Biography & Autobiography

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

An Experimental Biography: John Schad’s “Paris Bride: A Modernist Life”
Is John Schad’s family archive as fictitious as, say, Clarissa Dalloway? And does it matter?
Gerri KimberAug 15, 2020
- Biography & Autobiography
- Literary Criticism
Joe McCarthy Comes Alive
A new, generous biography of America’s midcentury human disaster.
Christopher M. EliasAug 2, 2020
- Biography & Autobiography
- Politics
On Dennis Cooper and Becoming-Nothing
Jonathan Alexander reviews "Wrong," the new biography of Dennis Cooper by Diarmuid Hester.
Jonathan AlexanderJul 29, 2020
A Means to an End: On Mary Oppen’s “Meaning a Life: An Autobiography”
Dan Friedman finds meaning in “Meaning a Life,” the autobiography of Mary Oppen.
Dan FriedmanJun 24, 2020
- Biography & Autobiography
- Poetry
Forgotten Movie Royalty
A new biography of early cinema’s first family, the Costellos.
Chris YogerstJun 12, 2020
The News They Wanted Not to Hear: On Robert Stone
Three new books offer an embarrassment of riches for fans of Robert Stone.
Rob LathamJun 2, 2020
Dave Brubeck Unsquared: On Philip Clark’s New Biography
Dave Mandl takes five with “Dave Brubeck: A Life in Time” by Philip Clark.
Dave MandlMay 10, 2020
- Biography & Autobiography
- Music
“Unless We Make Some Place”: On Andy Croft’s “The Years of Anger: The Life of Randall Swingler”
Robert Chandler delves into “The Years of Anger,” a biography of the unjustly neglected British poet Randall Swingler, by Andy Croft.
Robert ChandlerMay 8, 2020
- Around the World
- Biography & Autobiography
The (Yelling) Mothers of Us All
A new biography of a leading light — and loud voice — of second-wave feminism.
Rachel ShteirApr 26, 2020
Julian Barnes’s Anti-Brexit Belle Époque
A novel about a 19th-century French gynecologist tells us about life in the Brexit era.
Martin GelinApr 23, 2020
When Einstein Was Just Another Physicist
Audra Wolfe shows how the banality of Einstein’s time in Prague is precisely the point of Michael Gordin’s new book, “Einstein in Bohemia.”
Audra J. WolfeMar 23, 2020
Land of Poets and Bones: Spain’s Desmemoria
The saga of an artistic family in Franco’s Spain raises questions about reconciliation.
Jordan ElgrablyMar 22, 2020