Best contemporary biographies

[Updated]

After nearly deuce months comprehend Thomas President involving cardinal biographies (ten books squeeze total) mount over 5,000 pages jurisdiction reading, I still sense I bring up to date Jefferson worthless well facing many different revolutionary-era figures…including some come into view Alexander Metropolis who I’ve only encountered through his numerous appearances in a number of presidential biographies.

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Literary Biographies

Following are literary biographies reviewed by The New York Times Book Review since Dec. 31, 2000.

Alice Walker: A Life
By EVELYN C. WHITE
Evelyn C. White traces the writer's life from her days as the child of Georgia sharecroppers to the international triumph of "The Color Purple."

Allen Tate: Orphan of the South
By THOMAS A. UNDERWOOD
A biography of the critic Allen Tate focuses on his Southern aesthetics.

Anthony Blunt: His Lives
By MIRANDA CARTER
Miranda Carter has written a biography of the enigmatic art historian who was surveyor of Britain's royal pictures and a secret Soviet spy.

Anthony Powell: A Life
By MICHAEL BARBER
The first full-length life of Powell is chatty and jokey in a manner peculiar to British biographers.

The Art of Burning Bridges: A Life of John O'Hara
By GEOFFREY WOLFF
Geoffrey Wolff looks past John O'Hara's reputation as an ogre to get to the writer who shook up 20th-century fiction.

Arthur Miller: His Life and Work
By MARTIN GOTTFRIED
Martin Gottfried’s biography tracks the influence of Arthur Miller’s life on his work.

Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith
By ANDREW WILSON
Andrew Wilson's biography explores the turbulence beneath the tale

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Modern Biographies (Series)

Series Editors: 
Angela Brintlinger (Ohio State University, US)
Ludmilla Trigos (Independent Scholar)

Editorial Board: 

• Sara Dickinson (University of Genoa, Italy)
• Polly Jones (Oxford University, UK)
• Steve Norris (Miami University, US)
• Ludmilla Trigos (Independent Scholar, US)
• Carol Ueland (Drew University, US)

One of the best ways to understand a culture is through the lives of those who created that culture, and Russian culture is no exception. Russia’s rich biographical tradition has for centuries showcased its fascinating figures, and this series aims to bring those lives to an Anglophone audience across the world. Modern Biographies offers exciting new perspectives on well-known figures while also drawing attention to overlooked or understudied subjects. The series will be an entry point for English-speaking readers to begin to understand the processes that have formed Russia as we know it and to highlight how biography has played a role in shaping Russian national identity.

The carefully selected authors of Modern Biographies have dedicated their careers to investigating and presenting Russia in monographs and scholarly articles, in classrooms, and in public lectures. For readers, this guarantees that these books are