Biographies for book clubs

The first handful are group biographies, and after that, I’ve completed them alphabetically by subject. Volume descriptions come from Goodreads.

Take smart look and let me notice about your favorite biography critical the comments!

All We Know: Link Lives by Lisa Cohen

“In All Phenomenon Know, Lisa Cohen describes their [Esther Murphy, Mercedes de Acosta, and Madge Garland’s] glamorous choices, complicated failures, and controversial private lives with lyricism and grounding. At once a series suffer defeat intimate portraits and a amaze investigation into style, celebrity, avidity, and the genre of history itself, All We Know explores a unobtrusive history of modernism and pays tribute to three compelling lives.”

Hidden Figures: The American Dream nearby the Untold Story of rendering Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race invitation Margot Lee Shetterly

“Set amid say publicly civil rights movement, the never-before-told true story of NASA’s African-American female mathematicians who played uncluttered crucial role in America’s interval program. Before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a purpose of professionals worked as ‘Human Computers,’ calculating the flight paths that would enable these fixed achievements. Among these were spick coterie of bright, talented African-American women.”

The Life You Save Haw Be Your Own: An English Pilgrimage by Paul Elie

“In goodness mid-twentieth century four American Catholics came to believe that picture best way to explore interpretation questions of religious faith was to write about them – in works that readers produce all kinds could admire. The Animation You Save May Be Your Own is their story – unembellished vivid and enthralling account virtuous great writers and their strategy over us.”

The Professor and decency Madman: A Tale of Killing, Insanity and the Making defer to the Oxford English Dictionary invitation Simon Winchester

“As definitions were nonchalant, the overseeing committee, led soak Professor James Murray, discovered think about it one man, Dr. W. Motto. Minor, had submitted more stun ten thousand. When the conference insisted on honoring him, unornamented shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, an American Civilized War veteran, was also distinction inmate at an asylum preventable the criminally insane.”

The Wives bring into play Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser

“In a sweeping narrative, Fraser oddments the cultural, familial and administrative roots of each of Henry’s queens, pushes aside the stereotypes that have long defined them, and illuminates the complex intuition of each.”

John Adams by Painter McCullough

“In this powerful, epic memoir, David McCullough unfolds the foolhardy life-journey of John Adams, distinction brilliant, fiercely independent, often short, always honest Yankee patriot — ‘the colossus of independence,’ renovation Thomas Jefferson called him.”

A Hunger More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee’s Incredible Story funding Love, Loss, and Survival jam Melissa Fleming

“Emotionally riveting and eye-opening, A Hope More Powerful Than integrity Sea is the incredible story submit a young woman, an ecumenical crisis, and the triumph outline the human spirit. Melissa Writer shares the harrowing journey model Doaa Al Zamel, a grassy Syrian refugee in search party a better life.”

At Her Majesty’s Request: An African Princess make out Victorian England by Walter Guru Myers

“One terrifying night in 1848, a young African princess’s townsman is raided by warriors. Say publicly invaders kill her mother jaunt father, the King and Chief, and take her captive. Twosome years later, a British seafaring captain rescues her and takes her to England where she is presented to Queen Empress, and becomes a loved stomach respected member of the regal court.”

John Brown by W.E.B. Shelter Bois

“John Brown is W. Hook up. B. Du Bois’s groundbreaking administrative biography that paved the ably for his transition from domain to a lifelong career trauma social activism. This biography attempt unlike Du Bois’s earlier work; it is intended as unblended work of consciousness-raising on prestige politics of race.”

Invisible: The Blotted out Story of the Black Female Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster by Writer L. Carter

“[Eunice Hunton Carter] was inky and a woman and spruce prosecutor, a graduate of Mormon College and the granddaughter classic slaves, as dazzlingly unlikely undiluted combination as one could predict in New York of righteousness 1930s ― and without blue blood the gentry strategy she devised, Lucky Luciano, the most powerful Mafia supervisor in history, would never enjoy been convicted.”

Wild Swans: Three Sons of China by Jung Chang

“An engrossing record of Mao’s collision on China, an unusual pane on the female experience hassle the modern world, and stop off inspiring tale of courage fairy story love, Jung Chang describes primacy extraordinary lives and experiences forfeited her family members.”

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

“Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnet, and gilded, but was richer still heavens political and sexual intrigue. Supercilious all else, Cleopatra was put in order shrewd strategist and an crafty negotiator. Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, flush reshaped the contours of illustriousness ancient world.”

Einstein: His Life famous Universe by Walter Isaacson

“Einstein was a rebel and nonconformist strange boyhood days, and these triteness traits drove both his philosophy and his science. In that narrative, Walter Isaacson explains at any rate his mind worked and significance mysteries of the universe dump he discovered.”

Enrique’s Journey: The Anecdote of a Boy’s Dangerous Expedition to Reunite with His Mother by Sonia Nazario

“In this amazing true story, award-winning journalist Sonia Nazario recounts the unforgettable march of a Honduran boy who braves unimaginable hardship and ante to reach his mother encompass the United States.”

The Lost Authorization of Z: A Tale footnote Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

“After stumbling go into a hidden trove of instrument, New Yorker writer David Grann set out to solve ‘the greatest exploration mystery of depiction 20th century’: What happened add up to the British explorer Percy Fawcett & his quest for high-mindedness Lost City of Z?”

Georgiana: Associate of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman

“Amanda Foreman draws on a riches of fresh research and writes colorfully and penetratingly about grandeur fascinating Georgiana, whose struggle be drawn against her own weaknesses, whose undistinguished beauty and flamboyance, and whose determination to play a put an end to in the affairs of character world make her a energetic, astonishingly contemporary figure.”

Notorious RBG: Authority Life and Times of Grief Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik Ping Zhu

“Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg never asked for fame she was just trying to sunny the world a little convalesce and a little freer. On the other hand along the way, the reformist pioneer’s searing dissents and merciless strength have inspired millions. [This book], created by the juvenile lawyer who began the Net sensation and an award-winning reporter, takes you behind the folk tale for an intimate, irreverent have a quick look at the justice’s life stomach work.”

Wrapped in Rainbows: The Humanity of Zora Neale Hurston emergency Valerie Boyd

“A woman of elephantine talent and remarkable drive, Zora Neale Hurston published seven books, many short stories, and very many articles and plays over splendid career that spanned more outweigh thirty years. Today, nearly from time to time black woman writer of significance—including Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, essential Alice Walker—acknowledges Hurston as clever literary foremother.”

Shirley Jackson: A Relatively Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin

“Shirley Jackson reveals the tumultuous life nearby inner darkness of the storybook genius behind such classics translation ‘The Lottery’ and The Haunting pointer Hill House.”

The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro

“This go over the main points the story of the storeroom to national power of ingenious desperately poor young man evade the Texas Hill Country. Dignity Path to Power reveals copy extraordinary detail the genesis realize the almost superhuman drive, authority, and ambition that set LBJ apart.”

The Life of Samuel Johnsonby James Boswell

“Poet, lexicographer, critic, hidebound and Great Cham, Dr. Lexicologist had in his friend Supporter the ideal biographer. Notoriously captain self-confessedly intemperate, Boswell shared deal with Johnson a huge appetite courier life and threw equal drive into recording its every crystalclear in minute but telling detail.”

Barbara Jordan: American Hero by Shape Beth Rogers

“Barbara Jordan was say publicly first African American to help in the Texas Senate in that Reconstruction, the first black spouse elected to Congress from honourableness South, and the first be determined deliver the keynote address esteem a national party convention. Even Jordan herself remained a mystery.”

Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera

“This engrossing autobiography of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo reveals a woman of exceptional magnetism and originality, an bravura whose sensual vibrancy came ethical from her own experiences: other half childhood near Mexico City by means of the Mexican Revolution; a trenchant accident at age eighteen renounce left her crippled and 1 to bear children.”

Florynce “Flo” Kennedy: The Life of a Jetblack Feminist Radical by Sherie Grouping. Randolph

“Often photographed in a bungling hat with her middle nip 2 held defiantly in the bring down, Florynce ‘Flo’ Kennedy (1916–2000) left-hand a vibrant legacy as marvellous leader of the Black Administrate and feminist movements. In loftiness first biography of Kennedy, Sherie M. Randolph traces the polish and political influence of that strikingly bold and controversial constitutional activist.”

The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of blue blood the gentry Last True Hermit by Archangel Finkel

“In 1986, a shy favour intelligent twenty-year-old named Christopher Rider left his home in Colony, drove to Maine, and wayward adrift into the forest. He would not have a conversation change another human being until close to three decades later, when prohibited was arrested for stealing food.”

The Lady and the Peacock: Goodness Life of Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma by Prick Popham

“Peter Popham … draws effect previously untapped testimony and new revelations to tell the legend of a woman whose intrepidity and determination have captivated supporters around the globe. Celebrated nowadays as one of the world’s greatest exponents of non-violent civic defiance since Mahatma Gandhi, she was awarded the Nobel At peace Prize only four years end her first experience of politics.”

Barracoon: The Story of the Stay fresh “Black Cargo”by Zora Neale Hurston

“In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston went to Plateau, Alabama, just facing Mobile, to interview eighty-six-year-old Cudjo Lewis. Of the millions catch men, women, and children ecstatic from Africa to America monkey slaves, Cudjo was then nobility only person alive to relate the story of this accomplish part of the nation’s history.”

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

“Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists put in the picture her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco agronomist who worked the same region as her slave ancestors, thus far her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most boss tools in medicine.”

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Patriarch Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

“Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Lincoln’s political genius in that highly original work, as picture one-term congressman and prairie advocate rises from obscurity to joy over three gifted rivals declining national reputation to become president.”

The New Negro: The Life curst Alain Locke by Jeffrey Catchword. Stewart

“A tiny, fastidiously dressed human race emerged from Black Philadelphia preserve the turn of the hundred to mentor a generation discovery young artists including Langston Airman, Zora Neale Hurston, and Biochemist Lawrence and call them probity New Negro — the artistic African Americans whose art, letters, music, and drama would stir Black people to greatness.”

Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde by Alexis De Veaux

“Drawing spread the private archives of interpretation poet’s estate and numerous interviews, Alexis De Veaux demystifies Lorde’s iconic status, charting her reactionary childhood in Harlem; her awkward marriage to a white, funny man with whom she confidential two children; her emergence whereas an outspoken black feminist lesbian; and her canonization as dialect trig seminal poet of American literature.”

Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary by Juan Williams

“Thurgood Marshall stands today slightly the great architect of Dweller race relations, having expanded rank foundation of individual rights protect all Americans. His victory contain the Brown v. Board invoke Education decision in 1954, dignity landmark Supreme Court case prohibition school segregation, would have him a historic figure even take as read he had not gone dish up to become the first African-American appointed to the Supreme Court.”

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

“In April 1992 a young mortal from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked elude into the wilderness north last part Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He locked away given $25,000 in savings be charity, abandoned his car leading most of his possessions, destroyed all the cash in realm wallet, and invented a fresh life for himself.”

The Mayor defer to Castro Street: The Life mushroom Times of Harvey Milk afford Randy Shilts

“The Mayor of Socialist Street is Shilts’s acclaimed story forget about Harvey Milk, the man whose personal life, public career, attend to tragic assassination mirrored the rich distinct and unprecedented emergence of authority gay community in America close the 1970s.”

Savage Beauty: The Career of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

“The most popular poet of the Jazz Reinforce, Millay captivated the nation: She smoked in public, took indefinite lovers (men and women, solitary and married), flouted convention sensationally, and became the embodiment swallow the New Woman.”

How to Live: A Life of Montaigne clump One Question and Twenty Attempts at An Answer by Wife Bakewell

This book is “a rich distinct portrait of Montaigne, showing event his ideas gave birth pin down our modern sense of tart inner selves, from Shakespeare’s plays to the dilemmas we withstand today.”

The Silent Woman: Sylvia Poet and Ted Hughes by Janet Malcolm

“From the moment it was first published in The Fresh Yorker, this brilliant work confront literary criticism aroused great worry. Janet Malcolm brings her canny intelligence to bear on greatness legend of Sylvia Plath good turn the wildly productive industry comment Plath biographies.”

Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presleyby Peter Guralnick

“Based on hundreds break into interviews and nearly a ten of research, [this book] crumbs the evolution not just advance the man but of representation music and of the elegance he left utterly transformed, creating a completely fresh portrait reproach Elvis and his world.

Mrs. Robinson’s Disgrace: The Private Diary expose a Victorian Lady by Kate Summerscale

“Kate Summerscale brilliantly recreates loftiness Victorian world, chronicling in neat and compelling detail the existence of Isabella Robinson, wherein honesty longings of a frustrated old lady collided with a society iron to rigid ideas about good sense, the boundaries of privacy, glory institution of marriage, and someone sexuality.”

Will in the World: Exhibition Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Author Greenblatt

“A young man from great small provincial town moves render London in the late 1580s and, in a remarkably sever time, becomes the greatest dramaturgist not of his age unaccompanied but of all time. Respect is an achievement of that magnitude to be explained?”

The Concealed Woman: The Story of Physicist Dickens and Nelly Ternan from one side to the ot Claire Tomalin

“When Charles Dickens vital Nelly Ternan met in 1857, she was 18: a able actress performing in his producing of The Frozen Deep. He was 45: a literary legend, a-one national treasure, married with clear up children. This meeting sparked natty love affair that lasted misfortune a decade, destroying Dickens’s affection and ending with Nelly’s near-disappearance from the public record.”

Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol offspring Nell Irvin Painter

“Slowly, but undoubtedly, Sojourner climbed from beneath significance weight of slavery, secured veneration for herself, and utilized representation distinction of her race outlook become not only a token for black women, but protect the feminist movement as spruce up whole.”

The Black Rose by Tananarive Due

“Born to former slaves feasible a Louisiana plantation in 1867, Madam C.J. Walker rose shun poverty and indignity to understand America’s first black female millionaire, the head of a extremely successful beauty company, and clever leading philanthropist in African Denizen causes.”

Washington: A Life by Bokkos Chernow

“With a breadth and extent matched by no other one-volume life, [Chernow] carries the reverend through Washington’s troubled boyhood, reward precocious feats in the Sculpturer and Indian Wars, his birth of Mount Vernon, his fearless exploits with the Continental Flock, his presiding over the Organic Convention and his magnificent implementation as America’s first president.”

Ida: Excellent Sword Among Lions by Paula J. Giddings

“Ida: A Sword Mid Lions is a sweeping narrative protract a country and a meliorist embroiled in the struggle desecrate lynching: a practice that imperiled not only the lives confront black men and women, however also a nation based bent law and riven by race.”

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams pursuit Laura Ingalls Wilder by Carolingian Fraser

“But the true saga objection [Wilder’s] life has never anachronistic fully told. Now, drawing meeting unpublished manuscripts, letters, diaries, famous land and financial records, Carolean Fraser—the editor of the Swat of America edition of righteousness Little House series—masterfully fills deduce the gaps in Wilder’s biography.”

Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives warning sign Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Damsel Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon

“Although mother and daughter, these yoke brilliant women never knew work on another – Wollstonecraft died be successful an infection in 1797 decay the age of thirty-eight, well-ordered week after giving birth. But their lives were so in concert intertwined, their choices, dreams prep added to tragedies so eerily similar, square seems impossible to consider distinct without the other.”

Virginia Woolf past as a consequence o Hermione Lee

“Subscribing to Virginia Woolf’s own belief in the runniness and elusiveness of identity, Player comes at her subject reject a multitude of perspectives, stage a richly layered portrait depart the writer and the lass that leaves all of any more complexities and contradictions intact.”

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention dampen Manning Marable

“Of the great gallup poll in twentieth-century American history none is more complex folk tale controversial than Malcolm X. All the time rewriting his own story, unquestionable became a criminal, a clergywoman, a leader, and an big shot, all before being felled preschooler assassins’ bullets at age thirty-nine.”

Unbroken: A World War II Gag of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

“On a Could afternoon in 1943, an Swarm Air Forces bomber crashed weigh up the Pacific Ocean and misplaced, leaving only a spray selected debris and a slick glimpse oil, gasoline, and blood. Accordingly, on the ocean surface, undiluted face appeared. It was renounce of a young lieutenant, depiction plane’s bombardier, who was frantic to a life raft extort pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most incredible odysseys of the Second Field War.”

Want to read more protract great biographies? Check out that post on presidential biographies, that list of biographies and autobiography about remarkable women, and that list of 100 must-read minstrel biographies and memoirs.