Biography & Autobiography

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

Tell It Slant: The Visionary Architecture of Claude Parent
Claude Parent’s designs were decades ahead of their time.
Joseph GiovanniniJul 3, 2019
- Art & Architecture
- Biography & Autobiography
Chaucer’s Traces
Marion Turner's "Chaucer: A European Life" depicts the poet’s life in vivid detail, yet it tries too hard to accommodate Chaucer to our own century.
Joe StadolnikJun 26, 2019
- Biography & Autobiography
- Literary Criticism
Friends Like These: On Thoreau and Emerson
Daegan Miller reviews Jeffrey S. Cramer’s new book about the friendship of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Daegan MillerJun 24, 2019
A One-Man Archive of Baseball History
A new biography of the dean of American baseball writing.
Kevin CanfieldJun 23, 2019
Mel Brooks, Boomer’s Comedian
Mel Brooks looked for boundaries to cross and conventions to subvert, but his best work rarely came from crossing social and political boundaries.
Chris YogerstJun 12, 2019
- Biography & Autobiography
- Film
The Mind Has a Mind of Its Own: On Maria Popova’s “Figuring”
Janet Sternburg sweeps through the innovative “Figuring” by Maria Popova.
Janet SternburgMay 22, 2019
- Biography & Autobiography
- Memoir & Essay
Portrait of an Artist: On Catherine Cusset’s “Life of David Hockney: A Novel”
Geoff Nicholson looks at “Life of David Hockney: A Novel” by Catherine Cusset, translated by Teresa Lavender Fagan.
Geoff NicholsonMay 14, 2019
Philosophy for Everyone and No One: On Two Recent Books by John Kaag
John Muller discusses John Kaag’s innovation in the genre of philosophical memoir.
John F. MullerMay 7, 2019
So Then Assemble Me: On Dana Greene’s “Elizabeth Jennings: ‘The Inward War’”
A. M. Juster scans “Elizabeth Jennings: ‘The Inward War’” by Dana Greene.
A. M. JusterApr 29, 2019
- Biography & Autobiography
- Poetry
The Prophet Is Human
A towering new biography of a great American orator and public intellectual.
Mary F. CoreyApr 11, 2019
- Biography & Autobiography
First and Not Last
"First: Sandra Day O’Connor" is the happy product of a rare publishing phenomenon: the marriage of a significant subject with a mature, empathetic writer.
Jonathan ShapiroApr 1, 2019
The Awful Shapelessness of Loss: On Katharine Smyth’s “All the Lives We Ever Lived: Seeking Solace in Virginia Woolf”
Morten Høi Jensen lingers over “All the Lives We Ever Lived: Seeking Solace in Virginia Woolf” by Katharine Smyth.
Morten Høi JensenMar 27, 2019
- Biography & Autobiography
- Memoir & Essay