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Biographies — page 44

3,074 public-domain biographies books, summarised. Page 44 of 65.

Cover of Father Henson's Story of His Own Life: Truth Stranger Than Fiction

Father Henson's Story of His Own Life: Truth Stranger Than Fiction

Josiah Henson

A harrowing journey from chattel slavery to international prominence yields a testament to human resilience, moral courage, and the transformative power of practical faith.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Five Months at Anzac: A Narrative of Personal Experiences of the Officer Commanding the 4th Field Ambulance, Australian Imperial Force

Five Months at Anzac: A Narrative of Personal Experiences of the Officer Commanding the 4th Field Ambulance, Australian Imperial Force

Joseph Lievesley Beeston

Amid the chaos and carnage of the Gallipoli campaign, a field ambulance officer captures the daily reality of rescue, survival, and soldierly camaraderie under constant enemy fire with remarkable composure and dry Australian humor.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 09: Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Reformers

Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 09: Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Reformers

Elbert Hubbard

Profiles of revolutionary thinkers reveal how personal conviction, practical struggle, and stubborn independence reshape religious, political, and economic systems across generations.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Makers of Modern Agriculture

Makers of Modern Agriculture

William Macdonald

Before modern machinery and organized science reshaped the soil, feeding a nation was a precarious struggle against nature. Five visionary figures transformed that struggle into an engine of human progress.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Over Periscope Pond

Over Periscope Pond

Esther Sayles Root

Two spirited American women arrive in war-torn Paris to manage relief efforts, recording the grueling work, absurdities, and quiet heartbreak of wartime life with buoyant humor and unvarnished honesty.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Hero of the Humber

The Hero of the Humber

Henry Woodcock

Driven by an instinct to save the perishing, a waterfront laborer hazards his life decades before finding a spiritual anchor.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The History of Sir Richard Whittington

The History of Sir Richard Whittington

Unknown

Driven by necessity from the country to London, a penniless youth endures hardship and abuse before a single penny's investment in a cat alters his destiny.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of A Nurse's Life in War and Peace

A Nurse's Life in War and Peace

E. C. (Eleanor Constance) Laurence

A dedicated English nurse moves steadily through municipal wards, tropical journeys, and war zones, offering an unvarnished view of early modern medicine.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of British Political Leaders

British Political Leaders

Justin McCarthy

Behind the ornate façade of late-Victorian and Edwardian governance, political power shifts dynamically through individual character, institutional friction, and party maneuver. The true engine of parliamentary life is revealed not in grand doctrine, but in personal temperaments, private networks, and tactical clashes.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Harriet Beecher Stowe: a biography for girls

Harriet Beecher Stowe: a biography for girls

Martha Foote Crow

A gifted New England girl turns daily hardship, deep spiritual wrestling, and quiet literary practice into a moral voice that moves an entire nation.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Italian Letters of a Diplomat's Wife: January-May, 1880

Italian Letters of a Diplomat's Wife: January-May, 1880

Mary King Waddington

An American-born diplomat’s wife steps off the train into late-nineteenth-century Rome, recording high society, royal audiences, and scenic drives with lighthearted charm and unpretentious observational intelligence.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of My First Years as a Frenchwoman, 1876-1879

My First Years as a Frenchwoman, 1876-1879

Mary King Waddington

Entering the gilded salons and icy legislative halls of the Third Republic, a cosmopolitan newcomer maps the fragile rebirth of French democracy.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte

John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott

A towering figure of military genius and unyielding ambition faces combined Europe to rescue a fractured France from total ruin. Through icy mountain passes and bloody plains, his sheer presence commands devotion and dictates the destiny of nations.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Nat the Navigator. A Life of Nathaniel Bowditch. For Young Persons

Nat the Navigator. A Life of Nathaniel Bowditch. For Young Persons

Henry I. (Henry Ingersoll) Bowditch

A self-taught mathematician rises from childhood poverty in Salem to revolutionize American navigation and translate the most complex European astronomy.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Lives of Celebrated Travellers, Vol. 2 (of 3)

The Lives of Celebrated Travellers, Vol. 2 (of 3)

James Augustus St. John

Across deserts, mountain peaks, and storm-tossed seas, early European explorers charted the contours of a rapidly expanding world while testing the absolute limits of human endurance.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of A Mediaeval Mystic: A Short Account of the Life and Writings of Blessed John Ruysbroeck, Canon Regular of Groenendael A.D. 1293-1381

A Mediaeval Mystic: A Short Account of the Life and Writings of Blessed John Ruysbroeck, Canon Regular of Groenendael A.D. 1293-1381

Vincent Scully

To enter the world of fourteenth-century Brabant is to step into a landscape of forested solitude, where intense spiritual longing meets the quiet rigor of monastic devotion.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of A Russian Gentleman

A Russian Gentleman

S. T. (Sergei Timofeevich) Aksakov

In the vast, untamed steppes of eighteenth-century Russia, a fierce patriarch builds an empire out of wilderness while his family navigates the raw currents of love, power, and survival.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Abraham Lincoln's Cardinal Traits;: A Study in Ethics, with an Epilogue Addressed to Theologians

Abraham Lincoln's Cardinal Traits;: A Study in Ethics, with an Epilogue Addressed to Theologians

Clark S. (Clark Smith) Beardslee

A soul forged in penury and tested by civil war reveals how absolute moral integrity can unite a nation and clarify the nature of God.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of Four American naval heroes : Paul Jones, Oliver H. Perry, Admiral Farragut, Admiral Dewey

Four American naval heroes : Paul Jones, Oliver H. Perry, Admiral Farragut, Admiral Dewey

Mabel Borton Beebe

A lineage of maritime duty connects the founding of the republic to its rise as a global power, forged through shipboard discipline, tactical daring, and quiet sacrifice.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Historia Calamitatum

Historia Calamitatum

Peter Abelard

Brilliant, contentious, and wrecked by his own passions, a preeminent medieval philosopher lays bare the undoing of his career and the violent ending of his grand romance.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Monumentum Ancyranum: The Deeds of Augustus

Monumentum Ancyranum: The Deeds of Augustus

Emperor of Rome Augustus

A sovereign’s final accounting becomes a monumental testament, carving personal ambition directly into the permanent civic memory of Rome.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Academic Gregories

The Academic Gregories

Agnes Grainger Stewart

A Scottish bloodline transforms from violent Highland outlawry into an unmatched dynasty of professors, mathematicians, and pioneering physicians across two centuries of university life.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of The Life of St. Frances of Rome, and Others

The Life of St. Frances of Rome, and Others

Georgiana Fullerton

Physical life yields entirely to the spirit in these lives of Christian ascetics, where bodily torment and ecstasy meet in quiet Rome.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Vergil: A Biography

Vergil: A Biography

Tenney Frank

A rigorous reconstruction traces how a reserved provincial youth transformed into imperial Rome's defining epic poet through personal turmoil, philosophical study, and political upheaval.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of A Biography of Edmund Spenser

A Biography of Edmund Spenser

John W. (John Wesley) Hales

A visionary poet navigates the sparkling heights of the Elizabethan court and the bleak realities of Irish exile, crafting immortal verse while chasing a security that forever eludes him.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of A Life of St. John for the Young

A Life of St. John for the Young

George Ludington Weed

A youth raised along the shore of Galilee encounters a transformative teacher, following him from quiet waters through national turmoil to the ultimate peak of spiritual vision.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of A Prisoner in Turkey

A Prisoner in Turkey

John Still

A capture at the height of battle opens a three-year ordeal through the harsh interior of Anatolia, where survival hinges on dark humor, quiet solidarity, and sheer endurance.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of A sketch of the life of the late Henry Cooper, barrister-at-Law, of the Norfolk circuit

A sketch of the life of the late Henry Cooper, barrister-at-Law, of the Norfolk circuit

William Cooper

A brilliant courtroom orator rises from obscurity to challenge British authority, only for his sudden death to ignite a bitter struggle over how his legacy will be remembered.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of Life and Death of John of Barneveld

Life and Death of John of Barneveld

John Lothrop Motley

A frail, sixty-year-old statesman manages the affairs of a fragile new republic while European empires mobilize for a devastating religious war. When domestic fanaticism and military ambition turn against him, his devotion to the rule of law leads straight to the scaffold.

Biographies11 min read
Cover of Montrose

Montrose

Mowbray Morris

A brilliant strategist risks everything to unify a divided nation, only to be destroyed by the unyielding passions of civil war.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Mozart

Mozart

Ebenezer Prout

A life of incredible musical genius meets the cold realities of eighteenth-century patronage, financial strain, and administrative indifference.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Part 1

Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Part 1

Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) Grant

An unvarnished, self-effacing account of personal life and military command reveals how a quiet Midwestern boy was unexpectedly shaped into a formidable battlefield general.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 49, November, 1861: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 49, November, 1861: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics

Various

Framing human struggle through personal memoirs, romantic fables, military dispatches, and sharp political critique, this issue captures a nation attempting to understand its own ideals amidst impending unraveling.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The True Story of My Parliamentary Struggle

The True Story of My Parliamentary Struggle

Charles Bradlaugh

Denied a seat by parliamentary majorities despite repeatedly winning election, a nineteenth-century secularist fights for his right to represent his constituents without taking a religious oath.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of An Oration on the Life and Services of Thomas Paine

An Oration on the Life and Services of Thomas Paine

Robert Green Ingersoll

This tribute serves as a passionate defense of a maligned revolutionary, framing his life as an essential struggle for human liberty against the twin tyrannies of monarchical statecraft and institutional superstition.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Diary of Samuel Pepys

Diary of Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys

A man of the seventeenth century records his daily life with such startling candor that the private habits and public pressures of his era remain as vivid today as they were three hundred years ago.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Indian Biography; Vol. 1 (of 2)

Indian Biography; Vol. 1 (of 2)

B. B. (Benjamin Bussey) Thatcher

To document the lives of the original inhabitants of North America is to offer a necessary restitution of historical justice, acknowledging the genius and principle of leaders who shaped an era of profound change.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Life and Writings of Thomas R. Malthus

Life and Writings of Thomas R. Malthus

Charles R. (Charles Robert) Drysdale

This analytical study examines the life and intellectual legacy of Thomas Robert Malthus, specifically focusing on the socio-economic implications of his population theory and its continued relevance to late 19th-century debates on poverty and reform.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Volume 6: Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting to the Queen

Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Volume 6: Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting to the Queen

Mme. (Jeanne-Louise-Henriette) Campan

In the shadow of the guillotine, a loyal attendant chronicles the final, frantic years of the French monarchy, offering an intimate witness to the collapse of a golden world.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Theodore Roosevelt

Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud Not of war only, but detractions rude, Guided by faith, and matchless fortitude, To peace and truth, thy glorious way hast ploughed.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The autobiography of Calvin Coolidge

The autobiography of Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge

The quiet, methodical nature of an American president reveals itself in these pages, offering a portrait of a man who viewed statesmanship not as a performance, but as a series of deliberate, steady tasks. This reflection on a life spent in public service demonstrates how a reserved individual from rural Vermont…

Biographies7 min read
Cover of The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Volume 05: Claudius

The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Volume 05: Claudius

Suetonius

An unlikely survivor of the brutal intrigues surrounding the early Roman emperors, Claudius stumbles from the shadows of his own family into the most powerful office in the world, only to find that ruling is as dangerous as hiding.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Dr. Grenfell's Parish: The Deep Sea Fisherman

Dr. Grenfell's Parish: The Deep Sea Fisherman

Norman Duncan

A portrait of a dedicated physician navigating the treacherous, icy coasts of Labrador to provide medical relief to isolated fishing communities. This account documents a life of service amidst an unforgiving environment.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of English Men of Letters: Coleridge

English Men of Letters: Coleridge

H. D. (Henry Duff) Traill

The genius of the English Romantic movement remains as elusive as it is profound, trapped within the wreckage of a brilliant mind plagued by physical suffering and a fatal, self-medicating addiction.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln: A Short Story of One of the Makers of Mediaeval England

Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln: A Short Story of One of the Makers of Mediaeval England

Charles L. (Charles Latimer) Marson

A defiant, intellectually rigorous saint navigates the brutality of the Middle Ages, challenging kings and archbishops alike to uphold the moral independence of the church.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Life of Beethoven

Life of Beethoven

Ludwig Nohl

This biography traces the evolution of a musical titan, chronicling his rise from a precocious child in Bonn to the solitary, deaf genius who redefined the limits of human expression in Vienna.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Memoirs of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and of the Court of Queen Anne Vol. 1 (of 2)

Memoirs of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and of the Court of Queen Anne Vol. 1 (of 2)

Thomson, A. T., Mrs.

A formidable woman rises from the periphery of the court to become the most influential advisor to a queen, only to find that power is as fragile as it is intoxicating.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of My Diary in Serbia: April 1, 1915-Nov. 1, 1915

My Diary in Serbia: April 1, 1915-Nov. 1, 1915

Monica M. Stanley

The chaos of the Great War is viewed here through the lens of a volunteer nurse, whose daily routine of surgical dressings and hospital administration offers a stark, grounded perspective on a humanitarian crisis.

Biographies6 min read