Best Biographies

Every year, we ask the chair of the National Book Critics Circle biography committee to talk us through their shortlist of the best new books in the genre. Here, Iris Jamahl Dunkle—the award-winning biographer, poet and critic—introduces us to the winning title, a deeply-researched profile of a special education pioneer, as well as the four runners-up.

Biography can be a tricky category to keep track of—being so varied in subject matter—so we asked our deputy editor Cal Flyn to put together an overview of the new biographies that won major British or American literary prizes in 2025: from a dual biography of rival Enlightenment scientists to a "compassionate" portrayal of a troubled trans icon.

The Pulitzer Prize for Biography is awarded annually to "a distinguished and appropriately documented" biography by an author from or based in the United States. The authors of winning books receive $15,000, and join a starry pantheon of great American writers. Here, we've put together a summary of all the Pulitzer-winning biographies since the turn of the millennium.

Biographers create character studies of fascinating people, through which we might insight into the historical context and the systems these individuals functioned within. Here, journalist and attorney William Cooper recommends five U.S. political biographies and memoirs that allow readers special access to the rooms where American decision-making takes place.

From the Baroque painter who killed a man in Rome during the Counter-Reformation to the surrealist artist who left Britain and died in Mexico City in 2011, award-winning biographer Sue Prideaux talks to us about her favorite biographies of artists. Her new biography of Paul Gauguin, Wild Thing, is out this week and has been longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize.

Biographies of musicians are a good way to learn more about music without getting too technical, argues musicologist and composer Andrew Ford, author of the brilliant Shortest History of Music. He chooses five of his favorite music biographies, books that set "a life in the context of the times and a musical life in the context of the music."

The first half of the 20th century was an era when individuals could have a huge impact on the course of history—whether for good or bad, argues political scientist Michael Mandelbaum. He recommends the best biographies to read about the eight world leaders who feature in his latest book, The Titans of the Twentieth Century, from Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) to Mao Zedong (1893-1976).

A good historical biography should help us redefine and rethink what makes a person historically significant, says Roy Foster, chair of the judging panel of the Elizabeth Longford Prize. He talks us through the brilliant books that made the 2025 shortlist, including the lives of various monarchs who left their mark on European history, a portrait of an early modern spymaster, and a biography of Frantz Fanon, the anti-colonial writer.  

The interplay of real life and the generation or dissemination of ideas serves as the fascinating focus of the intellectual biography. Here, Henry Oliver—author of Second Act, a compelling new book about late-blooming intellectuals, artists, and thinkers—selects five of the best intellectual biographies, including studies of the lives of the novelist George Eliot and the philosopher Derek Parfit.

The art of biography has been a work in progress down the millennia. These days, leaders are no longer celebrated for the number of enemies killed in war, nor are we as impressed with territorial conquests. Here's a roundup of all the biographies recommended on Five Books about ancient Greeks and Romans, from contemporary accounts to more recent works.