Books by George Packer
“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, Biographer
The Assassin’s Gate
by George Packer
Packer was a liberal interventionist, supportive of the invasion of Iraq, believing it would liberate people from living under the tyranny of a madman. His intention was not to go to Iraq and cover a failed experiment.
Interviews where books by George Packer were recommended
The best books on Essential Reading for Reporters, recommended by Guy Raz
NPR host and former foreign correspondent offers practical and anecdotal guidance on reporting the news. Says, “I don’t buy this idea that there was a golden age in journalism”
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1
Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century
by Charles King -
2
The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth
by Josh Levin -
3
L.E.L.: The Lost Life and Scandalous Death of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, the Celebrated "Female Byron"
by Lucasta Miller -
4
Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century
by George Packer -
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
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.
