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Biographies — page 13
636 public-domain biographies books, summarised. Page 13 of 14.
The Personal Life of David Livingstone: Chiefly from his Unpublished Journals and Correspondence in the Possession of His Family
William Garden Blaikie
A relentless explorer and devout missionary, David Livingstone spent his life mapping the African interior, determined to combat the slave trade and open the continent to the world.
Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan
Izumi Shikibu
A shimmering, ephemeral collection of records, these classical Japanese texts capture the interior lives and refined sensibilities of noblewomen navigating the constraints and aesthetic passions of the Heian-era imperial court.
The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Volume 2 of 2)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
A celebrated poet navigates the turbulent currents of mid-nineteenth-century European politics, spiritualism, and motherhood, all while maintaining a vibrant, searching correspondence with the intellectual titans of her age.
The Life of John Taylor: Third President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
B. H. (Brigham Henry) Roberts
A leader’s life is defined by the convictions he holds and the trials he endures. This chronicle traces the path of a man who chose principle over safety in the face of widespread public hostility.
The Standard Cantatas: Their Stories, Their Music, and Their Composers: A Handbook
George P. (George Putnam) Upton
A practical guide for the nineteenth-century concertgoer, this handbook demystifies the complex world of the cantata by tracing the history, narratives, and musical structures of the most significant works of the era.
A Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, with a Sketch of Josephine, Empress of the French
Ida M. (Ida Minerva) Tarbell
This narrative presents a human-centered portrait of the French Emperor and his consort, tracing their rise from obscurity to the height of European power. It captures the complex interplay between personal character and historical destiny.
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume XIV, South Carolina Narratives, Part 3
United States. Work Projects Administration
This collection of oral histories captures the intimate, unvarnished memories of formerly enslaved people in South Carolina, preserving the cadence of their voices and the complexity of their lived experiences during and after the era of bondage. Through these interviews, the past is not merely recounted as a…
The Last Words (Real and Traditional) of Distinguished Men and Women
Frederic Rowland Marvin
The final utterances of the famous reveal more than mere endings; they offer a window into the souls of those who shaped history. This collection explores the composure, defiance, and sudden clarity that define humanity’s last moments.
The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri
Emperor of Hindustan Jahangir
An emperor sits upon the throne of the Mogul Empire, meticulously recording the grandeur of his court, the curiosities of his natural world, and the weight of his imperial responsibilities.
Karl Ludwig Sand: Celebrated Crimes
Alexandre Dumas
A young student, driven by a vision of national liberation, travels to Mannheim to commit a single, calculated act of political violence. His life ends on the scaffold, yet his memory lingers in the conscience of a nation.
Tuskegee & Its People: Their Ideals and Achievements
Unknown
The pride of a self-made community shines through these accounts of transformation, where education in industry serves as the bedrock for personal dignity, economic independence, and lasting social contribution.
History of the Jews, Vol. 6 (of 6): Containing a Memoir of the Author by Dr. Philip Bloch, a Chronological Table of Jewish History, an Index to the Whole Work
Heinrich Graetz
A monumental record stretches across millennia, transforming names and dates into a living, breathing testament of a people's survival, intellectual triumphs, and enduring faith amid continuous persecution.
Life of Johann Wolfgang Goethe
James Sime
The life of Germany’s greatest literary figure is revealed here as a journey of constant self-mastery, tracing his transformation from a restless youth into a disciplined, multifaceted architect of modern thought.
Memoirs, Correspondence and Manuscripts of General Lafayette
Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de
The life of a young aristocrat unfolds across two continents, tracing a path from the gilded halls of Versailles to the rugged, snow-dusted battlefields of the American Revolution.
Junius Unmasked
Joel Moody
A revolutionary ghost walks the pages of history, masking his identity behind a pen and a singular, unmistakable voice. This investigation seeks to unmask the true architect of American independence by tracing the rhythm of a master’s hand.
George Borrow and His Circle: Wherein May Be Found Many Hitherto Unpublished Letters of Borrow and His Friends
Clement King Shorter
A towering figure of Victorian literature, George Borrow remains an enigma of wandering spirit, linguistic genius, and defiant, often lonely, independence. This chronicle unveils the man behind the myth through his private correspondence.
Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent (vol. 2 of 2)
Alfred von Reumont
A cultural titan shapes his age through diplomacy, art, and intellectual ambition, keeping a precarious peace while transforming Florence into the beating heart of the Renaissance.
Andrew Melville
William Morison
A fiery scholar challenges a king for the soul of a national church, taking his stand in classroom, court, and prison cell.
Arthur Machen: Weaver of Fantasy
William F. (William Francis) Gekle
A shadowy, quiet life yields a strange literature of ecstasy, ancient ritual, and cosmic terror.
The Life of Johannes Brahms (Vol 1 of 2)
Florence May
A dedicated young artist navigates the unyielding demands of mastery, the clash of warring musical ideologies, and the transcendent spark of mentorship on his journey toward enduring creative independence.
Empress Josephine: An Historical Sketch of the Days of Napoleon
L. (Luise) Mühlbach
A Creole orphan ascends from a turbulent childhood in Martinique to become the heart of revolutionary France and the beloved wife of its conqueror. Her story tracks a dramatic rise and fall through blood, glory, and heartbreak.
Ludwig the Second, King of Bavaria
Clara Tschudi
A youthful dream of absolute art and unbridled kingship unravels into isolation, political ruin, and eventual madness.
Chopin
James Huneker
A frail body contained a fierce, implacable soul whose quiet outward life belied the storm of psychological battle waging within his music. He transformed the piano into a canvas of chromatic ecstasy and tragic national memory.
The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, Volume I
Burton Jesse Hendrick
A young man raised in the post-Civil War South challenges his home state's intellectual paralysis, learns the craft of publishing, and ultimately finds himself representing American interests in London during the opening salvoes of the First World War.
Eminent literary and scientific men of Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Vol. 3 (of 3)
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Lives of classic Iberian and Italian authors and thinkers trace how creative minds navigate political chaos, exile, and public neglect.
The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Illustrated by Tales, Sketches, and Anecdotes
Samuel G. (Samuel Griswold) Goodrich
A penniless printer’s apprentice uses quiet discipline, keen observation, and boundless curiosity to transform himself into an inventor, statesman, and international icon of the American Enlightenment.
Under Four Administrations, from Cleveland to Taft: Recollections of Oscar S. Straus
Oscar S. (Oscar Solomon) Straus
A dutiful public servant traverses four decades of American statecraft, charting the quiet triumphs of international arbitration, cabinet government, and human rights advocacy.
With Lawrence in Arabia
Lowell Thomas
Driven by deep cultural understanding rather than raw military force, a young British scholar helps unite fractured desert tribes to shatter Ottoman rule and reshape the modern Middle East.
My life on the plains
George A. (George Armstrong) Custer
A high-ranking cavalry officer recounts his campaigns across the American West, delivering a vivid firsthand portrait of military strategy, harsh landscapes, and relentless warfare against Native tribes.
Edgar Saltus: The Man
Marie Saltus
A hypersensitive man of letters flees the pain of reality through art, esoteric philosophy, and the fierce, protective devotion of his final companion.
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume V, Indiana Narratives
United States. Work Projects Administration
An extraordinary collection of first-person testimonies captures the brutal realities of human bondage, the fragile triumph of emancipation, and the quiet dignity of surviving into old age.
Good-bye to all that
Robert Graves
A young poet grows up in the rigid world of English boarding schools, survives the horrors of the Western Front, and struggles to rebuild his life in a shattered postwar society.
Henrik Ibsen
Edmund Gosse
An impoverished, combative young clerk transforms himself through sheer force of will into a towering dramatist, reshaping modern theater while remaining a lifelong outsider.
My Memoirs
Marguerite Steinheil
An infamous scandal night, a dead President, and a double murder in a Parisian villa frame this astonishing true-crime memoir. Marguerite Steinheil transforms her lived nightmare into a brilliant, defensive narrative of political intrigue, high society, and survival.
Joan of Arc
Gower, Ronald Sutherland, Lord
Faith in a heavenly calling transforms an obscure peasant girl into the military savior of France, driving her from rural fields to royal courts and bloody battlefields before leading to her betrayal, trial, and ultimate martyrdom.
The Life Of Thomas Paine, Vol. 1. (of 2): With A History of His Literary, Political and Religious Career in America France, and England
Moncure Daniel Conway
Driven by a determination to rescue Thomas Paine from centuries of partisan libel, Moncure Daniel Conway delivers an exhaustive, sympathetic biography that details the philosopher's crucial role in shaping modern democratic revolutions.
A British Rifle Man: The Journals and Correspondence of Major George Simmons, Rifle Brigade, During the Peninsular War and the Campaign of Waterloo
George Simmons
A green-jacketed officer endured years of grueling march and shot in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo, sending home vivid journals and devoted letters that balance the brutal reality of battle with tender family care.
The life of Cardinal Mezzofanti: With an introductory memoir of eminent linguists, ancient and modern
Charles William Russell
A poor carpenter's son in Bologna eavesdrops on a neighborhood Latin school through an open window and discovers a prodigy’s ear. He grows up to master dozens of world languages without ever setting foot outside Italy.
A Diplomat in Japan: The inner history of the critical years in the evolution of Japan when the ports were opened and the monarchy restored, recorded by a diplomatist who took an active part in the events of the time, with an account of his personal experiences during that period
Ernest Mason Satow
An ambitious young English interpreter steps directly into the chaos of feudal Japan during the mid-nineteenth century, recording first-hand the explosive collapse of the Shôgunate and the dramatic restoration of the Mikado.
James Nasmyth, Engineer: An Autobiography
James Nasmyth
From an Edinburgh childhood surrounded by artists and antique coins to the roaring foundries of Industrial Britain, a master inventor crafts the mechanical tools that shaped the modern world.
Lives of Boulton and Watt. Principally from the Original Soho Mss.: Comprising also a history of the invention and introduction of the steam engine
Samuel Smiles
A visionary industrialist and a melancholic inventor combine forces to tame the power of steam and ignite the modern world.
The Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville
A calm, clear-eyed witness steps onto the chaotic stage of the 1848 French Revolution, recording the collapse of a monarchy and the rise of a tumultuous republic.
Biographical Sketches of the Generals of the Continental Army of the Revolution
Mary Theresa Leiter
These pages chronicle the lives of the Continental Army’s commanders, revealing the men who steered a fragile revolution from its desperate, early volunteer days to the hard-won independence of a new nation.
Genghis Khan, Makers of History Series
Jacob Abbott
A steppe chieftain’s son rises through factional warfare to unite the Mongol tribes and forge an empire of unprecedented scale.
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume XIV, South Carolina Narratives, Part 1
United States. Work Projects Administration
An unvarnished oral history preserves the firsthand voices of formerly enslaved South Carolinians, capturing their daily survival, family bonds, and life after emancipation.
The pillow-book of Sei Shōnagon
Sei Shōnagon
Behind the serene, silk-curtained walls of tenth-century Heian Japan, a quick-witted court lady records the delicate aesthetic, sharp social rivalries, and quiet moments that define her world.
Lafcadio Hearn
Nina H. Kennard
A restless wanderer seeking aesthetic beauty across continents finds his ultimate anchor in the ghostly lore and quiet traditions of old Japan.
Records of a Family of Engineers
Robert Louis Stevenson
A centuries-long family trajectory shifts from gradual obscurity to brilliant public service through sheer stubborn craftsmanship and the mastery of treacherous waters.