Best biographies of all time
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New Biography
Spinoza: Life and Legacy
by Jonathan Israel
Spinoza: Life and Legacy is a new biography of the 17th-century Dutch-Jewish philosopher, Baruch Spinoza, by historian Jonathan Israel. Israel is a leading historian of early modern Europe, and an expert on the Dutch Republic, the tolerant—by 17th-century standards—world in which Spinoza grew up. His parents had fled Portugal because of the Inquisition and, as Israel points out, that "dark Iberian context was a crucial factor in Spinoza's background, early life, and formation and likewise an essential dimension for understanding his thought generally." The book builds on Steven Nadler's biography of Spinoza, and at more than 1,200 pages is absolutely not for beginners. Rather, it's for those seeking to think deeply—and disagree with Israel at times, no doubt—about Spinoza and his life and thought.
(If you're looking for a more introductory approach to Spinoza, our interview about him is with Steven Nadler)
Read expert recommendations
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New and Recommended: Biography
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TRANSLATED BY ANAM ZAFAR AND SOPHIE LEWISWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY IJEOMA OLUOThe autobiography of the fabulous, rule-breaking, one-of-a-kind Josephine Baker, published in English for the first time.This is the iconic Josephine Baker in her…
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From critically acclaimed and prize winning author Alexis WrightWinner of the Stella PrizeWinner of the Magarey Medal for BiographyWinner of the Queensland Literary AwardA larger-than-life champion of Aboriginal self-determination, Tracker…
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A new edition of Sue Tilley’s classic biography of the man described by Boy George as ‘modern art on legs’, updated to include never-before-seen photographs and a new chapter reflecting on Bowery’s legacy.From his…
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‘We ache for love, but love eludes us. Out of this crisis comes so much of what it means to be human’Shon Faye grew up quietly obsessed with the feeling that love was not for her. Not just
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The best biographies and memoirs of 2024
There are myriad ways to tell the story of a life, as shown by this year’s best biographies. Craig Brown’s doorstopper A Voyage Around the Queen (4th Estate), about the reign of Elizabeth II, dispenses with linear storytelling in favour of a patchwork of diary entries, letters, vignettes, second-hand anecdotes and even dreams (the writer Paul Theroux once dreamed of being nestled in Her Majesty’s bosom). The result is an unorthodox and wonderfully irreverent book which, alert to the absurdities of the monarchy, reveals as much about how others saw the Queen as the woman herself.
Sonia Purnell’s Kingmaker: Pamela Churchill Harriman (Virago) is a rich and riveting portrait of another seemingly unknowable aristocrat. The daughter-in-law of Winston Churchill, Harriman was, says Purnell, a canny diplomat who exerted remarkable influence on mid-20th-century politics through her three marriages and numerous affairs with powerful men (her lovers included a prince, a shipping magnate and a celebrated US broadcaster). Lili Anolik’s Didion and
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