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Literary Nonfiction » Biography » New Biography

Browse book recommendations:

Biography

  • Artists' Biographies
  • Historical Biographies
  • New Biography

Literary Nonfiction

  • Biography
  • Essays
  • Memoir
  • Travel
  • True Crime
Warhol by Blake Gopnik
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Warhol

by Blake Gopnik

"One of the major points in my book is that he’s not at all the kind of holy fool or idiot savant that he still stands as in the popular imagination...He was a deeply sophisticated thinker about art, as much so as other high calibre thinkers like Donald Judd or Pablo Picasso." —Blake Gopnik

Our interview with Blake Gopnik on the Best Andy Warhol Books was published on March 5th, 2020

Read expert recommendations

A Woman Like Her: The Short Life of Qandeel Baloch by Sanam Maher
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A Woman Like Her: The Short Life of Qandeel Baloch

by Sanam Maher

A new book from the Karachi-based journalist Sanam Maher investigates the life and violent death of Qandeel Baloch, Pakistan's first social media star—and unlikely feminist icon. Maher draws from interviews and on-the-ground reporting in rural Pakistan, as she examines the carefully curated image Baloch chose to present to the world, and what the polarised response tells us about Pakistani society. The book has attracted praise from Fatima Bhutto, Olivia Sudjic and Molly Crabapple, among others.

We spoke to Sanam Maher, the author A Woman Like Her: The Short Life of Qandeel Baloch, to find out more.

Read expert recommendations

Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Volume Three: Herself Alone by Charles Moore
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Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Volume Three: Herself Alone

by Charles Moore

The final volume (of three) of Charles Moore's magisterial biography of the UK's first female prime minister. It features as one of the books included in our interview with Simon Heffer, journalist, historian and friend of Margaret Thatcher, on the best books on Margaret Thatcher.

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Houdini: The Elusive American by Adam Begley
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Houdini: The Elusive American

by Adam Begley

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How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: the Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius by Donald Robertson
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How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: the Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius

by Donald Robertson

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The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth by Josh Levin
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The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth

by Josh Levin

Read expert recommendations

“Linda Taylor—a Cadillac-driving, fur-clad woman who scammed the system—was the poster person for welfare abuse. Levin’s stamina and creative search for evidence in this book is extraordinary, especially considering how elusive she was and how many identities she assumed.” Read more...

The Best of Biography: the 2020 NBCC Shortlist

Elizabeth Taylor,

Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century by George Packer
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Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century

by George Packer

Read expert recommendations

“Packer presents Holbrooke as a contradictory figure. While he craved approval by the elite, he also wanted to be a man of the people. He was enthralled with celebrity and money. Holbrooke’s social climbing and gross behavior are unseemly, yet Packer approaches him with such an empathic imagination, you just can’t help rooting for this deeply flawed man.” Read more...

The Best of Biography: the 2020 NBCC Shortlist

Elizabeth Taylor,

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purcell
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A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II

by Sonia Purcell

The untold, incredible true story of glamorous American Virginia Hall who infiltrated Occupied France for the SOE and became the Gestapo’s most wanted Allied spy, by acclaimed biographer Sonia Purnell. The gripping audiobook is superbly narrated by Juliet Stevenson.

The perfect book for any fans of spy novels, biography or WWII military history.

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L.E.L.: The Lost Life and Scandalous Death of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, the Celebrated "Female Byron" by Lucasta Miller
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L.E.L.: The Lost Life and Scandalous Death of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, the Celebrated "Female Byron"

by Lucasta Miller

Read expert recommendations

“Miller sets out to reclaim Landon’s literary accomplishments and establish her as a bridge between Romanticism and Victorianism. Miller contends that Landon’s work has been overlooked and perhaps made invisible because she was regarded as popular writer whose feminine poetry was dismissed, and that she should be considered from a contemporary perspective as ‘proto-postmodern,’ sort of postmodernist in training.” Read more...

The Best of Biography: the 2020 NBCC Shortlist

Elizabeth Taylor,

Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century by Charles King
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Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century

by Charles King

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“If you wanted to understand why anthropology matters you couldn’t get a better book. He’s both gifted and careful….The person who actually knows stuff but doesn’t bore you to death. And that’s not as easy to find as you would like.” Read more...

The best books on Global Cultural Understanding: the 2020 Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize

Patrick Wright,

Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown
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Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret

by Craig Brown

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“Brown makes Margaret an interesting, complex figure, and he pushes the traditional form of biography by contending with both a life, and the spectacle of a life.It raises fascinating questions about formation of public impressions and somehow in creating this multi-faceted form, is also profoundly empathic.” Read more...

The Best Biographies: the 2019 NBCC Shortlist

Elizabeth Taylor,

The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created by Jane Leavy
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The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created

by Jane Leavy

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“Babe Ruth was an extraordinary baseball player and Leavy makes that case in the context of the emergence of athletic stardom and celebrity. This is not a mere recounting of statistics. Leavy gives Babe Ruth a place in cultural history.” Read more...

The Best Biographies: the 2019 NBCC Shortlist

Elizabeth Taylor,

The Man in the Glass House: Philip Johnson, Architect of the Modern Century by Mark Lamster
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The Man in the Glass House: Philip Johnson, Architect of the Modern Century

by Mark Lamster

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“Lamster draws upon his own deep knowledge of architectural history and trends, digs into Johnson’s past and traces his origins in Cleveland, Ohio to Harvard, from curator to modern and post-modern architect and winner of the inaugural Pritzker Architecture Prize. Lamster captures the forces animating Johnson and his quest for celebrity and recognition.” Read more...

The Best Biographies: the 2019 NBCC Shortlist

Elizabeth Taylor,

Inseparable: The Original Siamese Twins and Their Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang
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Inseparable: The Original Siamese Twins and Their Rendezvous with American History

by Yunte Huang

Read expert recommendations

“What a dramatic story, and way to look at America. They arrived as freaks, winning freedom from the oppressive men who brought them from Thailand for a traveling show, until they married two sisters who bore them 21 children, two of whom served in the Confederate army.” Read more...

The Best Biographies: the 2019 NBCC Shortlist

Elizabeth Taylor,

Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous by Christopher Bonanos
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Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous

by Christopher Bonanos

Read expert recommendations

“Bonanos entwined Weegee’s evolution as a person and as a photographer and placed this story in the context of the emergence of street photography and crime photography. He vivified that that moment when technology—the camera in Weegee’s hands and imagination, against the backdrop of a rapidly changing New York—captured a rich, stark world in a revolutionary way.” Read more...

The Best Biographies: the 2019 NBCC Shortlist

Elizabeth Taylor,

    The Best of Biography: the 2020 NBCC Shortlist, recommended by Elizabeth Taylor

  • Read
    The Best of Biography: the 2020 NBCC Shortlist - Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century by Charles King

    1

    Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century
    by Charles King

  • Read
    The Best of Biography: the 2020 NBCC Shortlist - The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth by Josh Levin

    2

    The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth
    by Josh Levin

  • Read
    The Best of Biography: the 2020 NBCC Shortlist - L.E.L.: The Lost Life and Scandalous Death of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, the Celebrated "Female Byron" by Lucasta Miller

    3

    L.E.L.: The Lost Life and Scandalous Death of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, the Celebrated "Female Byron"
    by Lucasta Miller

  • Read
    The Best of Biography: the 2020 NBCC Shortlist - Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century by George Packer

    4

    Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century
    by George Packer

  • Read
    The Best of Biography: the 2020 NBCC Shortlist - A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purcell

    5

    A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
    by Sonia Purcell

The Best of Biography: the 2020 NBCC Shortlist, recommended by Elizabeth Taylor

How do you find the perfect subject for a biography? “Pick a real bitch, or real bastard, and make sure they’re dead,” a famous biographer once told Elizabeth Taylor. The author, critic and chair of the National Book Critics’ Circle biography committee talks us through the books that made their 2020 shortlist.

    The Best Biographies: the 2019 NBCC Shortlist, recommended by Elizabeth Taylor

  • Read
    The Best Biographies: the 2019 NBCC Shortlist - Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous by Christopher Bonanos

    1

    Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous
    by Christopher Bonanos

  • Read
    The Best Biographies: the 2019 NBCC Shortlist - Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown

    2

    Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret
    by Craig Brown

  • Read
    The Best Biographies: the 2019 NBCC Shortlist - Inseparable: The Original Siamese Twins and Their Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang

    3

    Inseparable: The Original Siamese Twins and Their Rendezvous with American History
    by Yunte Huang

  • Read
    The Best Biographies: the 2019 NBCC Shortlist - The Man in the Glass House: Philip Johnson, Architect of the Modern Century by Mark Lamster

    4

    The Man in the Glass House: Philip Johnson, Architect of the Modern Century
    by Mark Lamster

  • Read
    The Best Biographies: the 2019 NBCC Shortlist - The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created by Jane Leavy

    5

    The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created
    by Jane Leavy

The Best Biographies: the 2019 NBCC Shortlist, recommended by Elizabeth Taylor

Biography is booming, says the longtime book critic and biographer Elizabeth Taylor. Here she highlights the five fantastic books shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle 2019 biography award, and how historical lives provide insight into contemporary culture.

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