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Biographies — page 6
2,679 public-domain biographies books, summarised. Page 6 of 56.
Amiel's Journal: The Journal Intime of Henri-Frédéric Amiel
Henri Frédéric Amiel
An intimate, unvarnished portrait of a brilliant mind held captive by its own perfectionism, this private diary turns a life of quiet self-doubt into a profound masterpiece of philosophical self-examination and spiritual honesty.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 348
Various
A nineteenth-century literary miscellany captures a changing world through political debate, romantic poetry, existential drama, and historical analysis.
Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee
Robert E. (Robert Edward) Lee
Through private correspondence and family memories, a Confederate commander’s quiet devotion to duty, family, and post-war reconciliation comes into clear focus.
Letters of Lt.-Col. George Brenton Laurie: (commanding 1st Battn. Royal Irish Rifles) Dated November 4th, 1914-March 11th, 1915
G. B. (George Brenton) Laurie
A commanding officer writes home from the damp trenches of Flanders, offering an intimate, unvarnished look at daily survival on the Western Front before paying the ultimate price.
The manliness of Christ
Thomas Hughes
True courage is not defined by violent assertion or the thrill of battle, but by quiet self-restraint and unwavering obedience to duty.
Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott
A life lived entirely on the page reveals the restless spirit and fierce devotion behind one of America’s most beloved storytellers.
Seekers after God
F. W. (Frederic William) Farrar
Standing on the thresholds of pagan philosophy and Christian revelation, three Roman thinkers struggle to cultivate moral purity within a corrupt empire, proving that the search for righteousness transcends both social station and historical circumstance.
George Eliot
George Willis Cooke
An intellect shaped by the clash between early piety and unyielding rationalism turns its formidable gaze upon the inner mechanisms of human moral choice.
The Underground Railroad: A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters, &c., Narrating the Hardships, Hair-Breadth Escapes and Death Struggles of the Slaves in Their Efforts for Freedom, As Related by Themselves and Others, or Witnessed by the Author
William Still
A mother’s desperate flight with her children lays the groundwork for a vast, covert network of defiance, recording the harrowing journeys, unyielding resilience, and real-life records of men and women escaping American slavery.
Nietzsche: His Life and Works
Anthony M. (Anthony Mario) Ludovici
A philosophy forged in isolation and forged against its own age finds its advocate in an interpreter who champions its fierce, uncompromising demand for human greatness.
A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages and Nations
J. M. (Joseph Mazzini) Wheeler
Dissent spans across geographic boundaries, century upon century, quietly shaping the architecture of human thought. By collecting the lives of countless iconoclasts into a singular record, a grand mosaic of global skepticism emerges from the shadows of history.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Margaret Moyes Black
A bright-eyed Edinburgh boy turns truant to roam the Pentland Hills, rejects his family’s lighthouse engineering legacy, and spends a short, restless life chasing health and story across two hemispheres.
The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume I
Alexander Wheelock Thayer
A patient biographer sweeps away centuries of romantic speculation to uncover the cold, documented facts of a musical genius's early life.
The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll (Rev. C. L. Dodgson)
Stuart Dodgson Collingwood
A shy Oxford mathematician creates timeless wonderland tales for children, balancing strict logic and deep piety with endless whimsical play.
Captain Cook's Journal During His First Voyage Round the World: Made in H. M. Bark "Endeavour", 1768-71
James Cook
A plain-spoken naval logbook expands into an extraordinary chronicle of Pacific navigation, recording with unadorned precision the first European mapping of New Zealand and eastern Australia alongside the everyday realities of eighteenth-century seafaring.
Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati
Warren Crocker Herrick
A transformative encounter in the wilderness turns an uncertain young man into a dedicated minister who devotes four decades to reviving an urban parish, challenging political corruption, and serving as the moral anchor of a major Midwest city.
Frederick the Great and the Rise of Prussia
William Fiddian Reddaway
A rigorous study of Prussian statecraft, this biography examines the life of a monarch who transformed a minor kingdom into a European power through relentless administration, cold-blooded diplomacy, and military discipline.
The Autobiography of Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair
A veteran reformer reflects on a life spent challenging the status quo, offering an intimate, lighthearted, and deeply candid account of his evolution from a precocious child to a world-renowned activist and writer.
Oscar Wilde
Guy Thorne
An exploration of a brilliant life cut short by scandal, this biographical study traces the arc of a literary icon from his soaring artistic triumphs to his ultimate, tragic ruin.
Peter Cooper
Rossiter W. (Rossiter Worthington) Raymond
A portrait of an industrial pioneer whose greatest innovation was not a machine, but a lifelong commitment to the education of the working class. This account traces the arc of a man who helped build a nation.
Catherine the Great
Katharine Susan Anthony
A resilient German princess transforms herself into the absolute autocrat of Russia, navigating a treacherous court through sheer force of will and intellect. This portrait captures the ascent of a woman who claimed power for herself.
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 11: Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Businessmen
Elbert Hubbard
These biographical portraits celebrate the grit and vision of twelve titans who forged the modern industrial world. They explore the intersection of personal character, domestic partnership, and the relentless pursuit of commercial success.
The Life of Gordon, Volume I
Demetrius Charles Boulger
This biography captures the restless, singular spirit of a British officer whose professional genius and moral intensity defined an era of imperial expansion. It tracks a life balanced between iron-willed military command and an evolving, deeply personal devotion to others.
The Making Of A Novelist: An Experiment In Autobiography
David Christie Murray
The past is a vast, often unforgiving country, and this memoir serves as a traveler’s journal for a man who navigated it by way of the pen, the barracks, and the stage.
Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 2 of 3), Essay 2: Turgot
John Morley
A portrait of an Enlightenment reformer who sought to modernize a crumbling monarchy, only to be undone by the very system he tried to save.
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
John Bunyan
This spiritual autobiography charts the turbulent inner life of a man obsessed with his own salvation, offering a raw, psychological map of faith, doubt, and the struggle to find peace in a hostile world.
George Eliot's Life, as Related in Her Letters and Journals. Vol. 1 (of 3)
George Eliot
A life defined by deep intellectual hunger and the steady, quiet expansion of the heart, this portrait reveals the woman behind the pen. It is a journey from provincial obscurity to the threshold of literary fame.
How I Know God Answers Prayer: The Personal Testimony of One Life-Time
Rosalind Goforth
A profound, quiet testament to the belief that the divine listens to the individual, this account maps a lifetime of spiritual reliance amidst the trials of missionary service in China.
Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras, or Pythagoric Life: Accompanied by Fragments of the Ethical Writings of certain Pythagoreans in the Doric dialect
Iamblichus
The path to wisdom belongs only to the genuine few, for the voice of truth is heard in vain by the vulgar herd. This work offers a window into the life, teachings, and legendary stature of one of antiquity’s most enigmatic figures.
Lives of the Engineers: The Locomotive. George and Robert Stephenson
Samuel Smiles
This is a portrait of the pioneers who shrank the globe, turning the industrial grit of the nineteenth century into the iron arteries of modern travel.
Reminiscences of Anton Chekhov
Maksim Gorky
A portrait of a quiet, singular genius, this collection gathers the intimate observations of those who stood closest to the man who redefined the possibilities of the short story.
Apologia pro vita sua
John Henry Newman
A man of profound intellect defends the integrity of his life and conscience after a public accusation of dishonesty threatens to dismantle his reputation.
Jane Austen and her works
Sarah Tytler
A literary guide that bridges the gap between a classic novelist and a modern reader, offering a thoughtful, condensed pathway into the heart of English domestic fiction.
Asser's Life of King Alfred
John Asser
This foundational biography offers an intimate portrait of a ninth-century monarch, documenting his struggle to defend his realm against invading forces while cultivating a legacy of scholarship, religious reform, and enlightened governance.
Nero: Makers of History Series
Jacob Abbott
A fragile boy becomes the most powerful man on earth, only to find that absolute authority provides no shield against his own unraveling paranoia and the cycles of blood that defined his family.
Stephen Arnold Douglas
William Garrott Brown
This account examines the life of a titan of American politics, tracing his meteoric rise in the West and his pivotal, ultimately tragic role in the fracturing of a nation.
The Greater Love
George T. McCarthy
In the shadow of the Great War, a military chaplain steps onto the muddy, shell-cratered battlefields of Western Europe to minister to the souls of American soldiers facing mortal peril.
The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme): The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux: With Additional Writings and Sayings of St. Thérèse
Thérèse, de Lisieux, Saint
A young French woman enters a cloistered convent at fifteen and transforms the daily friction of monastic life into a profound spiritual path before her death at twenty-four.
The Works of Lord Byron: Letters and Journals. Vol. 1
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron
A temperamental young aristocrat exchanges raw vulnerability, ferocious ambition, and scathing wit through private correspondence, mapping his meteoric rise from rebellious schoolboy to infamous global poet.
Hannibal: Makers of History
Jacob Abbott
A ruthless Carthaginian general marches across the Alps to shatter Rome, sparking a catastrophic cycle of vengeance, conquest, and total annihilation.
Through the Year with Famous Authors
Mabel Patterson
A calendar of literary dates serves as a gateway to the world's most enduring poetry, philosophy, and prose, connecting daily living with human thought through the ages.
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 14: Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Musicians
Elbert Hubbard
A genius requires no grand pedigree, only the freedom to listen to the silent music within.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 16
Robert Louis Stevenson
A grandfather constructs lighthouses on treacherous reefs, while his literary descendant constructs prose from memories, moral reflections, and late-life prayers. Together, they trace an enduring lineage of labor, art, and human duty.
The Autobiography of Goethe: Truth and Poetry: From My Own Life
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A restless, artistic spirit searches for truth across the shifting landscapes of eighteenth-century Germany, transforming the frictions of youth and love into enduring art.
The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England, Volume 1 (of 6): Mémoires d'outre-tombe, volume 1
Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de
Born into the cold stone of a Breton castle, an aristocratic dreamer grows up amidst family melancholy, witnesses the violent shattering of old France, and wanders across the Atlantic in search of freedom and raw wilderness.
Frederick Chopin, as a Man and Musician
Frederick Niecks
A frail youth leaves the bustling, troubled streets of Warsaw behind, embarking on a turbulent path that reshapes romantic pianism across the salons and concert halls of Europe.
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler
Samuel Butler
Thoughts are swift, elusive creatures, best captured on the wing before they can slip back into the quiet ether of the mind.
Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 1: In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods
Plotinus
The soul does not move in a straight line; it circles a hidden center, seeking the source from which it sprang. Across these collected works, a third-century Egyptian philosopher maps the return of the human spirit to the ultimate One.