The Missionary Position
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Biography Book Club
The best books about your favorite celebrities, historical figures, and notorious faces
The Chris Farley Show
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by Tom Farley
Chris Farley is my idol, but he is also my greatest fear. I'm a chubby comic, child of alcoholics from Wisconsin and I really want people to like me. Is that enough to spend a life spiraling into and out of addiction and eventually die from an accidental overdose saying your last words to a sex worker-- “don't leave me--” who then promptly leaves you? Read more about The Chris Farley Show
Eminem: The Way I Am
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Yes, I know. Eminem's The Way I Am is officially autobiography more than biography. But my guess is that it is enough ghost written to qualify, despite the fact that it presented in first person. Read more about Eminem: The Way I Am
A Great Source for Free Biographies
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Project Gutenberg for Free eBooks
I read a lot, generally finishing a book every couple of days, except when I am really busy. As a result, I am always on the lookout for free and cheap sources of books.
My ebook reader has become my best friend, partly because I've discovered how many classics and older books I can get for free (as well as the occasional free book for a publisher's promotion). Project Gutenberg is one of my best resources for free ebooks, and as I've discovered, there are many older biographies available on the website. Read more about A Great Source for Free Biographies
Whose Biography Still Needs to be Written?
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There are many biographies and autobiographies to choose from, but there are also a lot of interesting people, both historical and contemporary, who have been overlooked by the publishing industry.
One that I think of readily is Anne Bronte. Most people who know much about literature know about the Bronte sisters, but how many people know that there were three of them, and that all three were writers? Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights are the best known of the sisters' books, but their youngest sister, Anne, also wrote two books of her own: Agnes Grey, a short novel about a governess (based on Anne's own experiences), and her masterpiece, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, about a woman who defies Victorian society by taking custody of her young son and leaving her alcoholic, unfaithful husband. Read more about Whose Biography Still Needs to be Written?
It's Not All About Dead White Men
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Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts
When I read Founding Mothers, it was a life-changing book for me. While it wasn't just about one woman, but many, it challenged many preconceptions that I think we as Americans have: that men alone shaped the formation of our country. Founding Mothers is fascinating because it looks at how women, often the wives of our Founding Fathers, impacted the United States from the very beginning.
For instance, the book discussed in great detail Martha Washington's involvement during the war and afterward. It was her money, essentially, that financed many of the great things George did in the name of American independence. She was also a significant presence on the front during the Revolutionary War, and she and the other wives helped to keep spirits when things looked very, very bad.
Read more about It's Not All About Dead White MenBiography vs. Biographical Fiction
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The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
Those of us who enjoy biographies should also remember that sometimes you can get nearly as much out of a well-researched biographical novel. Although some liberties have often been taken, certain authors are known for sticking as close to historical fact as possible. Philippa Gregory is one of the top biographical novelists I can think of -- many of her novels are based on real historical figures, and anyone reading these books can tell how much work she put into researching the people and the historical period. Read more about Biography vs. Biographical Fiction
A Great Deal on a Landmark Autobiography
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Autobiography of Mark Twain
Yesterday the Nook Daily Find on BN.com was Mark Twain's Autobiography, the first volume of a work with completely new material. The book was published in 2010, a hundred years after Twain's death, as he'd instructed -- he didn't want to be around when it was published. I've had my eye on this one since it came out, but the ebook was expensive at first $12 or so, I seem to remember. The Nook Daily Find price was $6.99, so I snatched it up. (If you want to follow in my footsteps, don't wait -- most likely the price will go back up soon!) Read more about A Great Deal on a Landmark Autobiography
Founding Sisters
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Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott
Erik Larson's Devil in the White City got me interested in the kind of history book that read more like a novel than dry nonfiction. Shortly after I finished that book, I picked up Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott, a similar style book about prostitution in Chicago -- and the sisters who ran the famous Everleigh Club. Although this book is a novel-like history book similar to Larson's books, it is also a biography of two women who essentially reinvented themselves -- and invented the concept of high-class prostitution that the Everleigh Club became famous for. Read more about Founding Sisters
It Takes a Village
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The Killing of Crazy Horse by Thomas Powers
You've probably heard the saying that it takes a village to raise a child. In The Killing of Crazy Horse, Thomas Powers shows how it takes one to kill one, too.
Not that Crazy Horse was a child, or everyone involved in his death was in his village, but what I mean is this: Powers shows how intricate the events were that led to Crazy Horse's death, and how many people were involved -- directly and indirectly -- in bringing it to bear.
It's an intricate biography, one that follows many different people's actions and movements throughout the years, not just Crazy Horse's but also those of the main players who were there or involved when he was killed. Every time Powers introduces someone else, he inevitably jumps back to their history and how they became involved in the Indian Wars and Crazy Horse. This makes for a lot of jumping around, and a very convoluted (not necessarily linear) story, but eventually you see why: Powers is trying to establish the character of each man involved, to better demonstrate how each one fits into the puzzle.
Finally the book gets around to giving a thorough description of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and by the time you get there you feel like you've been waiting for it like a child waiting for Christmas. The rest of the book, the events leading up to Crazy Horse's death, are very drawn-out, too -- it's tough knowing what's coming, and seeing all the missed opportunities to change it.
I've always been fascinated with Crazy Horse's story, but Powers brings it to life like nothing I'd ever read before. What he's done differently is to paint a picture of not just Crazy Horse himself, but also of all the movers and shakers who surround him -- American military leaders and scouts, as well as some of his own people. The Killing of Crazy Horse is an amazing book, and though it's a lengthy one, it's also one you won't regret reading.
Read more about It Takes a Village