Biography & Autobiography

"I don't think anyone should write their autobiography until after they're dead." — Samuel Goldwyn

A Cohort of One’s Own
Frances Lazare considers the friendships and fights of "The Equivalents" by Maggie Doherty and "No Modernism Without Lesbians" by Diana Souhami.
Frances LazareOct 9, 2020
Between Irritation and Oyster: On Bob Blaisdell’s “Creating Anna Karenina”
Janet Fitch is enlightened by Bob Blaisdell’s biographical study of Tolstoy, “Creating Anna Karenina.”
Oct 4, 2020
- Biography & Autobiography
- Literary Criticism
Koba: An Excerpt from Ronald Grigor Suny’s “Stalin: Passage to Revolution”
LARB presents an excerpt from “Stalin: Passage to Revolution” by Ronald Grigor Suny.
Ronald Grigor SunySep 28, 2020
“Here Lies Herm — I Mean, Joe”: On Sydney Ladensohn Stern’s “The Brothers Mankiewicz”
Alex Harvey delves into “The Brothers Mankiewicz” by Sydney Ladensohn Stern.
Alex HarveySep 27, 2020
- Biography & Autobiography
- Film
Sound Territory: The Genius of Ornette Coleman
Kathelin Gray reviews Maria Golia’s biography of composer and musician Ornette Coleman.
Kathelin GraySep 24, 2020
- Biography & Autobiography
- Music
Marvelous Belief
Cass R. Sunstein looks at Liel Leibovitz’s recently published biography of Stan Lee.
Cass R. SunsteinSep 21, 2020
- Biography & Autobiography
- Comics
“Unchangeably Appealing”: On Anatoly Liberman’s “Evgeny Boratynsky and the Russian Golden Age”
Sibelan Forrester reviews “Evgeny Boratynsky and the Russian Golden Age,” translated and annotated by Anatoly Liberman.
Sibelan ForresterSep 20, 2020
More Than “Tra-La-La”: On Vernon Duke, Igor Stravinsky, and Russian Musical Émigrés
Harlow Robinson turns his ear to “Taking a Chance on Love” by George Harwood Phillips and “In Stravinsky’s Orbit” by Klára Móricz.
Harlow RobinsonSep 15, 2020
Something That Would Be Remembered: On Two Women Noir Trailblazers
Kathleen Jones on two recent biographies of midcentury women of noir: producer Joan Harrison and actress Veronica Lake.
Kathleen B. JonesSep 14, 2020
Monstre Sacré: The Life and Times of Franklin E. Kameny
Michael Nava reviews “The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America,” Eric Cervini’s exhaustive new history.
Michael NavaAug 31, 2020
A Progenitor of Second-Wave Feminism: On Selina Todd’s “Tastes of Honey”
Simon Lee reviews Selina Todd’s biography on British playwright Shelagh Delaney.
Simon LeeAug 21, 2020
Wyatt Earp Does Not Rest in Peace
A pair of new books about US Marshal Wyatt Earp are now out. Only one of them shoots straight.
Allen BarraAug 19, 2020
- Biography & Autobiography
- History