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Biographies — page 32
2,563 public-domain biographies books, summarised. Page 32 of 54.
Memories, by Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Fisher
Fisher, John Arbuthnot Fisher, Baron
A career of ironclads, innovation, and strategic upheaval is distilled here into a candid, unconventional set of recollections. These pages capture the unfiltered voice of a man who reshaped the British Navy for the modern age.
The Flaming Sword in Serbia and Elsewhere
M. A. (Mabel Annie) Stobart
A woman challenges the traditional boundaries of wartime service by commanding a field hospital unit in Serbia, witnessing the harrowing realities of total war and a desperate retreat across the Balkan mountains.
Two Months in the Camp of Big Bear
Theresa Gowanlock
A harrowing, firsthand account of the 1885 Frog Lake massacre and the two-month captivity that followed, capturing the stark shift from frontier optimism to profound, life-altering trauma.
Biographies of Working Men
Grant Allen
This collection of portraits illuminates the lives of seven men who rose from humble beginnings to significant achievement through persistent, disciplined labor. It serves as a testament to the transformative power of focused, lifelong industry.
Books Fatal to Their Authors
P. H. (Peter Hampson) Ditchfield
The written word is a dangerous tool, capable of elevating a mind to the heavens or dragging its author into the abyss of a dungeon. Those who dare to challenge established orthodoxy often find that their own creations become the instruments of their destruction.
Bullets & Billets
Bruce Bairnsfather
The modern infantryman’s experience in the Great War is captured here not through grand strategy, but through the visceral, muddy intimacy of existence in a frontline trench.
Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Volume II., Part 4
William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman
These memoirs chronicle the final, decisive maneuvers of the American Civil War and the subsequent struggles of a general navigating the complexities of peace and political bureaucracy.
The Life and Times of Alfred the Great: Being the Ford lectures for 1901
Charles Plummer
A master of ninth-century history sifts through the legends, fragments, and manuscripts to find the man behind the myth. This rigorous investigation recovers the true shape of a king whose legacy has been distorted by centuries of misreading.
The Reminiscences of Sir Henry Hawkins (Baron Brampton)
Brampton, Henry Hawkins, Baron
A distinguished nineteenth-century jurist looks back on a long career defined by the rigor of the courtroom, the absurdity of human nature, and the heavy burden of dispensing justice.
The Two Spies: Nathan Hale and John André
Benson John Lossing
Two men of talent and honor, divided by a revolution, find their lives entwined by the perilous, shadowed art of espionage.
The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 16
John Dryden
This account chronicles the life of the sixteenth-century missionary Francis Xavier, tracing his transformation from a European scholar into a tireless architect of the Jesuit mission across India and Japan.
Victor Hugo
Algernon Charles Swinburne
A titan of the nineteenth century emerges here not merely as a master of verse and prose, but as a moral force who channeled the collective grief and aspirations of a nation. This deep, reflective study serves as a literary biography and an impassioned defense of a visionary genius whose life’s work—spanning…
Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen
Sarah Tytler
The life of a monarch is often filtered through the lens of history, but here it is seen through the intimate, domestic, and personal experiences of a woman balancing the crown with her private heart.
Robert Boyle
Flora Masson
A life of quiet, relentless inquiry emerges from the shadow of the seventeenth century, revealing the mind behind the man who transformed natural philosophy.
The Great Lord Burghley: A study in Elizabethan statecraft
Martin A. S. (Martin Andrew Sharp) Hume
A master of caution and a silent architect of England’s rise, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, navigated the treacherous Elizabethan court to secure a nation’s future while shielding his own legacy.
The Life of Philip Melanchthon
Karl Friedrich Ledderhose
The quiet brilliance of a scholar becomes the steady anchor for a turbulent religious revolution. This account captures the life of a man whose intellect shaped the Reformation as much as his convictions tested his courage.
Colonel Thomas Blood, Crown-stealer, 1618-1680
Wilbur Cortez Abbott
A daring, enigmatic figure who defied the English state, Thomas Blood carved a path through the seventeenth century that remains as baffling as it is bold. This account traces the rise of a man who transitioned from a soldier of the Crown to a professional revolutionary and the most audacious thief in English history.
Daniel Boone
Reuben Gold Thwaites
The intrepid pioneer Daniel Boone emerges from the shadowed forests of the American frontier as a figure of both myth and historical record. This biography tracks his long journey from the Yadkin Valley to the western edge of Missouri.
From Canal Boy to President
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
The rise of a common laborer to the highest office in the nation serves as the quintessential American success story. This narrative traces that trajectory from the backwoods of Ohio to the presidency.
Harvey's Views on the Use of the Circulation of the Blood
John Green Curtis
William Harvey revolutionized our understanding of the human body, but his own intellectual journey was deeply rooted in the ancient, often misunderstood philosophies of his predecessors.
James Boswell
W. Keith (William Keith) Leask
A man of boundless curiosity and social appetite chases the shadow of a literary giant, only to create an immortal portrait that eventually eclipses his own reputation for folly.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Thomas Tapper
A modest boy from a musical family, Johann Sebastian Bach rises from orphaned beginnings to become a celebrated organist and composer, leaving a legacy of diligent artistry that transcends his humble origins in Eisenach.
My Story
Anson Mills
This memoir offers an unvarnished account of an American life spanning the frontier era, the Civil War, and the dawn of the twentieth century. It serves as a candid record of a career defined by duty, mechanical ingenuity, and an unwavering commitment to professional standards.
The Blackmore Country
F. J. (Frederick John) Snell
Tracing the physical and folkloric geography that inspired R. D. Blackmore’s fiction, this guide maps the rugged landscape of Devon and Somerset. It serves as both a travelogue and a scholarly companion to the author’s most famous works.
The Eve of the Revolution
Carl L. (Carl Lotus) Becker
The American Revolution was less a sudden explosion than a long, painful unraveling of habits and loyalties. This exploration of the colonial mind reveals how a proud people were slowly pushed toward an unwanted independence.
The life of Henry Labouchere
Algar Thorold
Born in the waning years of William IV and surviving into the reign of George V, Henry Labouchere lived a life as unconventional as the politics he championed. He was a radical who disdained party dogma, a journalist who punctured pomposity, and a man of inherited wealth who spent his life tilting at the windmills…
Twenty-five years in the Secret Service: The recollections of a spy
Henri Le Caron
This memoir documents a quarter-century spent infiltrating Irish-American revolutionary circles, offering a rare, firsthand account of the espionage and political violence that defined the late nineteenth-century Fenian movement.
Beethoven: A Memoir (2nd Ed.)
Elliott Graeme
This brief biography captures the intense, turbulent life of one of history’s greatest composers, framing his musical genius against the backdrop of a changing Europe. It offers a compassionate, unvarnished look at a man who struggled as much with his own humanity as he did with the encroaching silence of deafness.
Blood and Iron: Origin of German Empire As Revealed by Character of Its Founder, Bismarck
John Hubert Greusel
The life of Otto von Bismarck is a study in the raw mechanics of power, revealing how a single, iron-willed man bent history to his personal design. This account portrays a figure whose legacy remains as contentious as it is monumental.
Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt
Franz Liszt
This collection of letters documents the profound, turbulent bond between two of history’s most influential musicians, revealing the intimate anxieties and creative isolation of geniuses navigating a world they felt could not understand them.
Dewey and Other Naval Commanders
Edward Sylvester Ellis
This collection of historical sketches highlights the pivotal moments and defining figures that shaped the American Navy from the Revolutionary War through the late 19th century. It serves as a patriotic record of courage, technical ingenuity, and the evolution of naval warfare.
Mahatma Gandhi: The Man Who Became One With the Universal Being
Romain Rolland
The "Great Soul" of India emerges here not as a distant icon, but as a living, breathing force—a man of profound, unnerving simplicity who dared to challenge the British Empire with nothing but his own moral conviction.
Memories grave and gay
Florence Howe Hall
A gentle, observant life unfolds across these pages, bridging the world of nineteenth-century New England intellectualism and the early twentieth-century movement for women’s suffrage.
Napoleon and his court
C. S. (Cecil Scott) Forester
This study strips away the legendary veneer of the First Empire, examining the man behind the crown and the inner circle that defined his orbit. It is a skeptical, grounded look at the human cost of absolute power.
Records, by Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Fisher
Fisher, John Arbuthnot Fisher, Baron
A restless, opinionated, and highly energetic memoir, this work captures the internal machinations of the British Admiralty during a period of profound technological upheaval. It serves as a personal manifesto for naval modernization, written by an architect of the Dreadnought era who valued efficiency and audacity…
School-days in 1800
Lucy Ellen Guernsey
This narrative chronicles the formative years of a young woman named Olivia at the dawn of the nineteenth century. It is a quiet, reflective account of a life shaped by the discipline of early American schooling, the loss of family wealth, and the rigors of an upbringing governed by faith and duty.
Slipstream: the autobiography of an air craftsman
Eugene E. Wilson
The rise of American air power is not merely a tale of flying machines, but a story of the men, markets, and political maneuvering that forged a new industrial age.
The Life and Times of Queen Victoria
Robert Wilson
The Victorian era is often remembered as a monolith of stability, but this account reveals a turbulent period of shifting political alliances, bitter parliamentary obstruction, and the constant, uneasy friction between royal tradition and a changing world.
A Short Narrative of the Life and Actions of His Grace John, D. of Marlborogh
Daniel Defoe
A brilliant general faces the shifting tides of political favor in this urgent defense of England’s most celebrated military commander, written by a master of polemical prose.
At Suvla Bay: Being the notes and sketches of scenes, characters and adventures of the Dardanelles campaign, made by John Hargrave ("White Fox") while serving with the 32nd field ambulance, X division, Mediterranean expeditionary force, during the great war
John Hargrave
The true nature of war is not found in grand strategies, but in the grit of a soldier’s boots, the stench of a cattle-boat, and the silence of a desert night under sniper fire.
My Three Years in America
Bernstorff, Johann Heinrich, Graf von
The German ambassador to the United States during the Great War offers a sobering post-mortem of the failed diplomacy that pushed two nations toward inevitable conflict. He chronicles a desperate, often lonely struggle to maintain peace in the face of escalating submarine warfare and mounting mutual distrust.
The Confessions of a Beachcomber
E. J. (Edmund James) Banfield
The Beachcomber’s domain is a quiet corner of the natural world where one man trades the noise of civilization for the rhythm of the tides. It is a contemplative record of a life lived in intentional harmony with the Queensland wilderness.
The Letters of Lord Nelson to Lady Hamilton, Vol. I.: With A Supplement Of Interesting Letters By Distinguished Characters
Nelson, Horatio Nelson, Viscount
These private letters offer an intimate, unfiltered glimpse into the heart of a national hero, revealing the profound vulnerability and enduring devotion that sustained him far from the comforts of his "dear England.
The Mariner of St. Malo
Stephen Leacock
This historical account traces the life and transformative voyages of Jacques Cartier, the Breton navigator whose persistence unveiled the St. Lawrence River to Europe and established the foundations of a new world.
The Story of Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland and of the new Gospel of Interpretation
Edward Maitland
The record of a modern spiritual partnership, this chronicle recounts how two seekers moved beyond the boundaries of traditional religion to recover an ancient, intuitive "Gospel of Interpretation." It serves as a window into a singular mission of intellectual and mystical discovery.
Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. II
Charles Lever
A weary, witty, and deeply human correspondence reveals the final decade of a celebrated novelist, documenting his struggle to remain prolific while grappling with failing health, private grief, and the shifting tides of politics.
Frederick Chopin
Pourtalès, Guy de, comte
This biography captures the intimate, fragile life of a musical genius, painting the portrait of an artist who turned his own private tragedies into the most enduring melodies of the nineteenth century.
Stage Confidences: Talks About Players and Play Acting
Clara Morris
The stage is a world of glitter, rigid rules, and hidden heartbreaks. Behind the greasepaint, the life of an actress is a relentless test of endurance, requiring a stoic face and a desperate, driving ambition.