“The unexamined life is not worth living,” Socrates insisted, according to his disciple Plato. Biographers extend this idea by examining the lives of extraordinary men and women. Among the finest ...

Jonathan Eig's "King: A Life," a biography of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., was recognized as one of the best books of 2023. Biographies offer a chance to explore the decision-making and ...

When an author dies, their legacy can be left entirely in the hands of their estate. When it comes to biographers seeking permission to quote from work and from personal letters, executors have to do ...

Maybe it's time to pick up a book. Or, rather, a different kind of book. But no matter how much you read, or how long it's been since you had a favorite writer, you can always find something ...

In Nicholas Boggs’ lively and vigorously researched biography of James Baldwin, the great writer’s search for the source of his art dovetails with his lifelong search for meaningful relationships.

A new biography of Charles W. Chesnutt, by Tess Chakkalakal, explains the friendships and tensions he had with his white literary contemporaries. By Kerri K. Greenidge Kerri K. Greenidge is a ...

I approached Randall Stross’s admirably concise biography of Thomas Alva Edison (1847–1931), The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World, with great expectations. Edison ...