Vaughan
21
William Clark and the Shaping of the West
by Landon Y. Jones
127 members
1 review
4.2
2 Members
jefbra, John_Vaughan
22
Louisa May Alcott: A Modern Biography
by Martha Saxton
175 members
3 reviews
½ 3.7
2 Members
smc1, aulsmith
23
Evita, First Lady: A Biography of Evita Peron
by John Barnes
110 members
2 reviews
½ 3.5
2 Members
John_Vaughan, mazurat
24
Renoir, My Father
by Jean Renoir
551 members
4 reviews
4.1
2 Members
smc1, smcwl
26
The Brontës: Wild Genius on the Moors
by Juliet Barker
856 members
17 reviews
4.2
2 Members
Minthe, kara.shamy
27
Charles Dickens: A Life
by Claire Tomalin
919 members
32 reviews
4.2
2 Members
souloftherose, kara.shamy
29
The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
by H. W. Brands
1,911 members
11 reviews
4.1
2 Members
AnnaClaire, John_Vaughan
30
High endeavours : the life and endeavours of Miles and Beryl Smeeton
by Miles Clark
42 members
3 reviews
½ 4.3
2 Members
smc1, John_Vaughan
31
Last train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley
by Peter Guralnick
1,115 members
11 reviews
4.2
2 Members
smc1, Diane-bpcb
32
Alan Turing: The Enigma
by Andrew Hodges
2,381 members
32 reviews
3.9
2 Members
smc1, souloftherose
33
Isaac Newton
by James Gleick
1,455 members
44 reviews
½ 3.7
2 Members
smc1, mazurat
34
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
by Amanda Foreman
3,017 members
67 reviews
3.8
2 Members
smc1, souloftherose
35
Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith
by Andrew Wilson
346 members
5 reviews
4
2 Members
thorold, JuliaMaria
36
Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times
by H. W. Brands
930 members
21 reviews
4
2 Members
AnnaClaire, Bretzky1
37
Shakespeare: The World as Stage
by Bill Bryson
4,804 members
175 reviews
3.8
2 Members
smc1, souloftherose
38
Truman
by David McCullough
5,893 members
82 reviews
½ 4.4
Member
MDGentleReader
40
Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic
by Michael Scammell
141 members
1 review
3.8
Member
deebee1
41
Kipling Sahib: India and the Making of Rudyard Kipling 1865-1900
by Charles Allen
110 members
1 review
4
Member
John_Vaughan
42
Eleanor Marx: A Life
by Rachel Holmes
102 members
4 reviews
½ 4.3
Member
elkiedee
43
O'Neill
by Arthur Gelb
77 members
Member
hipdeep
44
George Washington: A Biography (7 volumes)
by Douglas Southall Freeman
68 members
½ 4.7
Member
Bretzky1
45
The life of Richard Wagner
by Ernest Newman
35 members
1 review
½ 4.3
Member
SnootyBaronet
46
The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn
by Alison Weir
1,138 members
35 reviews
3.8
2 Members
AnnaClaire, kara.shamy
47
Sinclair Lewis
by James Lundquist
13 members
1 review
3.8
2 Members
smc1, Bretzky1
48
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
by Walter Isaacson
5,453 members
83 reviews
4
2 Members
smc1, John_Vaughan
50
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
by Malcolm X
9,770 members
123 reviews
½ 4.3
2 Members
elkiedee, kara.shamy
51
Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England
by Alison Weir
1,224 members
34 reviews
3.8
2 Members
AnnaClaire, kara.shamy
52
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa
by Adam Hochschild
4,762 members
127 reviews
½ 4.3
Member
kara.shamy
53
Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles
by Stefan Zweig
706 members
11 reviews
4
Member
smc1
54
Mozart: A Life
by Maynard Solomon
613 members
3 reviews
4.2
Member
Diane-bpcb
55
Joseph Fouché: The Portrait of a Politician
by Stefan Zweig
507 members
21 reviews
½ 4.3
Member
raperper
56
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom
by Conrad Black
496 members
4 reviews
½ 4.3
Member
Bretzky1
57
My Father and Myself
by J. R. Ackerley
461 members
7 reviews
3.9
Member
thorold
58
Red Rosa
by Kate Evans
348 members
9 reviews
4.1
Member
hipdeep
59
Like A Fiery Elephant: The Story of B.S. Johnson
by Jonathan Coe
245 members
2 reviews
3.9
Member
Minthe
60
Love and Capital
by Mary Gabriel
233 members
9 reviews
4
Member
elkiedee
61
Mary Queen of Scots
by Antonia Fraser
2,900 members
26 reviews
4
Member
kara.shamy
62
How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer
by Sarah Bakewell
1,979 members
86 reviews
4.1
Member
JuliaMaria
63
Ishi in Two Worlds
by Theodora Kroeber
805 members
9 reviews
3.8
Member
Minthe
64
Feynman
by Jim Ottaviani
798 members
48 reviews
½ 3.7
Member
hipdeep
65
The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn
by Eric Ives
552 members
7 reviews
4.2
Member
AnnaClaire
66
James Baldwin: A Biography
by David Leeming
271 members
1 review
3.8
Member
thorold
67
A Russian Childhood
by S. Kovalevskaya
40 members
1 review
3.9
Member
smc1
68
In Search of H. V. Morton
by Michael Bartholomew
10 members
1 review
Member
John_Vaughan
69
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman
by Robert K. Massie
2,926 members
144 reviews
4.1
Member
kara.shamy
70
Bruce Chatwin
by Nicholas Shakespeare
464 members
7 reviews
3.9
Member
thorold
71
Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life
by Hermione Lee
247 members
7 reviews
½ 4.3
Member
elkiedee
72
R. E. Lee: A Biography
by Douglas Southall Freeman
233 members
1 review
½ 4.6
Member
Bretzky1
73
John Steinbeck, Writer: A Biography
by Jackson J. Benson
170 members
3 reviews
½ 4.3
Member
John_Vaughan
74
Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma
by Michael Peppiatt
156 members
2 reviews
½ 3.6
Member
JuliaMaria
75
Dignifying Science: Stories About Women Scientists
by Jim Ottaviani
134 members
1 review
½ 3.7
Member
hipdeep
76
Lincoln
by David Herbert Donald
3,017 members
26 reviews
4.2
Member
Bretzky1
77
The Path to Power
by Robert A. Caro
2,623 members
45 reviews
½ 4.6
Member
kara.shamy
78
Her Husband: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes: A Marriage
by Diane Middlebrook
430 members
6 reviews
3.8
Member
JuliaMaria
79
The Prophet Armed: Trotsky 1879-1921
by Isaac Deutscher
404 members
10 reviews
½ 4.4
Member
elkiedee
80
Goethe und Schiller. Geschichte einer Freundschaft
by Rüdiger Safranski
82 members
2 reviews
3.8
Member
Minthe
81
Means of Ascent
by Robert A. Caro
2,130 members
30 reviews
½ 4.4
Member
kara.shamy
82
The Black Jacobins
by C. L. R. James
1,387 members
22 reviews
½ 4.3
Member
elkiedee
83
Anne Sexton: A Biography
by Diane Middlebrook
729 members
5 reviews
3.9
Member
JuliaMaria
84
Nehru: The Invention of India
by Shashi Tharoor
131 members
5 reviews
½ 3.3
Member
Bretzky1
86
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
by Andrew Piper
27 members
10 reviews
½ 3.7
Member
Minthe
87
First Boredom, Then Fear: The Life of Philip Larkin
by Richard Bradford
19 members
1 review
3
Member
John_Vaughan
88
Into the Wild
by Jon Krakauer
17,952 members
445 reviews
3.9
Member
Minthe
89
The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England
by Dan Jones
1,897 members
42 reviews
4.1
Member
kara.shamy
91
Robert Kennedy: His Life
by Evan Thomas
482 members
7 reviews
4.1
Member
Bretzky1
92
Rowan's Rule: The Biography of the Archbishop
by Rupert Shortt
133 members
4 reviews
½ 3.7
Member
souloftherose
93
Rosa Luxemburg: A Life
by Elzbieta Ettinger
73 members
2 reviews
4.1
Member
elkiedee
94
P.G. Wodehouse : man and myth
by Barry Phelps
14 members
5
Member
thorold
95
Gabriele Münter und Wassily Kandinsky - Biographie eines Paares
by Gisela Kleine
8 members
5
Member
JuliaMaria
96
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
by Gertrude Stein
2,682 members
43 reviews
½ 3.6
Member
thorold
97
Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling
by Ross King
2,577 members
31 reviews
3.9
Member
JuliaMaria
98
Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay
by Nancy Milford
1,710 members
25 reviews
4
Member
Diane-bpcb
99
The Passage of Power
by Robert A. Caro
1,541 members
38 reviews
½ 4.6
Member
kara.shamy
100
Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Found the Hidden Gospels
by Janet Soskice
388 members
25 reviews
4.2
Member
souloftherose