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Biographies — page 20
994 public-domain biographies books, summarised. Page 20 of 21.
The Wanderings of a Spiritualist
Arthur Conan Doyle
This chronicle captures a determined evangelist’s journey across the Southern Hemisphere to spread the gospel of Spiritualism. It is a heartfelt account of personal conviction, public scrutiny, and the search for evidence of the afterlife.
Abigail Adams and Her Times
Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
This biographical portrait explores the life and partnership of an influential American figure, tracing her evolution from a minister’s daughter to the First Lady of a fledgling nation.
Great Violinists and Pianists
George T. (George Titus) Ferris
A sweeping survey of the nineteenth century’s virtuoso masters, tracing the evolution of classical music from the delicate craft of the violin-maker to the grand, emotive storms of the concert hall.
Lives of the English Poets: Gay, Thomson, Young, Gray, &c
Samuel Johnson
These collected biographies explore the human cost of artistic ambition, balancing rigorous literary evaluation with the intimate, often melancholic, details of lives spent in pursuit of fame and poetic craft.
Mozart
Thomas Tapper
This gentle biography chronicles the early life and rapid rise of a musical prodigy, capturing the wonder of a childhood defined by both extraordinary talent and the simple joys of play.
Prime Ministers and Some Others: A Book of Reminiscences
George William Erskine Russell
This collection of reminiscences offers a refined, intimate tour through the corridors of Victorian power, guided by a witness who knew the era’s giants not as icons, but as men.
Bohemian Days in Fleet Street
William Mackay
The ghosts of a bygone London press corps haunt these pages, where journalists lived on wit, camaraderie, and cheap gin before the modern corporate machine polished their trade into a respectable profession.
Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume 5 (of 10)
J. G. (John Gibson) Lockhart
The world’s most celebrated author navigates the zenith of his fame while balancing the crushing weight of professional ambition, aristocratic social life, and the persistent, often bewildering, demands of his inner circle.
The Life of Flavius Josephus
Flavius Josephus
A high-ranking priest finds himself caught between a crumbling nation and a rising empire, navigating the treacherous politics of a failed revolution with nothing but his wits and his pen.
The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England, Volume 2 (of 6): Mémoires d'outre-tombe, volume 2
Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de
An exiled aristocrat navigates the wreckage of the French Revolution, wandering from the siege of Thionville to the quiet parlors of England and the landscapes of the East, seeking meaning in a world turned upside down.
Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: During the Last Twenty Years of His Life
Hester Lynch Piozzi
A brilliant mind trapped in an unpolished frame, the legendary man of letters is captured here through the intimate, observant gaze of a friend who lived daily in his company.
Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Part 6
Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) Grant
These final reflections chronicle the closing months of the American Civil War, capturing the strategic maneuvers and personal interactions that led to the surrender at Appomattox and the subsequent hope for national reconciliation.
Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail
Ezra Meeker
This is a memoir of the American West as seen through the eyes of a man who lived its defining migrations twice—first as a young pioneer in 1852, and again as an elderly advocate for the preservation of its history.
Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist
Alexander Berkman
HOOK This is the raw, unflinching account of a fourteen-year struggle to preserve one’s humanity against the systematic brutality of the American prison industrial complex.
Life of George Washington, volume 1 of 5
Washington Irving
A sweeping portrait of a young surveyor’s rise to prominence, this narrative traces the evolution of a reserved colonial gentleman into the resolute commander of a revolution.
The Story of John G. Paton
John Gibson Paton
The story of a dedicated missionary’s life, this memoir chronicles decades of survival and spiritual labor among the indigenous people of the New Hebrides. It is a testament to the endurance of faith in the face of isolation, violence, and profound cultural collision.
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume II, Arkansas Narratives, Part 5
United States. Work Projects Administration
These oral histories preserve the vanishing voices of men and women who survived the transition from bondage to freedom in Arkansas. They offer a raw, unvarnished look at the American South through the eyes of the formerly enslaved.
Dante
Edmund G. Gardner
The life and work of the great Italian poet emerge here not as a dry academic exercise, but as a vital, unfolding drama of exile, faith, and political longing. This essential guide illuminates the man behind the masterpiece, setting his singular vision against the turbulent backdrop of medieval Florence.
Diary of Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
This record offers an unparalleled window into the daily life, anxieties, and mundane triumphs of a seventeenth-century civil servant living through a transformative era in English history. It is a work of immense intimacy and historical significance.
Andrew Marvell
Augustine Birrell
This biography explores the life of a multifaceted seventeenth-century figure, blending the delicate sensibilities of a lyrical poet with the rugged, combative spirit of an incorruptible Member of Parliament.
Diary of Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
A clerk of the Admiralty documents his daily life in Restoration London, capturing the intimate, unvarnished collision of high politics and domestic minutiae. These pages remain the most vivid portal into a vanished world.
The Poet Li Po, A.D. 701-762
Arthur Waley
HOOK This exploration of a legendary Tang Dynasty figure separates the man from the myth, challenging his long-held status as China’s greatest poet.
H. G. Wells
J. D. (John Davys) Beresford
A perceptive exploration of an author’s evolving consciousness, this work examines how a singular mind uses literature to challenge the rigid boundaries of early 20th-century life.
John Knox and the Reformation
Andrew Lang
This biography strips away the hagiography surrounding Scotland’s most famous reformer, presenting a man driven by fierce conviction and political pragmatism. It offers a rigorous, skeptical look at the volatile birth of the Scottish Kirk.
Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 5
Charles Herbert Sylvester
This volume serves as a curated gateway to the vast landscapes of classic literature, blending high adventure, historical chronicle, and the moral weight of legend into an accessible, educational mosaic. It invites readers to explore the variety of human experience through the eyes of poets, novelists, and explorers.
Our Friend John Burroughs
Clara Barrus
A devoted portrait of a celebrated naturalist, this biographical work captures the quiet rhythms of a life spent in close communion with the American landscape and the wild creatures that inhabit it.
Recollections of the Civil War: With the Leaders at Washington and in the Field in the Sixties
Charles A. (Charles Anderson) Dana
These recollections serve as a clear-eyed lens into the high-stakes machinery of the American Civil War, viewed from the shoulder of a man who moved between the front lines and the Cabinet room.
Henry Ford's Own Story: How a Farmer Boy Rose to the Power that goes with Many Millions, Yet Never Lost Touch with Humanity
Rose Wilder Lane
HOOK This portrait captures the relentless rise of an obscure farm boy who transformed mechanical obsession into a global industry, forever altering the relationship between man, machine, and capital.
Hortense: Makers of History Series
John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
A portrait of a woman caught in the violent tides of French history, whose life of exile and sorrow fueled her son’s path to the throne of an empire.
Philip Massinger
Alfred Hamilton Cruickshank
HOOK This scholarly examination illuminates the life and craft of a major Elizabethan dramatist, cataloging his artistic evolution through meticulous analysis of his surviving plays, collaborations, and the tragic loss of his unpublished manuscripts.
Recollections of Thirty-nine Years in the Army: Gwalior and the Battle of Maharajpore, 1843
Gordon, Charles Alexander, Sir
A sweeping chronicle of a soldier-surgeon’s life, this narrative traverses the shifting frontiers of the nineteenth-century British Empire, from the sweltering plains of India to the besieged streets of Paris.
The Lincoln Story Book: A Judicious Collection of the Best Stories and Anecdotes of the Great President, Many Appearing Here for the First Time in Book Form
Unknown
This collection offers an intimate, anecdotal portrait of a leader who navigated the burdens of a fractured nation through the enduring power of wit, storytelling, and deep-seated human empathy.
The Story of a Confederate Boy in the Civil War
David E. (David Emmons) Johnston
This account offers an intimate, unvarnished look at the Civil War through the eyes of a young infantryman, capturing the transition from youthful idealism to the grim, grinding reality of a four-year struggle.
Diary of Anna Green Winslow, a Boston School Girl of 1771
Anna Green Winslow
A young girl’s observations in 1771 Boston turn the ordinary details of colonial childhood into an enduring, vibrant portrait of a life lived on the cusp of the American Revolution. Through these pages, a vanished world feels remarkably near.
Diary of Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
These intimate, candid entries offer a rare, unvarnished window into the daily life, professional anxieties, and shifting personal fortunes of a seventeenth-century London administrator.
Makers of Modern Medicine
James J. (James Joseph) Walsh
Scientific progress often relies less on grand, abstract theories and more on the quiet, patient observations of individuals who remain committed to the physical realities of the human body and the bedside care of the sick.
Memoirs of Robert-Houdin, ambassador, author and conjurer
Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin
A master of deception reveals the mechanics behind his illusions, transforming the arcane mysteries of the stage into a compelling study of human psychology and scientific precision.
My Memories of Eighty Years
Chauncey M. (Chauncey Mitchell) Depew
A witness to the unfolding of modern America, a long-serving statesman and railroad executive reflects on the pivotal figures and transformative events that defined his eighty-eight years of public life.
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom
William Craft
A couple’s daring ruse to reclaim their humanity from the auction block stands as one of history's most extraordinary escape stories. This firsthand account transforms the abstract horrors of slavery into a gripping, personal narrative of survival.
Fray Luis de León: A Biographical Fragment
James Fitzmaurice-Kelly
A scholar of profound intellect finds himself caught in the crushing machinery of the Spanish Inquisition, fighting not only for his freedom but for the integrity of his life’s work.
Memoirs of the life, exile, and conversations of the Emperor Napoleon. (Vol. III)
Las Cases, Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné, comte de
Stranded on a remote Atlantic rock, a fallen conqueror reconstructs the grandeur of his vanished empire through the meticulous, daily observations of his loyal companion.
Frederick Douglass: A Biography
Charles W. (Charles Waddell) Chesnutt
Born into the shadows of chattel slavery, a man of immense intellect and moral courage rose to become the preeminent voice of his generation, transforming his own liberation into a lifelong campaign for human dignity.
Mafeking
Frederick David Baillie
This firsthand account captures the claustrophobic, grinding reality of the Siege of Mafeking during the South African War, told by a British officer who watched his world shrink to the perimeter of a beleaguered town.
Rulers of India: Albuquerque
H. Morse (Henry Morse) Stephens
A visionary strategist, Afonso de Albuquerque sought to secure a permanent Portuguese empire in Asia through the mastery of key maritime gateways and the establishment of a centralized governing authority.
The life and times of the Rev. Samuel Wesley: Rector of Epworth and father of the Revs. John and Charles Wesley, the founders of the Methodists
L. (Luke) Tyerman
To understand the origins of Methodism, one must first understand the fiery, stubborn parish priest whose life was spent battling debt, political feuds, and parsonage blazes.
Autobiography of Sir John Rennie, F.R.S., Past President of the Institute of Civil Engineers: Comprising the history of his professional life, together with reminiscences dating from the commencement of the century to the present time
Rennie, John, Sir
An intimate view into the dawn of modern civil engineering, this memoir follows a master builder across Europe and the Mediterranean as he constructs iconic bridges, reshapes vast coastlines, and navigates the wild frontiers of nineteenth-century infrastructure.
The Freedmen's Book
Lydia Maria Child
This collection offers a mosaic of historical accounts and literary voices, documenting the resilience and intellectual spirit of African Americans during the mid-19th century. It serves as a vital bridge toward a new era of emancipation.
The girlhood of Queen Victoria, vol. 1 (of 2)
Queen of Great Britain Victoria
A young royal records her transformation from a closely guarded girl into a reigning monarch, charting her daily life, political education, and sudden elevation to power with remarkably frank observation.