Bookfilter - Definitive Biographies
June 30, 2020 6:30 AM Subscribe
I'd like to read the best biographies of historical figures that people of MeFi consider important, interesting. The best would be one authorative biography per person, the one considered to be authorative, even if it has it's own problems. Examples inside.
Two examples pop into my mind: Robert Caro's The Power Broker and Ray Monk's Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius. Both are doorstoppers, very heavily sourced, comprehensive and considered definitive.
What are your favourites of the same genre?
Two examples pop into my mind: Robert Caro's The Power Broker and Ray Monk's Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius. Both are doorstoppers, very heavily sourced, comprehensive and considered definitive.
What are your favourites of the same genre?
You should definitely read Caro's books on LBJ. I just hope he finishes before he dies.
posted by briank at 7:02 AM on June 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by briank at 7:02 AM on June 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
Savage Beauty is both impeccably researched and compulsively readable. I haven't read Zelda in many years, but my memory is that it's also very good.
posted by dizziest at 7:31 AM on June 30, 2020
posted by dizziest at 7:31 AM on June 30, 2020
Having just finished Dan T. Carter's doorstopper, The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism and the Transformation of American Politics, I can recommend it as a well-written, well-documented, and comprehensive story of “the most important loser in twentieth-century American politics.” That's Carter's final word on Wallace; the author is not infatuated with his subject. Carter's opening context, about race and Reconstruction in Alabama, is horrifying, and the book lays out an argument that Wallace raised racism to a national political strategy, with widespread consequences. The parallels to now are striking. Can't say I liked it, but it's an impressive piece of biography/history.
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:33 AM on June 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:33 AM on June 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
Edmund Morris' trilogy on TR is daunting, but well worth the time. Having read a dozen or so biographies on him, I'd rank these as authoritative.
posted by OHenryPacey at 7:42 AM on June 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by OHenryPacey at 7:42 AM on June 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight won the Pulitzer for history in 2019. It's great.
posted by kingless at 7:52 AM on June 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by kingless at 7:52 AM on June 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
I'm gonna throw out Nixonland by Rick Perlstein. It isn't technically a biography (it's a history through the perspective of one man's personality), and it doesn't claim to be authoritative, but it's quite thorough and well-researched, while also being pretty enjoyable. If you liked The Power Broker, you might be interested in it.
posted by kevinbelt at 8:07 AM on June 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by kevinbelt at 8:07 AM on June 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
William Manchester's three volume biography of Winston Churchill
is quite good. (A small part of the last book was finished by a family friend after Manchester became incapacitated by strokes.) Manchester is an entertaining writer, and the outside perspective of an American author is surprisingly useful.
Although, I just learned something in retrieving the link for the book. My eyes strayed to a comment recommending a one volume Churchill biography, and I think it is an interesting alternative. I will quote it here:
"Is this the biography I would commend to those beginning serious study of W.S.C.? No. That would be Roy Jenkins's one-volume "Churchill: A Biography" (2001), which has the merit, not only of concision, but of having been written by another Member of Parliament and Cabinet Member who held the same position, Chancellor of the Exchequer, that Churchill had once occupied. Jenkins had an insider's understanding of British history and politics that Americans Manchester and Paul Reid (who completed the third volume of "The Last Lion" after Manchester had suffered two strokes) could not possibly have grasped."
So there is a differing opinion and another choice, which in my mind is always good. I will personally be checking out Jenkins's book now that I know about it.
Manchester is an entertaining writer, but whatever you do don't check out his WW2 memoir "Goodbye Darkness." He literally writes about how huge his penis is.
posted by seasparrow at 8:54 AM on June 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
is quite good. (A small part of the last book was finished by a family friend after Manchester became incapacitated by strokes.) Manchester is an entertaining writer, and the outside perspective of an American author is surprisingly useful.
Although, I just learned something in retrieving the link for the book. My eyes strayed to a comment recommending a one volume Churchill biography, and I think it is an interesting alternative. I will quote it here:
"Is this the biography I would commend to those beginning serious study of W.S.C.? No. That would be Roy Jenkins's one-volume "Churchill: A Biography" (2001), which has the merit, not only of concision, but of having been written by another Member of Parliament and Cabinet Member who held the same position, Chancellor of the Exchequer, that Churchill had once occupied. Jenkins had an insider's understanding of British history and politics that Americans Manchester and Paul Reid (who completed the third volume of "The Last Lion" after Manchester had suffered two strokes) could not possibly have grasped."
So there is a differing opinion and another choice, which in my mind is always good. I will personally be checking out Jenkins's book now that I know about it.
Manchester is an entertaining writer, but whatever you do don't check out his WW2 memoir "Goodbye Darkness." He literally writes about how huge his penis is.
posted by seasparrow at 8:54 AM on June 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
Also recommending Nixonland. Also, Albert Goldman's Elvis bio.
posted by Rash at 9:08 AM on June 30, 2020
posted by Rash at 9:08 AM on June 30, 2020
Best answer: Helen and Teacher: the Story of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Macy.
The Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane.
Prairie Fires: the American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist.
Jim Henson: the Biography.
Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination.
Get Happy: the Life of Judy Garland.
Anne Frank: the Biography.
Anne Frank Remembered: the Story of the Woman who Helped to Hide the Frank Family.
I read this genre 80% of the time but I gotta get back to work, sorry ...
posted by Melismata at 9:31 AM on June 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
The Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane.
Prairie Fires: the American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist.
Jim Henson: the Biography.
Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination.
Get Happy: the Life of Judy Garland.
Anne Frank: the Biography.
Anne Frank Remembered: the Story of the Woman who Helped to Hide the Frank Family.
I read this genre 80% of the time but I gotta get back to work, sorry ...
posted by Melismata at 9:31 AM on June 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
Unsurprisingly controversial, Manning Marable's Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention.
James Atlas is kind of a dick, but I found his Delmore Schwartz: The LIfe of an American Poet oddly moving. (Note that it's from the era when domestic violence was considered by many men more a tacky and awkward character flaw than, you know, domestic violence.)
Hermione Lee's Edith Wharton biography is a real eye-opener, if somewhat irritatingly organized.
It's been a number of years, but Otto Friedrich's Glenn Gould biography was my favorite of the crop.
posted by praemunire at 9:31 AM on June 30, 2020
James Atlas is kind of a dick, but I found his Delmore Schwartz: The LIfe of an American Poet oddly moving. (Note that it's from the era when domestic violence was considered by many men more a tacky and awkward character flaw than, you know, domestic violence.)
Hermione Lee's Edith Wharton biography is a real eye-opener, if somewhat irritatingly organized.
It's been a number of years, but Otto Friedrich's Glenn Gould biography was my favorite of the crop.
posted by praemunire at 9:31 AM on June 30, 2020
Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Imani Perry
posted by gudrun at 9:44 AM on June 30, 2020
posted by gudrun at 9:44 AM on June 30, 2020
Best answer: Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges.
Written long before caring about Turing was fashionable, it was both the book that convinced me that being a mathematician was thing people actually did and was my introduction to queer history.
posted by hoyland at 10:17 AM on June 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
Written long before caring about Turing was fashionable, it was both the book that convinced me that being a mathematician was thing people actually did and was my introduction to queer history.
posted by hoyland at 10:17 AM on June 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
Charles Darwin: Voyaging by Janet Browne, volume one of a two-volume biography.
posted by JonJacky at 11:45 AM on June 30, 2020
posted by JonJacky at 11:45 AM on June 30, 2020
American Prometheus, by Bird is a thorough but readable biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 11:46 AM on June 30, 2020
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 11:46 AM on June 30, 2020
Best answer: I love reading definitive biographies, and would love to see your list when it's done.
I agree on the Oppenheimer bio that Homeboy Trouble refers to, but must strenuously object to the idea that the Goldman bio of Elvis is definitive, or even remotely accurate. The Elvis bio you want -- and one of the greatest bios I've ever read -- is Peter Guralnick's two-parter: Careless Love and Last Train to Memphis. Both are incredible.
Speaking of two-part bios of singing stars, Gary Giddins's A Pocketful of Dreams, which is about Bing Crosby from 1903-1940, is thoroughly engrossing. I have not yet read its long-in-the-works sequel, which covers only "the war years" (!), but can't wait to do so.
I am not sure if it's definitive, because there are several other options out there, but Jack Weatherford's Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read.
I loved Graham Farmelo's The Strangest Man, a bio of physicist Paul Dirac.
I haven't yet read it (on my short list), but I can't imagine that Hayden Herrera's bio of Isamu Noguchi, Listening to Stone, is anything but definitive.
If you determine which is the definitive bio of General William Tecumseh Sherman is the definitive one, please let me know. I've recently come to understand that this was a truly fascinating man, and have selected, from the rather long list of bios of him, Robert O'Connell's Fierce Patriot, which is currently on my nightstand.
Neal Gabler's bio of Walter Winchell is excellent and definitive.
And of course, Paul Hoffman's bio of Paul Erdos, The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, is utterly wonderful.
I'll add more when I can.
posted by Dr. Wu at 1:26 PM on June 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
I agree on the Oppenheimer bio that Homeboy Trouble refers to, but must strenuously object to the idea that the Goldman bio of Elvis is definitive, or even remotely accurate. The Elvis bio you want -- and one of the greatest bios I've ever read -- is Peter Guralnick's two-parter: Careless Love and Last Train to Memphis. Both are incredible.
Speaking of two-part bios of singing stars, Gary Giddins's A Pocketful of Dreams, which is about Bing Crosby from 1903-1940, is thoroughly engrossing. I have not yet read its long-in-the-works sequel, which covers only "the war years" (!), but can't wait to do so.
I am not sure if it's definitive, because there are several other options out there, but Jack Weatherford's Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read.
I loved Graham Farmelo's The Strangest Man, a bio of physicist Paul Dirac.
I haven't yet read it (on my short list), but I can't imagine that Hayden Herrera's bio of Isamu Noguchi, Listening to Stone, is anything but definitive.
If you determine which is the definitive bio of General William Tecumseh Sherman is the definitive one, please let me know. I've recently come to understand that this was a truly fascinating man, and have selected, from the rather long list of bios of him, Robert O'Connell's Fierce Patriot, which is currently on my nightstand.
Neal Gabler's bio of Walter Winchell is excellent and definitive.
And of course, Paul Hoffman's bio of Paul Erdos, The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, is utterly wonderful.
I'll add more when I can.
posted by Dr. Wu at 1:26 PM on June 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
Lee Server's bios of Robert Mitchum and Ava Gardner are both terrific.
posted by Gin and Broadband at 2:01 PM on June 30, 2020
posted by Gin and Broadband at 2:01 PM on June 30, 2020
Ruth Franklin’s biography of Shirley Jackson, A Rather Haunted Life, is wonderful.
posted by codhavereturned at 5:37 AM on July 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by codhavereturned at 5:37 AM on July 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Wow, thanks everyone, that's really a lot to read! I marked some answers based on personal preference, but all of the suggestions look great!
posted by kmt at 9:11 AM on July 1, 2020
posted by kmt at 9:11 AM on July 1, 2020
I'll throw my late .02 in here and say that James Kaplan's two volumes on Sinatra: "The Voice" and "The Chairman" are WONDERFUL. As a Sinatra fan, I've always wanted something to watch the Kitty Kelly taste out of my mouth.
posted by Bill Watches Movies Podcast at 9:50 AM on July 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Bill Watches Movies Podcast at 9:50 AM on July 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
I keep thinking about this thread, and remembered another definitive bio that I forgot to mention: The Duty of Genius, Ray Monk's thoughtful and utterly comprehensive critical bio of Ludwig Wittgenstein, who was a very, very strange man, indeed.
posted by Dr. Wu at 3:23 PM on July 10, 2020
posted by Dr. Wu at 3:23 PM on July 10, 2020
The Duty of Genius is the book that inspired the question. ;)
posted by kevinbelt at 3:36 PM on July 10, 2020
posted by kevinbelt at 3:36 PM on July 10, 2020
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posted by einekleine at 7:01 AM on June 30, 2020 [1 favorite]