biography

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  

  If the Author Is a Bad Person, Does That Change Anything?

  by Judith Shulevitz

  "Roth had baggage in all domains of life, and Bailey, an eager bellhop, carries the whole load for him—the unhappy marriages and contentious divorces and relationships and affairs and everything else as well."

• 
• 4/25/2021
  

  "The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III" by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser

  by James Thornton Harris

  Peter Baker and Susan Glasser's biography of the influential Republican political dealmaker at the heart of the Reagan-Bush era offers a compelling account of James A. Baker's career, but shows him to have been more motivated by power than by a vision of its uses. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  3/30/2021
  

  Philip Roth Was His Own Favorite Subject. What’s Left for a Biographer?

  Blake Bailey's new biography of the novelist Philip Roth represented a challenge not least because of Roth's notorious resistance to getting the biographical treatment, but also because of the weakness of the literary biographical tradition in American letters. 

• 
• 4/4/2021
  

  Pamela, Randolph and Winston: The Wartime Discord of the Churchills

  by Josh Ireland

  The recent Royal Family drama had nothing on the relationship of Winston Churchill and his son Randolph, which was thrown into tumult by the younger Churchill's marital problems at the onset of World War II. 

• 
• SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
  2/15/2021
  

  ‘George Washington’ Review: Our Founding Politician

  David Stewart's new book on George Washington highlights his political skills and careful work at cultivating allies. Far from being an apolitical leader, Washington was a skilled operator whose greatest achievement was avoiding the stigma of politics. 

• 
• 2/21/2021
  

  Neal Gabler's "Catching the Wind: Edward Kennedy and the Liberal Hour"

  by James Thornton Harris

  Neal Gabler's first volume of a biography of Ted Kennedy praises the long-serving senator as the driving force of a hugely consequential period of liberal legislative success. Those looking for gossip or consideration of his personal failures may be disappointed.

• 
• SOURCE: Civil War Memory
  1/3/2021
  

  Do We Really Need Another Biography of Robert E. Lee?

  by Kevin M. Levin

  Recent discussion of the forthcoming biography of Robert E. Lee by Allen Guelzo shouldn't foreclose the possibility that the book will offer insight because many historians object to Guelzo's participation in Donald Trump's conference on teaching history. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  10/27/2020
  

  Shifting the Focus From Sylvia Plath’s Tragic Death to Her Brilliant Life

  Heather Clark's new biography of the poet returns focus to her life and work rather than her afterlife.

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  10/15/2020
  

  Beyond the Myth of Malcolm X (review essay)

  A new biography of Malcolm X sets his political thought in the context of the midcentury Black communities where he lived and how his Black contemporaries saw him. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/8/2020
  

  ‘JFK,’ by Fredrik Logevall: An Excerpt

  Read an excerpt from Fredrik Logevall's new biography of John F. Kennedy touching on the collegiate Kennedy's observations of Europe as World War II began.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/8/2020
  

  Groomed to Be President: David Kennedy Reviews Fredrik Logevall's JFK Bio

  Fredrik Logevall's new book, the first of two volumes on the life of JFK, pushes back against perceptions of the young Kennedy as an accidental politician or intellectual lightweight, and describes the way world events shaped his worldview.

• 
• SOURCE: LA Times
  8/18/2020
  

  Review: The New John Lewis Biography is a Stirring Tribute that Still Sells Him Short

  Readers who know little about Lewis will find an often moving story, but it will prove unsatisfying to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the movement.

• 
• 5/10/2020
  

  Spiritualism and Suspension Bridges: John Roebling and a Biographer's Sympathy for the Weird 19th Century

  by Richard Haw

  A biographer of Brooklyn Bridge designer John Roebling expected to write about a genius. He also ended up writing about a complete weirdo, and how one man could be both.

• 
• SOURCE: Los Angeles Review of Books
  4/26/2020
  

  The (Yelling) Mothers of Us All

  by Rachel Shteir

  A review of Leandra Zarnow's biography of Bella Abzug, "Battling Bella: The Protest Politics of Bella Abzug."

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  2/16/20
  

  George Washington gets romanticized by male biographers. Now a woman has taken him on.

  Alexis Coe argues in “You Never Forget Your First” that the male gaze has distorted our impressions of the first president.

• 
• 2/9/20
  

  Frank Ramsey: A Genius By All Tests for Genius

  by Cheryl Misak

  Unlike his friends Russell and Wittgenstein who focused on the vastness and the unknowability of the world, Ramsey believed it was more important to concentrate on what is admirable and conducive to living a good life. 

• 
• SOURCE: Smithsonian Mag
  2/4/20
  

  Karin Wulf Interviews Alexis Coe About Her Cheeky New George Washington Biography

  by Karin Wulf

  Alexis Coe’s cheeky biography of the first president pulls no punches

• 
• 2/2/20
  

  What Did Hitler Think About Anglo-American Capitalism?

  by James Thornton Harris

  A review of Brendan Simms' controversial new book, Hitler: A Global Biography.  

• 
• 2/2/20
  

  Celia Sánchez Manduley: The Most Famous Woman You Have Never Heard Of

  by Tiffany A. Sippial

  The work to preserve and study the history of the Cuban Revolution and its contributors—like Celia Sánchez Manduley—is arduous but important. 

• 
• 1/26/20
  

  How Neville Chamberlin Misread Hitler and Allowed the Third Reich to Threaten the World Order

  by Jeff Roquen

  In the new and magisterial study Appeasement: Chamberlain, Hitler, Churchill and the Road to War, Tim Bouverie incisively reconstructs the ideological landscape of post-WWI Britain to explain how Chamberlain and other politicians and pundits misread Hitler and ultimately allowed the Third Reich to threaten the entire world order.