characteristics of historical biography

10 Key Characteristics, Origin, Types And Classification Of A Biography

We explain what a biography is, its origin and how this writing is classified. Also, what are its features, extension and more.

What is a Biography?

Origin of the term biography, genre of the biography, biography background.

biography types

• Authorized.  The one that has the approval of the biographer or his heirs and executors, that is, the one that has survived a certain process of censorship.
• Unauthorized. That written without approval and revision of the biographed character or his heirs.
• False. It is known as false autobiography or false biography to works of fiction that pretend to be biographical writings.

Delimitation of the biography

Objectivity of the biography

Biographical approach.

biographical novelty

Biography extension.

Biography Value

Kalum Talbot

MA student of the TransAtlantic Masters program at UNC-Chapel Hill. Political Science with a focus on European Studies. Expressed ideas are open to revision. He not only covers Technical articles but also has skills in the fields of SEO, graphics, web development and coding. .

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The Elements of a Biography: How to Write an Interesting Bio

• March 30, 2022

While these books are generally non-fiction, they may include elements of a biography in order to more accurately reflect the nature of the subject’s life and personality, Writing about someone who actually existed, whether it’s a family member, close friend, famous person, or historical figure, involves certain elements. A person’s life story is being told, and the subject’s life needs to be organized in such a way that the reader is interested and engaged. 

Biographies can easily read as boring announcements of only a human’s accomplishments in life, and if you want the bio you write to stand out, you should try to avoid that.

When you’re writing a biography or even a short professional bio, ask yourself what sorts of things you’d like included if someone was writing your biography. 

You would most likely want people to get a feel of who you were as a person, and to be able to understand the way that you felt, what moved and motivated you, and what changes you wanted to see and make in the world.

Do the same thing when you write about someone else. Do the subject the favor of treating them like a real person instead of a stiff and boring character that students will dread having to learn about at school each year. Getting students excited about history, historical figures, and people of interest can inspire them to work hard to make a difference as well.

What Does Biographical Mean?

The term “biographical” is an adjective that means having the characteristics of a biography or constituting a set of personal information or details. For instance,  biographical notes  contain information about a specific person’s life or narrate stories and experiences of that person. Another example is  biographical details . Biographical details include who the person is, what they have become, what they have struggled with, and any other information unique to them.

Keep It Real

Don’t fictionalize the life of the person you are writing about, but remember your sense of humanity when you write, and do what you can to make sure that your subject can be viewed as a real person who existed, rather than just a name on a monument.

It’s a thin line between rumor, speculation, and fact when telling the stories of people, especially people who are long dead and can’t verify or refute it for themselves. Be sure that if you do research and something is speculated, you state that in your writing.

Never claim something is fact when it’s isn’t a known and proven fact. This will cause you to lose credibility as a nonfiction writer.

What to Include in a Biography

When you read or write a biography, most of them have the same basic details of a person’s life. The person’s date of birth, date of death, and the major accomplishments and key events in between those two dates are all important to include in the writing process. These are elements that need to exist within the story of the person to be considered a full biography.

Keep in mind that these are the minimum elements that need to be included. Expanding on these elements and adding meat to the bones of your story will engage readers. 

If you only include important dates and accomplishments, you might as well direct the reader to visit the headstone of the person you are writing about, and they’ll get almost as much information.

Personal details offer a more intimate look into the subject’s life and can help the reader to relate or at least understand some of the decisions made by the person, as well as the influences that played a part in steering the person’s life. 

If the subject had any passions that he or she voiced throughout his or her life, mentioning those in your story of their life will elevate your biography.

Relevant Information

Family members are often mentioned in biography and major details of the person’s career. If the person was known for their accomplishments in their field of work, there is often more content there than a brief career summary.

The result is usually more of a professional bio than a personal one. Basic facts of the person’s education are often mentioned as well. If you are writing a biography about someone, try to remember to write about more than just their job.

Remember that you aren’t writing a resume, and the subject isn’t asking you to help them get a job. You are tasked with writing about the entire life of someone. You are more than your job, so the subject of the biography you are writing should get to be more, as well.

Personal Information

Biographies don’t have to be boring. Personal stories, interesting stories, and funny quips are sometimes used to make the readers identify with the subject. 

When included in a biography, these details give the reader a chance to feel as though the subject was a real person with opinions, feelings, flaws, and a personality, rather than a stuffy person who is significant to history and not much else.

Providing the audience with these lighthearted but not necessarily crucial elements of a biography will make the biography more interesting and appealing.

Narrator and Order

Point of view.

An important element in most biographies is establishing the point of view. You don’t want to write it like a novel and have it written in a first-person point of view. This will result in something that is somewhat fictionalized and something that more closely resembles an autobiography, which is the personal story of a person’s own life.

Biographies should be written in the third person point of view. In third person, someone outside of the story, who has all of the information, is the narrator. 

Try not to be biased. Stick to the basic facts, major events that you have researched, and keep the story interesting but accurate. A biography is not meant to be a fictional adventure, but the subject’s life was significant in some manner, and the details of that can still be interesting.

Chronological Order

Biographies usually begin, well, in the beginning, at the birth of the subject. The first sentence usually includes the basic information that a reader needs to know: who the person is, where the person is from, and when the person was born. A biography that doesn’t include these details but starts at the most important life events can exist, but they aren’t common. You may see this tactic used in a short biography or a brief bio.

Usually, chronological order is the best course of action for a biography. A person’s life begins in childhood, so details of that childhood, even briefly, are necessary before getting to the subject’s adult life.

Describing the subject’s early life to the audience usually means you should research and write about the family they came from, their early education, what kind of student the person was, where they came from, any close bonds they had as children with people. 

As well as their interests and whether or not they pursued the life they ended up with as an adult, or if greatness and accomplishments were thrust upon them by events outside of their control.

As you progress into a subject’s adult life, you should add achievements to the biography. Focus not only on the major achievements as acts but also try to fill the audience in on what the motivation for the achievements was.

For example,  Abraham Lincoln  was the sixteenth President of the United States. That’s a well-known fact. Students learn about him in American grade schools and then over and over until their educational careers are over. In a bio about Lincoln, you may discuss the fact that Lincoln freed the slaves.

While this is true, you need to research deeper into that. Just stating that a person did something doesn’t make it an interesting read. Ask yourself why he freed the slaves.

Do your research, speak to an expert, and search for journals and letters that a subject might have written to describe how they felt to the audience and how they drove the person to do what they did.

Focus on the Impact the Person’s Life Had

After you have gone over the person’s life in the biography, you should share with readers what impact the subject’s life had on the rest of the world, even (sometimes especially) after their death. Many of the important people in history who have biographies written about them are deceased.

When you write a biography, ask yourself why anyone cares what that person accomplished. What did they do for one or two people to make them important enough to have a biography?

For example, many students learn about George Washington. He gave America the sense of hope and patriotism that they needed to declare and then achieve freedom from English rule. 

When we search for information about Washington, we find not only his bio and his painted picture, but we also see and learn about the things he influenced, inspired, and the feelings he invoked among the people around him.

When we give a well-rounded look at not only what the person did in their lives, but how they changed the world, even just for those around them, we start to see the bigger picture and appreciate the person more.

Students can go from being bored and obligated to reading sentence after sentence about a boring guy who lived hundreds of years ago to being excited to learn more about the founding fathers. As a writer, it is your job to inspire these feelings for the reader.

When you write a biography, it’s important that you thoroughly research and fact-check everything you are writing about. Everyone knows that Lincoln freed the slaves, but you should still research it to ensure that everything is accurate as far as dates, places, speeches, and motivations go.

Make sure that you are getting your information from reputable resources. If you are interviewing live people, be sure to verify their credentials and use a tape recorder when doing so.

A biography is not an opinion piece or a novel, and there is no room for error, miscalculation, or falsification when you write a biography.

Actor Bio Example

An actor’s bio tells about the details of a specific person with regard to a person’s acting career. Below is an example. ( This example is created to serve as a guide for you and does not describe an actual person .)

Edgar Anderson and his family reside in Washington. He is currently taking up a Business Management course and striving to achieve a balance between schooling and his career. Edgar first experienced acting when he was still a junior high school student in 2015, where he played  Horton  in a Seussical-inspired school theater play. His manager discovered him in 2018 when the former watched him portray the lead role in a play about the history of their school during the school’s Foundation Day.

In 2022, he got his first nomination for best actor at the Oscars. Recently, Edgar has found a new set of hobbies. He enjoys learning karate and foreign languages. Edgar often thanks his family and friends because they have fully supported him in his acting career. He also extends his gratitude to the directors he has worked with and the talent agency that has helped him ascend the ladder of his career.

He dedicates his early success to all who have believed in him over the years. According to Edger, he loves his career even more because of the overflowing love and support he continually receives from his fans and loved ones.

The Importance of a Biography

It is important to include all of the elements of a biography because a biography is the story of a person’s life, and that’s a big undertaking. The subject is often no longer alive and can’t dispute what we write about them, so we have to get the information right and do the best we can when writing.

Students work on writing biographies and research papers about people in school so that they can learn more about the people who helped us get to where we are today in terms of society.

We teach students the skills and elements of a biography so that the practice of telling the story of a person’s life never gets lost. We need to focus on the future, but we cannot do that without understanding the past.

Other people may one day come along and write your bio, and when that happens, you have to hope that the first step they take is to do the research thoroughly so that they can do your story justice. That is what we owe the person we are writing about when we start to search for information about them.

Be respectful of the biography because it is the telling of those who came before us and can serve as a guidebook for the future or even a warning.

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Best Biographies » Historical Biographies

Browse book recommendations:

Best Biographies

• Ancient Biographies
• Artists' Biographies
• Group Biographies
• Literary Biographies
• Scientific Biographies

When you want to find out more about a historical or political figure, a biography is a great place to start. We have interviews dedicated to the best five books on historical figures —which can include primary sources, or books that focus on specific aspects of their life or legacy, as well as the story of their lives—but in this section, we have also included biographies of historical/political figures who don't yet have a dedicated interview on our site.

Best Spartacus biography Best Alexander the Great books Best Margaret Thatcher biography Best Joan of Arc biography Best books on Winston Churchill Best books on Elizabeth I Best Karl Marx Biography Best Eleanor of Aquitaine biography Best Isabella de' Medici biography The best books on Napoleon Bonaparte The best biography of Otto von Bismarck Best Catherine the Great biography The best books on Adolf Hitler The best Franco biography Best Books on Charles de Gaulle Best Florence Nightingale biography

Best books on Mahatma Gandhi Best Mao biography Best Indira Gandhi biography Best Aung San Suu Kyi biography (from 2011) Best Dalai Lama biography

Best Akhenaten biography Best Hatshepsut biography Best Haile Selassie biography Best books on Nelson Mandela Best Steve Biko biography

Best George Washington biography Best Martin Luther King biography Best Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt biography Best Sitting Bull biography Best Rachel Carson biography Best Amelia Earhart biography Best Frederick Douglass biography Best John F Kennedy biography (though this only covers the earlier years) Best Che Guevara biography Best Eva Peron biography Best Lula biography (from 2008)

The best books on Winston Churchill , recommended by Richard Toye

My early life 1874-1904 by winston churchill, churchill and the islamic world: orientalism, empire and diplomacy in the middle east by warren dockter, in command of history: churchill fighting and writing the second world war by david reynolds, churchill and the dardanelles by christopher m bell, winston churchill as i knew him by violet bonham carter.

Winston Churchill’s role as a global statesman remains immensely controversial. For some he was the heroic champion of liberty, saviour of the free world; for others a callous imperialist with a doleful legacy. Here, historian Richard Toye chooses the best books to help you understand the man behind the myths and Churchill's own role in making those myths.

Winston Churchill’s role as a global statesman remains immensely controversial. For some he was the heroic champion of liberty, saviour of the free world; for others a callous imperialist with a doleful legacy. Here, historian Richard Toye chooses the best books to help you understand the man behind the myths and Churchill’s own role in making those myths.

The Best Thomas Cromwell Books , recommended by Benedict King

Thomas cromwell: a life by diarmaid macculloch, the tudor constitution: documents and commentary by g r elton, the reformation parliament 1529-1536 by stanford e lehmberg, henry viii: the quest for fame by john guy, london and the reformation by susan brigden.

The Mirror and the Light— the final instalment of Hilary Mantel's epic trilogy covering the life of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s chief minister and architect of the English Reformation—was published to great acclaim this month. Here, Five Books contributing editor Benedict King chooses five of the best books to help you get to grips with the real Thomas Cromwell and the political and religious environment in which he operated. You can watch Benedict talking about his Thomas Cromwell book choices here.

The Mirror and the Light— the final instalment of Hilary Mantel’s epic trilogy covering the life of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s chief minister and architect of the English Reformation—was published to great acclaim this month. Here, Five Books contributing editor Benedict King chooses five of the best books to help you get to grips with the real Thomas Cromwell and the political and religious environment in which he operated. You can watch Benedict talking about his Thomas Cromwell book choices here.

The best books on Alexander the Great , recommended by Hugh Bowden

Alexander the great: the anabasis and the indica by arrian, the history of alexander by quintus curtius rufus, the first european: a history of alexander in the age of empire by pierre briant, the persian empire: a corpus of sources from the achaemenid period by amélie kuhrt, fire from heaven by mary renault.

Alexander the Great never lost a battle and established an empire that stretched from the Mediterranean to the Indian subcontinent. From the earliest times, historians have argued about the nature of his achievements and what his failings were, both as a man and as a political leader. Here, Hugh Bowden , professor of ancient history at King's College London, chooses five books to help you understand the controversies, the man behind the legends, and why the legends have taken the forms they have.

Alexander the Great never lost a battle and established an empire that stretched from the Mediterranean to the Indian subcontinent. From the earliest times, historians have argued about the nature of his achievements and what his failings were, both as a man and as a political leader. Here, Hugh Bowden , professor of ancient history at King’s College London, chooses five books to help you understand the controversies, the man behind the legends, and why the legends have taken the forms they have.

The best books on Napoleon , recommended by Andrew Roberts

The campaigns of napoleon by david g chandler, talleyrand by duff cooper, with eagles to glory: napoleon and his german allies in the 1809 campaign by john h gill, private memoirs of the court of napoleon by louis françois joseph bausset-roquefort, with napoleon in russia: memoirs of general de caulaincourt, duke of vicenza by armand de caulaincourt.

How did Napoleon Bonaparte, an upstart Corsican, go on to conquer half of Europe in the 16 years of his rule? Was he a military genius? And was he really that short? Historian Andrew Roberts , author of a bestselling biography of Napoleon , introduces us to the books that shaped how he sees l'Empereur —including little-known sources from those who knew Napoleon personally. Read more history book recommendations on Five Books

How did Napoleon Bonaparte, an upstart Corsican, go on to conquer half of Europe in the 16 years of his rule? Was he a military genius? And was he really that short? Historian Andrew Roberts, author of a bestselling biography of Napoleon , introduces us to the books that shaped how he sees l’Empereur —including little-known sources from those who knew Napoleon personally. Read more history book recommendations on Five Books

The best books on Gandhi , recommended by Ramachandra Guha

My days with gandhi by nirmal kumar bose, a week with gandhi by louis fischer, mahatma gandhi: nonviolent power in action by dennis dalton, gandhi's religion: a homespun shawl by j. t. f. jordens, harilal gandhi: a life by chandulal bhagubhai.

Gandhi's peaceful resistance to British rule changed India and inspired freedom movements around the globe. But as well as being an inspiring leader, Gandhi was also a human being. Ramachandra Guha , author of a new two-part biography of Gandhi, introduces us to books that give a fuller picture of the man who came to be known as 'Mahatma' Gandhi.

Gandhi’s peaceful resistance to British rule changed India and inspired freedom movements around the globe. But as well as being an inspiring leader, Gandhi was also a human being. Ramachandra Guha, author of a new two-part biography of Gandhi, introduces us to books that give a fuller picture of the man who came to be known as ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi.

The best books on Marx and Marxism , recommended by Terrell Carver

Karl marx by isaiah berlin, karl marx: his life and thought by david mclellan, karl marx's theory of history by g. a. cohen, the young karl marx by david leopold, karl marx: a nineteenth-century life by jonathan sperber.

Few people have had their ideas reinvented as many times as the German intellectual and political activist, Karl Marx. Professor of political theory, Terrell Carver , takes us through the most influential books, in English, about Marx, Marxism and his friend, publicist and financial backer, Friedrich Engels.

Few people have had their ideas reinvented as many times as the German intellectual and political activist, Karl Marx. Professor of political theory, Terrell Carver, takes us through the most influential books, in English, about Marx, Marxism and his friend, publicist and financial backer, Friedrich Engels.

The best books on British Prime Ministers , recommended by Anthony Seldon

Baldwin by keith middlemas and john barnes, lloyd george by john grigg, winston s churchill by martin gilbert, supermac by dr thorpe, margaret thatcher by john campbell.

It's their frailty that makes politicians such interesting characters, says Tony Blair's biographer Anthony Seldon . He tells us about the art of political biography and the writers who've best captured leaders such as Churchill and Thatcher

It’s their frailty that makes politicians such interesting characters, says Tony Blair’s biographer Anthony Seldon. He tells us about the art of political biography and the writers who’ve best captured leaders such as Churchill and Thatcher

The best books on The Kennedys , recommended by David Nasaw

Hostage to fortune: the letters of joseph p. kennedy by amanda smith (editor), conversations with kennedy by benjamin c. bradlee, robert kennedy and his times by arthur m. schlesinger, jr., jfk: reckless youth by nigel hamilton, true compass by edward m. kennedy.

The story and tragedy of the Kennedys is so incredible you don't need to turn to fiction, says the biographer of Joseph P Kennedy, David Nasaw . He talks us through the Kennedy generations.

The story and tragedy of the Kennedys is so incredible you don’t need to turn to fiction, says the biographer of Joseph P Kennedy, David Nasaw. He talks us through the Kennedy generations.

The best books on Hitler , recommended by Michael Burleigh

The fuehrer by konrad heiden, hitler’s vienna by brigitte hamann, hitler: the fuhrer and the people by j p stern, the hitler myth by ian kershaw, hitler by joachim fest.

Hitler has a reputation as the incarnation of evil. But, as British historian Michael Burleigh points out in selecting the best books on the German dictator, Hitler was a bizarre and strangely empty character who never did a proper day's work in his life, as well as a raving fantasist on to whom Germans were able to project their longings.

Hitler has a reputation as the incarnation of evil. But, as British historian Michael Burleigh points out in selecting the best books on the German dictator, Hitler was a bizarre and strangely empty character who never did a proper day’s work in his life, as well as a raving fantasist on to whom Germans were able to project their longings.

The best books on The French Resistance , recommended by Jonathan Fenby

Churchill and de gaulle by françois kersaudy, assignment to catastrophe by edward spears, the resistance by matthew cobb, l’armée des ombres (army of shadows) by jean-pierre melville, bad faith: a history of family and fatherland by carmen callil.

The historian and author chooses five books on de Gaulle and the Resistance. He says the British tried to veto de Gaulle’s famous 1940 speech from London calling on the French to stand up to German occupation

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand seven hundred interviews, or eight thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

Five Books participates in the Amazon Associate program and earns money from qualifying purchases.

© Five Books 2024

What Is a Biography?

Learning from the experiences of others is what makes us human.

At the core of every biography is the story of someone’s humanity. While biographies come in many sub-genres, the one thing they all have in common is loyalty to the facts, as they’re available at the time. Here’s how we define biography, a look at its origins, and some popular types.

“Biography” Definition

A biography is simply the story of a real person’s life. It could be about a person who is still alive, someone who lived centuries ago, someone who is globally famous, an unsung hero forgotten by history, or even a unique group of people. The facts of their life, from birth to death (or the present day of the author), are included with life-changing moments often taking center stage. The author usually points to the subject’s childhood, coming-of-age events, relationships, failures, and successes in order to create a well-rounded description of her subject.

Biographies require a great deal of research. Sources of information could be as direct as an interview with the subject providing their own interpretation of their life’s events. When writing about people who are no longer with us, biographers look for primary sources left behind by the subject and, if possible, interviews with friends or family. Historical biographers may also include accounts from other experts who have studied their subject.

The biographer’s ultimate goal is to recreate the world their subject lived in and describe how they functioned within it. Did they change their world? Did their world change them? Did they transcend the time in which they lived? Why or why not? And how? These universal life lessons are what make biographies such a meaningful read.

Origins of the Biography

Greco-Roman literature honored the gods as well as notable mortals. Whether winning or losing, their behaviors were to be copied or seen as cautionary tales. One of the earliest examples written exclusively about humans is Plutarch’s Parallel Lives (probably early 2 nd century AD). It’s a collection of biographies in which a pair of men, one Greek and one Roman, are compared and held up as either a good or bad example to follow.

In the Middle Ages, Einhard’s The Life of Charlemagne (around 817 AD) stands out as one of the most famous biographies of its day. Einhard clearly fawns over Charlemagne’s accomplishments throughout, yet it doesn’t diminish the value this biography has brought to centuries of historians since its writing.

Considered the earliest modern biography, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) by James Boswell looks like the biographies we know today. Boswell conducted interviews, performed years of research, and created a compelling narrative of his subject.

The genre evolves as the 20th century arrives, and with it the first World War. The 1920s saw a boom in autobiographies in response. Robert Graves’ Good-Bye to All That (1929) is a coming-of age story set amid the absurdity of war and its aftermath. That same year, Mahatma Gandhi wrote The Story of My Experiments with Truth , recalling how the events of his life led him to develop his theories of nonviolent rebellion. In this time, celebrity tell-alls also emerged as a popular form of entertainment. With the horrors of World War II and the explosion of the civil rights movement, American biographers of the late 20 th century had much to archive. Instantly hailed as some of the best writing about the war, John Hersey’s Hiroshima (1946) tells the stories of six people who lived through those world-altering days. Alex Haley wrote the as-told-to The Autobiography of Malcom X (1965). Yet with biographies, the more things change, the more they stay the same. One theme that persists is a biographer’s desire to cast its subject in an updated light, as in Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair that Shaped a First Lady by Susan Quinn (2016).

Types of Biographies

Contemporary Biography: Authorized or Unauthorized

The typical modern biography tells the life of someone still alive, or who has recently passed. Sometimes these are authorized — written with permission or input from the subject or their family — like Dave Itzkoff’s intimate look at the life and career of Robin Williams, Robin . Unauthorized biographies of living people run the risk of being controversial. Kitty Kelley’s infamous His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra so angered Sinatra, he tried to prevent its publication.

Historical Biography

The wild success of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is proof that our interest in historical biography is as strong as ever. Miranda was inspired to write the musical after reading Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton , an epic 800+ page biography intended to cement Hamilton’s status as a great American. Paula Gunn Allen also sets the record straight on another misunderstood historical figure with Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur, Diplomat , revealing details about her tribe, her family, and her relationship with John Smith that are usually missing from other accounts. Historical biographies also give the spotlight to people who died without ever getting the recognition they deserved, such as The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks .

Biography of a Group

When a group of people share unique characteristics, they can be the topic of a collective biography. The earliest example of this is Captain Charles Johnson’s A General History of the Pirates (1724), which catalogs the lives of notorious pirates and establishes the popular culture images we still associate with them. Smaller groups are also deserving of a biography, as seen in David Hajdu’s Positively 4th Street , a mesmerizing behind-the-scenes look at the early years of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña as they establish the folk scene in New York City. Likewise, British royal family fashion is a vehicle for telling the life stories of four iconic royals – Queen Elizabeth II, Diana, Kate, and Meghan – in HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style by style journalist Elizabeth Holmes.

Autobiography

This type of biography is written about one’s self, spanning an entire life up to the point of its writing. One of the earliest autobiographies is Saint Augustine’s The Confessions (400), in which his own experiences from childhood through his religious conversion are told in order to create a sweeping guide to life. Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the first of six autobiographies that share all the pain of her childhood and the long road that led to her work in the civil rights movement, and a beloved, prize-winning writer.

Memoirs are a type of autobiography, written about a specific but vital aspect of one’s life. In Toil & Trouble , Augusten Burroughs explains how he has lived his life as a witch. Mikel Jollett’s Hollywood Park recounts his early years spent in a cult, his family’s escape, and his rise to success with his band, The Airborne Toxic Event. Barack Obama’s first presidential memoir, A Promised Land , charts his path into politics and takes a deep dive into his first four years in office.

Fictional Biography

Fictional biographies are no substitute for a painstakingly researched scholarly biography, but they’re definitely meant to be more entertaining. Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler constructs Zelda and F. Scott’s wild, Jazz-Age life, told from Zelda’s point of view. The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict brings readers into the secret life of Hollywood actress and wartime scientist, Hedy Lamarr. These imagined biographies, while often whimsical, still respect the form in that they depend heavily on facts when creating setting, plot, and characters.

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History and biography.

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Lawrence Goldman, History and biography, Historical Research , Volume 89, Issue 245, August 2016, Pages 399–411, https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2281.12144

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This article explores the relationship between historical and biographical writing. It looks at the way structural and individualized approaches to past events complement each other and also conflict on occasion by focusing on examples drawn from modern British and American history. Given as an inaugural lecture by the new Director of the Institute of Historical Research, it looks in turn at the contribution of the I.H.R. to the development of Tudor historiography; at the history and aims of the original Dictionary of National Biography and its successor, the Oxford D.N.B. , published in 2004; and at the advantages and disadvantages of a history of the modern welfare state written through the biographies of its founders, among them William Beveridge, William Temple and R. H. Tawney. On the American side, contrasting depictions of Abraham Lincoln by biographers and historians are compared and the limits of both structural and biographical approaches to the history of American slavery and of individual slave lives are considered. The article argues that the best historical research and the most readable history require both types of analysis, biographical as well as historical.

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Definition of Biography

A biography is the non- fiction , written history or account of a person’s life. Biographies are intended to give an objective portrayal of a person, written in the third person. Biographers collect information from the subject (if he/she is available), acquaintances of the subject, or in researching other sources such as reference material, experts, records, diaries, interviews, etc. Most biographers intend to present the life story of a person and establish the context of their story for the reader, whether in terms of history and/or the present day. In turn, the reader can be reasonably assured that the information presented about the biographical subject is as true and authentic as possible.

Biographies can be written about a person at any time, no matter if they are living or dead. However, there are limitations to biography as a literary device. Even if the subject is involved in the biographical process, the biographer is restricted in terms of access to the subject’s thoughts or feelings.

Biographical works typically include details of significant events that shape the life of the subject as well as information about their childhood, education, career, and relationships. Occasionally, a biography is made into another form of art such as a film or dramatic production. The musical production of “Hamilton” is an excellent example of a biographical work that has been turned into one of the most popular musical productions in Broadway history.

Common Examples of Biographical Subjects

Most people assume that the subject of a biography must be a person who is famous in some way. However, that’s not always the case. In general, biographical subjects tend to be interesting people who have pioneered something in their field of expertise or done something extraordinary for humanity. In addition, biographical subjects can be people who have experienced something unusual or heartbreaking, committed terrible acts, or who are especially gifted and/or talented.

As a literary device, biography is important because it allows readers to learn about someone’s story and history. This can be enlightening, inspiring, and meaningful in creating connections. Here are some common examples of biographical subjects:

• political leaders
• entrepreneurs
• historical figures
• serial killers
• notorious people
• political activists
• adventurers/explorers
• religious leaders
• military leaders
• cultural figures

Famous Examples of Biographical Works

The readership for biography tends to be those who enjoy learning about a certain person’s life or overall field related to the person. In addition, some readers enjoy the literary form of biography independent of the subject. Some biographical works become well-known due to either the person’s story or the way the work is written, gaining a readership of people who may not otherwise choose to read biography or are unfamiliar with its form.

Here are some famous examples of biographical works that are familiar to many readers outside of biography fans:

• Alexander Hamilton (Ron Chernow)
• Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Caroline Fraser)
• Steve Jobs (Walter Isaacson)
• Churchill: A Life (Martin Gilbert)
• The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary (Simon Winchester)
• A Beautiful Mind (Sylvia Nasar)
• The Black Rose (Tananarive Due)
• John Adams (David McCullough)
• Into the Wild ( Jon Krakauer )
• John Brown (W.E.B. Du Bois)
• Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo (Hayden Herrera)
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot)
• Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (Doris Kearns Goodwin)
• Shirley Jackson : A Rather Haunted Life ( Ruth Franklin)
• the stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit (Michael Finkel)

Difference Between Biography, Autobiography, and Memoir

Biography, autobiography , and memoir are the three main forms used to tell the story of a person’s life. Though there are similarities between these forms, they have distinct differences in terms of the writing, style , and purpose.

A biography is an informational narrative and account of the life history of an individual person, written by someone who is not the subject of the biography. An autobiography is the story of an individual’s life, written by that individual. In general, an autobiography is presented chronologically with a focus on key events in the person’s life. Since the writer is the subject of an autobiography, it’s written in the first person and considered more subjective than objective, like a biography. In addition, autobiographies are often written late in the person’s life to present their life experiences, challenges, achievements, viewpoints, etc., across time.

Memoir refers to a written collection of a person’s significant memories, written by that person. Memoir doesn’t generally include biographical information or chronological events unless it’s relevant to the story being presented. The purpose of memoir is reflection and an intention to share a meaningful story as a means of creating an emotional connection with the reader. Memoirs are often presented in a narrative style that is both entertaining and thought-provoking.

Examples of Biography in Literature

An important subset of biography is literary biography. A literary biography applies biographical study and form to the lives of artists and writers. This poses some complications for writers of literary biographies in that they must balance the representation of the biographical subject, the artist or writer, as well as aspects of the subject’s literary works. This balance can be difficult to achieve in terms of judicious interpretation of biographical elements within an author’s literary work and consideration of the separate spheres of the artist and their art.

Literary biographies of artists and writers are among some of the most interesting biographical works. These biographies can also be very influential for readers, not only in terms of understanding the artist or writer’s personal story but the context of their work or literature as well. Here are some examples of well-known literary biographies:

Example 1:  Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay  (Nancy Milford)

One of the first things Vincent explained to Norma was that there was a certain freedom of language in the Village that mustn’t shock her. It wasn’t vulgar. ‘So we sat darning socks on Waverly Place and practiced the use of profanity as we stitched. Needle in, . Needle out, piss. Needle in, . Needle out, c. Until we were easy with the words.’

This passage reflects the way in which Milford is able to characterize St. Vincent Millay as a person interacting with her sister. Even avid readers of a writer’s work are often unaware of the artist’s private and personal natures, separate from their literature and art. Milford reflects the balance required on the part of a literary biographer of telling the writer’s life story without undermining or interfering with the meaning and understanding of the literature produced by the writer. Though biographical information can provide some influence and context for a writer’s literary subjects, style, and choices , there is a distinction between the fictional world created by a writer and the writer’s “real” world. However, a literary biographer can illuminate the writer’s story so that the reader of both the biography and the biographical subject’s literature finds greater meaning and significance.

Example 2:  The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens  (Claire Tomalin)

The season of domestic goodwill and festivity must have posed a problem to all good Victorian family men with more than one family to take care of, particularly when there were two lots of children to receive the demonstrations of paternal love.

Tomalin’s literary biography of Charles Dickens reveals the writer’s extramarital relationship with a woman named Nelly Ternan. Tomalin presents the complications that resulted for Dickens from this relationship in terms of his personal and family life as well as his professional writing and literary work. Revealing information such as an extramarital relationship can influence the way a reader may feel about the subject as a person, and in the case of literary biography it can influence the way readers feel about the subject’s literature as well. Artists and writers who are beloved , such as Charles Dickens, are often idealized by their devoted readers and society itself. However, as Tomalin’s biography of Dickens indicates, artists and writers are complicated and as subject to human failings as anyone else.

Example 3:  Virginia Woolf  (Hermione Lee)

‘A self that goes on changing is a self that goes on living’: so too with the biography of that self. And just as lives don’t stay still, so life-writing can’t be fixed and finalised. Our ideas are shifting about what can be said, our knowledge of human character is changing. The biographer has to pioneer, going ‘ahead of the rest of us, like the miner’s canary, testing the atmosphere , detecting falsity, unreality, and the presence of obsolete conventions’. So, ‘There are some stories which have to be retold by each generation’. She is talking about the story of Shelley, but she could be talking about her own life-story.

In this passage, Lee is able to demonstrate what her biographical subject, Virginia Woolf, felt about biography and a person telling their own or another person’s story. Literary biographies of well-known writers can be especially difficult to navigate in that both the author and biographical subject are writers, but completely separate and different people. As referenced in this passage by Lee, Woolf was aware of the subtleties and fluidity present in a person’s life which can be difficult to judiciously and effectively relay to a reader on the part of a biographer. In addition, Woolf offers insight into the fact that biographers must make choices in terms of what information is presented to the reader and the context in which it is offered, making them a “miner’s canary” as to how history will view and remember the biographical subject.

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The 7 Characteristics of the Most Important Biographies

The Characteristics of good biographies Must be based on authenticity and honesty, should be objective when presenting the lives of subjects and trying to avoid stereotypes.

Biographies are narrative and expository texts whose function is to give an account of the life of a person. At the time of writing a biography, special care must be taken and be truthful throughout the text, since what is narrated are real facts that happened to an individual.

But this is not all, good biographies must present details of the person's life, such as his birth, his family, his education, his weaknesses and strengths, among others, to understand the course of this.

However, biographies can not simply be a list of events, since this would be a timeline.

In this sense, in the biographical texts must exist a thematic progression, which will allow to relate these events, giving meaning to the narration.

7 Main features of biographies

1- general topic: individual.

As stated above, biography is a narrative about a person's life. In this sense, the first thing to take into account when writing a biography is about who is going to be treated.

There is a great variety of subjects on which a biographical text can be written, from figures recognized worldwide, such as Elon Musk Or Marie Curie, to ourselves, which would be an autobiography.

2- Character of the subject

In the biographies, a description of the main elements that define the character of the subject must be included, since this description will allow the reader to understand the decisions that the subject took or the achievements that reached.

For example, if you do a biography about George Washington, you could mention that since he was young he was very mature and had a great sense of responsibility, elements that made him an outstanding military leader and a hero for the United States.

3- Limited theme: focus

Because a person's life has many stages and many events, biography can focus on only one facet of the person.

For example, if you make a biography about Stanislao Cannizzaro , Who was an Italian scientist, professor and politician, could focus the biographical text in only one of these facets, for example, that of the scientist, and thus develop the contributions that this gave to science.

This delimitation should be included in the thesis of the biography, which is in the introduction.

4- Language function: informative

The type of language that should be used in biographies is the referential or informative, since what is sought is to transmit information about the life of the individual studied.

5- Organization

Most biographies follow chronological order. Because it is a narrative about real events, beginning in the early years of life of the figure in question could provide details that facilitate the reader's understanding.

The chronological order can be divided into stages of life; For example: birth and childhood, adult life and death (in case the subject studied has died).

However, the organization of the text will depend on the needs of the author. Some of the most common non-chronological models are:

• By subjects that have affected the studied subject or phases that it has crossed. For example, a biography about the painter Pablo Picasso could focus on the periods of works of this: cubist, blue, pink, black, among others.
• By interviews: In this case, the data presented are obtained through interviews with people who knew, or know, the subject studied. In this sense, the biographical text will be a recount of the testimonies of the interviewees.
• In media res: This is a literary term that refers to the anachronistic order, in which analepsis (jumps in time into the past) and prolepsis (jumps in time into the future) are used.

This means that the text does not begin with the birth of the individual but at some point in the life of the individual, and from there"leaps"to past events, and then return to the point where the story began.

Stuart, A Life Backwards, by author Alexander Masters, is an example of this type of biography.

6- Recount of at least one relevant event in the person's life

The biography must include at least one event highlighting the life of the individual being studied; This will make the text interesting to the reader.

For example, if you make a biography about Antoine Lavoisier , One should speak of its discovery, the law of conservation of mass; If it is a biography about the scientist John Dalton , It would be appropriate to talk about the atomic theory raised by it and how it was influenced by the discoveries of other scientists of the time.

7- Veracity

The most important feature of a biography is that it must be truthful and precise, since it is about the life of a person.

In this sense, the sources of information must be carefully checked, to determine if what they transmit is true or not.

The best sources of information in these cases are autobiographies, books and letters written by the individual studied, interviews with the individual (in case he has not died) and interviews with other people who are related, or who have been related, With the individual.

• How to write a biography. Retrieved on May 9, 2017, from grammar.yourdictionary.com.
• How to write a biography (with examples). Retrieved on May 9, 2017, from wikihow.com.
• Narrative essay biographical essay. Retrieved on May 9, 2017, from phschool.com.
• Biography. Retrieved on May 9, 2017, from yourdictionary.com.
• How do you start a biography? Retrieved on May 9, 2017, from quora.com.
• Biography. Retrieved on May 9, 2017, from homeofbob.com.
• Characteristics of good biographies. Retrieved on May 9, 2017, from education.com.

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African biography and historiography.

• Heather Hughes Heather Hughes School of History and Heritage, University of Lincoln
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.229
• Published online: 28 August 2018

Biography in the African context can take many forms, from brief entries in a biographical dictionary or obituary in a newspaper to multivolume studies of single individuals. It can encompass one or many subjects and serves both to celebrate the famous and illuminate obscure lives. Biographies can be instructional as well as inspirational. Sometimes, it is hard to draw a line between biography and autobiography because of the way a work has been compiled. An attempt is made to understand this vast range of forms, with reference to social and political biography. The main focus is on work produced since the 1970s, with examples drawn from all regions of sub-Saharan Africa (although Southern Africa is better represented than others, as is English-medium material). Matters that preoccupy biographers everywhere, such as the relationship between writer and subject and the larger relationship between biography and history, are raised. Biography can be an excellent entry point into the complexities of African history.

• autobiography
• life history
• collective biography
• microbiography
• oral testimony
• Nelson Mandela

Writing Biographies of African Subjects

Since the 1970s, biography writing in an African context has come of age. In order to understand this phenomenon, it is necessary to trace the forms it has taken, as well as the themes and preoccupations it has been concerned with. 1 Explored here is the political significance of collective biography, from anthologies of relatively brief biographies (or microbiographies) to more extended treatments, such as the members of one family or representatives of a profession. Also addressed is the range of individuals who have attracted biographical attention, from the very famous such as Nelson Mandela, to the almost forgotten: iron smelters, sharecroppers, and migrant workers. Even within the restricted purview of social and political biography, a wealth of material has been published since the 1970s, of which only a small selection can be included. While an attempt has been made to draw examples from all regions of sub-Saharan Africa, a strong English-medium and southern African bias is evident.

There are some matters that preoccupy biographers everywhere, such as the relationship between writer and subject, not to mention the larger relationship between biography and history. These have a specific resonance in the African case. Indeed, students can enrich their appreciation of African history by sampling the range of biographies written about African subjects.

Each African country will have its own national register of leading citizens across all the fields of human endeavor: politics, education, religion, sport, the arts, health care, business and so on. Prominent individuals from these walks of life will also feature in newspaper obituaries, one of the most ubiquitous forms of the brief biography. In each country, there is probably also a thriving trade in biographical narratives, spoken and written, and in many different languages. Not all of this activity can be covered, as it is simply too widespread. It would also be highly instructive to investigate biography from the perspective of readers and listeners rather than writers. However, discussion is confined to an attempt to highlight key trends in the writing of biography, applicable across a number of regions and beyond the continent itself.

In the 1970s, a series of biographies appeared—three iterations in all—that provide a convenient framework for discussing biography and historiography in African settings. They first came out in the Nigerian historical journal Tarikh , under the editorship of Obaro Ikime. In 1974 , they were collected into a single volume, Leadership in 19th Century Africa , also edited by Ikime. 2 Between 1971 and 1977 , Ikime also oversaw the publication of a largely different selection of thirteen individual biographies. Apart from the fact that each was presented in a separate A5-size paperback, the format was similar to all the others. 3 Altogether, this represents a body of nearly thirty biographies that was widely used in school and college courses. Each section of the essay that follows takes this collective biographical venture as the starting point for further exploration of the nature of biography in Africa.

The Expansion of Biography

The timing of Ikime’s biographies is significant. This was a period of dramatic expansion of African history into university and college courses in Europe, North America, and across independent Africa. In the post–Second World War period, it was an area of inquiry that had to push its way in. Not only did proponents have to demonstrate to their peers that researching and teaching Africa’s past were legitimate scholarly activities, they also had to challenge a more pervasive mindset that clung to a notion of African inferiority and passivity. These biographies were self-consciously presented as a means of asserting African agency in the making of a rich and long history. It is what African American scholars have long called “race vindication.” 4 Ikime was explicit on this point: the 1974 collection was meant to demonstrate “the variety of types of leadership which Africa boasted even in a century which, until recently, used to be regarded as a century of European activity and African slumber.” 5

Moreover, there was something deliberate about the geographical spread of the biographies. Although revealing a strong West African orientation, every part of the continent was represented, from the Mediterranean littoral to the southeastern seaboard. The message was clear: that across this expanse was a sense of a shared past and a common experience. While the threatened loss of autonomy and subjugation to European rule was a critical moment in African history, it was but one element in a complex interplay of forces stretching further back in time, such as state building and the desire for modernization and reform.

This was a time when a Pan-Africanist view of an essential African unity seemed a vital ingredient of decolonization, not only of territory but also of minds. In more recent decades, the origins of this idea have been questioned. Kwame Anthony Appiah has, for example, argued that it was a product of the European (not the African) imagination that “the cultures and societies of sub-Saharan Africa formed a single continuum” before becoming so deeply embedded in African thought. 6

The Power of Collective Biography

There had long been a desire by educated, middle-class Africans and African Americans both to rescue from neglect and to highlight the talents, achievements, and autonomy of Africa’s people throughout its complex history; the vehicle of collective biography seemed entirely appropriate for this purpose. One remarkable example from the early 1930s is T. D. Mweli Skota’s The African Yearly Register, Being an Illustrated National Biographical Dictionary (Who’s Who) of Black Folks in Africa . 7 It includes sections on both the living and the late; in the latter particularly, it contains entries from every region of the African continent: the “national” in the title has a distinctly Pan-African flavor. It sought to convey a sense of determined survival in the face of adversity and how individuals were attempting to avoid a white world of oppression by following “progressive” callings such as traders, lawyers, and pastors in independent churches. Sadly, despite the promise of its title, it seems to have appeared only two or three times. Johannesburg-based Skota sorely lacked sponsorship at a time when segregationist rule was being applied ever more harshly and it proved impossible to sustain his biographical dictionary. 8

As early as the first decade of the 20th century , W. E. B. du Bois had been planning a collective biography along similar lines. 9 His ambition was delayed until 1962 , when Kwame Nkrumah invited him to an independent Ghana to realize the work, with the financial backing of the Ghana Academy of Sciences. Du Bois made clear his approach to compilation of his intended multivolume Encyclopaedia Africana : “While there should be included among its writers the best students of Africa in the world, I want the proposed Encyclopaedia to be written mainly from the African point of view by people who know and understand the history and culture of Africans.” 10 Already in his nineties Du Bois did not survive long enough to see his vision into print; the first volume eventually appeared in 1977 , followed by two more by 1995 . 11 In all, these covered some 650 individuals (the vast majority of whom were no longer alive) in eight countries. Yet another unrelated collective biography appeared in the 1970s, the Dictionary of African Historical Biography . 12 Its cut-off date was 1960 , thus serving once again to underline the depth and continuities of African history.

The 1990s saw the launch of a further large-scale biographical endeavor: the electronic/online Dictionary of African Christian Biography (DACB). Overseen by the Centre for Global Christianity and Mission at Boston University School of Theology, its purpose is to gather the biographical detail of those who have shaped the character and growth of Christianity in Africa. Foreign missionaries may have brought Christianity to Africa, but Africans have been the main agency in its propagation; the resulting growth and variety constitute remarkable social phenomena. The DACB is notable for its methodology and goals. Oral as well as written sources are represented; although mainly in English, it is multilingual and covers the earliest times onward, over the whole continent. It works in partnership with universities and theological colleges, many of them in Africa, and crowdsourcing is encouraged, despite its acknowledged challenges:

While scholarly exactitude marks some of the entries, a large number have been contributed by persons who are neither scholars nor historians. The stories are non-proprietary, belonging to the people of Africa as a whole. Since this is a first generation tool, and on the assumption that some memory is better than total amnesia, the checkered quality of the entries has been tolerated and even welcomed. 13

A recent addition to collective biography is the monumental Oxford Dictionary of African Biography (ODAB). 14 The editors, eminent scholars Emmanuel Kwaku Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, consciously place themselves in the tradition of Du Bois’s Encyclopaedia . In their preface, they claim for the ODAB

the most comprehensive continental coverage (including Africa north of the Sahara) available to date, a degree and depth of coverage that will dramatically increase our understanding of the lives and achievements of individual Africans who lived across the full range of continental Africa from ancient times to the present. The publication of such a reference work, we perceived, could have a transformative impact on teaching and research in African studies, narrating the full history of the African continent through the collective lives of the women and men who made that history. 15

The print edition contains over two thousand entries, while entries will continue to be added to the online edition, eventually totaling some ten thousand.

The quintessential form of collective biography is thus the biographical dictionary, presenting a number of microbiographies based on a common theme. Such themes might include eminence or belonging, which provide a criterion for appreciating the collection as a whole. 16 In the context of Africa, this form has been powerfully deployed as a practical expression of solidarity, a rejection of foreign oppression, a declaration of unity of purpose, an assertion of pride—nothing less, in sum, than a rehumanization of the subject.

Biography as Instruction

There is a further dimension of biography that threads its way from Ikime’s collection to the ODAB: a didactic/instructional purpose. Although intended for a wide readership, adult as well as child, Ikime’s biographies were envisioned as particularly suitable for classrooms. As such, they represent an attempt to produce patriotic historical narratives, showcasing real individuals whose achievements would instruct as well as inspire the young. All over the continent, the tradition of biographical series—inherently or explicitly collective, for both children and adults—has continued. Examples include the Kenyan Sasa Sema series, They Fought for Freedom series (mostly South African subjects), UNESCO’s series Women in African History, the Voices of Liberation series published by South Africa’s HSRC Press (South African and African figures) and the volume African Leaders of the Twentieth Century , a compilation of four titles from Ohio University Press’ Short Histories of Africa series. 17

The series Panaf Great Lives focused on leaders of liberation movements who supported the radical transformation of African society. Kwame Nkrumah had founded Panaf Books in 1968 , following the coup in Ghana and the refusal of his London publishers to handle his books thereafter. Panaf Books was based in London and managed by June Milne, who had been Nkrumah’s research assistant since the late 1950s. Its main business was to continue to publish and promote Nkrumah’s works. It also issued Panaf Great Lives, which were extended, anonymously-authored biographies cast in a heroic mold, of revolutionary leaders such as Eduardo Mondlane, Patrice Lumumba, Frantz Fanon, Sékou Touré, and Nkrumah himself. They appeared throughout the 1970s. 18 Nkrumah’s biography seems to have been the only one also to be published in the format of a schools edition. 19

Leaders and Followers, Men and Women

African biographies, according to one scholar, tend to be divided into two types: those about individuals deemed to be significant for some reason—the leaders—and those of “ordinary” people. 20 This may help to identify certain biographical characteristics, such as that leaders’ stories emphasize the exceptional and unusual, whereas those of the ordinary are assumed to be representative of many experiences: of slaves, peasants, urban workers, market women, or miners. Yet it also presents the difficulty of knowing where to draw the line between them, or to understand features they share in common; some “ordinary” lives turn out to be anything but. For this reason, it is preferable to place biographical stories along a continuum, from well-known to little-known subjects, rather than into either/or types.

The biographical subjects of Ikime’s collections were chosen for one quality: leadership. Many became kings or chiefs “in times of crisis . . . by appealing directly to the populace over the heads of the traditional king-maker class.” 21 Control over trade, not least in slaves, was often a vital ingredient. Most had to confront the pressures of colonial advances on their territories. Together, they demonstrated many creative responses to the challenges facing them. It was their public deeds that mattered and that had made them powerful, exemplary, or exceptional on the historical stage.

They were also all male; either there was insufficient knowledge at the time about women who had played significant leadership roles, or they had not been considered significant enough for inclusion. In any case, in the 1970s overwhelming maleness dominated scholarship, as well as understandings of African leadership. It took until 1984 for Heinemann, the publisher of one of Ikime’s series, to bring out a volume entitled Women Leaders in African History to redress this imbalance. 22 The most ancient of the twelve leaders featured was 15th-century bce Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt; the most recent was Nehanda of Zimbabwe, who lived toward the end of the 19th century . Like their male counterparts, they were somehow extraordinary, perhaps even doubly so, given the subjugation of women in many of the societies represented.

Herbert Macaulay’s story was alone among the Ikime biographies as someone who had risen to leadership by virtue of his Western education and involvement not in armed resistance to colonial rule but in the growth of nationalism as an oppositional force. Macaulay established the Nigeria National Democratic Party in the early 1920s and dominated Lagos politics for the following two decades. He is regarded by many as the founder of Nigerian nationalism. His solitude in the collections seems to suggest that it was conceptually difficult to fit “new Africans” into a historical framework that stressed continuity and indigenous response to change. 23 After all, they embraced a religion and politics that were considered profoundly disruptive , as they themselves knew all too well. As a young Aina Moore mused:

Opinions vary with regard to the status of the so-called ‘educated African’. While some regard him as the greatest enemy of his country, from which he becomes detached, and for which he can only develop a sophisticated form of patriotism: others look upon him as the means of creating a link between two different countries of such different culture, with both of which he is acquainted. 24

A 1979 addition to Heinemann’s African Historical Biographies series, Black Leaders in Southern African History slipped two further examples into a selection otherwise dominated by “traditional” leaders: Tiyo Soga, the first African to be ordained in South Africa, and John Tengo Jabavu, best known as a newspaper editor and politician. 25

Biographically speaking, “new Africans” seemed to fit better into a framework that privileged modernity over tradition and the promise of an independent future over the reassurance of a continuous past. Probably the most famous “new African” of the first half of the 20th century was James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey (b. 1875–d. 1927 ). Born in the Gold Coast (later Ghana) and educated by Wesleyan missionaries, Aggrey traveled to the United States to complete his education. He attended Hood Theological Seminary and later Columbia University, where his abilities as an educationist and communicator were recognized. He supported the stirrings of African nationalism but also distanced himself from anti-white hostility and even from Gandhi’s passive resistance campaigns. His stance was most likely responsible for the invitation to join the Phelps-Stokes Commission to Africa—he traveled widely on the continent, attracting huge attention everywhere—as well as for Edwin Smith’s biography, which appeared in 1929 . 26

Other in-depth biographies of prominent figures appeared before the notable expansion of the 1970s. Reflecting the long engagement of Europe with the southern tip of the continent were a number of biographies of white South African politicians, such as the voluminous studies of Jan Smuts (the anti-colonial rebel who became a world statesman) and those of leading liberals such as Saul Solomon and Jan Hofmeyr. 27

Since the 1970s, biographies of historic and contemporary African figures have increased greatly; women leaders especially have attracted more attention. In common with Smith’s study of Aggrey, there is something of a hagiographic, or saint-like, quality about many of them, especially since the subjects are portrayed as setting out to conquer tyranny or hardship in their quest for success or social justice. 28 Autobiographical memoirs have likewise grown in volume, many of them the reflections of a first-generation nationalist leadership that had experienced mixed fortune. 29 As the promises of nationalism have soured, a more critical strand of biography has also developed, in which leaders are treated as human rather than hero and as fallible as well as formidable. 30 It is, needless to say, far less tricky to write in this vein about figures of the past than of the living. As Kirk-Greene remarked, “When we look for worthwhile biography of Africa’s current heads of state from an African scholar, the cupboard is exceedingly bare . . . wisely, and often well, African would-be biographers turn to fiction.” 31

Mandela: Mortal or Miracle Maker?

The case of Nelson Mandela reveals the reverential as well as the critical possibilities of writing about a living subject. Because he became a world, and not just a South African or even African, figure (“the most celebrated leader so far to have emerged from the African continent,”) a veritable biography industry grew up around him, which shows little sign of shrinking, despite his death in 2013 . 32 Mandela was imprisoned from August 1962 to February 1990 , a period Coetzee has called “the years of silence and facelessness.” 33 Nothing circulated inside South Africa and little about him surfaced elsewhere, beyond a collection of his speeches and writings that came out in 1965 , No Easy Walk to Freedom , and the stories of those who visited him in jail. 34 After all, he had no formal leadership role, and Oliver Tambo (also the subject of an acclaimed biography) was the ANC’s most senior representative in exile. 35 It was a matter of only four years before his release—though of course no one was to know that at the time—that a major biography affirming his stature appeared in 1986 , followed two years later by an authorized biography with a similar purpose. Authors Mary Benson and Fatima Meer had known Mandela since the 1950s. 36 Both biographies became source books for the worldwide campaign to release Mandela, thus playing a crucial role in boosting his stature as a worthy statesman-in-waiting.

Mandela’s presidency of the Republic of South Africa was bracketed by two major life-writing events. In 1994 , as he assumed office, he published an autobiography co-written with Time editor Richard Stengel: Long Walk to Freedom . 37 It offered an opportunity to cast both himself and the African National Congress as having moved beyond a bruising liberation struggle to readying themselves as a responsible and visionary future government. 38 Anthony Sampson’s huge Mandela: The Authorised Biography was published in 1999 , as Mandela vacated the presidency. 39 It became—and remains—one of the most respected Mandela biographies. Sampson, too, had known Mandela since the 1950s and had helped him to draft his statement from the dock during the Rivonia trials. By the time his book came out, Mandela had been lionized—the only figure who could and did save South Africa from civil war, the figure who stood for conciliation in conflict-ridden trouble spots everywhere, and one of the most famous people on the planet. Like the Benson and Meer biographies, Sampson reveals a deep admiration for his subject. However, he grounds Mandela as a shrewd politician, too: “He would sometimes change his clothes three or four times a day – from a suit for a business breakfast, to an open shirt for a crowd, to a woolly cardigan for a visit to old people. He even appeared in camouflage battle-dress . . . to appeal to guerrilla voters.” 40 Sampson also presents a frank account of Mandela’s dysfunctional family life, which had in any case been regularly aired in the popular media.

Stengel later wrote his own Mandela’s Way , notable mainly for the way in which a figure like Mandela could be used to generate another kind of literary industry. 41 Each of its fifteen “lessons” begins with a stylized biographical anecdote, which sets the scene for a Mandela saying, or piece of advice, on how to live a life of goodness. It also claims to present Mandela’s innermost attitudes to other prominent figures, such as murdered South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani. Appearing after Mandela’s retirement from public life, it was difficult for its claims to be confirmed. Nevertheless, Mandela’s Way attracted the admiration of the likes of Bill Clinton, Henry Louis Gates, and Richard Branson and helped to stimulate an extensive Mandela-themed self-help literature, particularly in the United States. 42

Tom Lodge’s biographical treatment of Mandela sets out to understand a complex human subject—one, he argues, who had been deeply complicit in the making of the saintly, larger-than-life image that came to define him. 43 It focuses on key phases of Mandela’s life and how these shaped elements of his character. For example, Lodge attributes his poise and emotional self-sufficiency (even vanity) to his secure, privileged childhood and his respect for order and discipline to the years spent at boarding school. Lodge also tries to get at what he calls the “interior thinking and intimate voices” that were deliberately suppressed, or deemed unimportant, in other Mandela biographies. 44 When the contents of Mandela’s letters from prison are set alongside what is known of the wider evidence, his acute feelings of powerlessness as a husband and father are revealed, just as his family is becoming increasingly unruly. Although subtitled A Critical Life , Lodge commends Mandela on several points, including his consolidation of representative institutions while in power and his dignified exit from office. Yet what makes this an important study is his insistence that the preoccupations of an individual’s private life and thoughts are fundamental to an appreciation of the public celebrity; above all, this rescues the biographical subject from over-representation. 45

Ordinary Lives?

Precisely because of their everyday-ness, the public and private lives of the less famous may be constituted rather differently, at least for purposes of biography: in some cases, the “private” is their story. 46 Ikime in any event was not concerned with them; yet it is arguably in this sphere that some of the most original approaches to biography in Africa have emerged, some of them predating the rise of African history. A much-admired and enduring example is Mary Smith’s Baba of Karo , first published in 1954 and re-issued several times thereafter. Smith, an anthropologist, was researching the secluded lives of Muslim women among the Hausa of northern Nigeria. The result, focusing on one woman, Baba, was explicitly intended to be representative of Muslim women in general, although the individual character of Baba is evident throughout the narrative (and she sometimes contradicts what the introduction announces as the general lot of Muslim women). Baba related her story to Smith, who then arranged the study as a life account, starting with Baba’s childhood and adolescence and continuing through her marriages, childbirth, and widowhood. 47

Wright has used life histories in a similar way, to explore the extent to which an individual woman’s life “can be taken to dramatise or generate hypotheses about elements in the experience of women more generally.” 48 Her aim in focusing on the life of master iron smelter Mzee Stefano Malimbo in Ufipa, Tanzania was, however, to resist portraying him as representative—“the erasure of the identity of individuals, who are subsumed into categories of craftsmen and ritualists rather than men with choices and activities beyond iron-working.” 49 Through Stefano’s story, she showed that what kept smelting alive in Ufipa, long after it had collapsed elsewhere, was a distinct moral economy that supported this important local craft.

Other studies throw light on the extraordinary quality of the lives not only of the lesser known but often largely forgotten. Shepperson and Price’s classic study, Independent African , traces the life and career of John Chilembwe, the unlikely leader of a short-lived insurrection against colonial rule and white settlement in Nyasaland in 1915 . 50 Henry Muoria, press secretary to Kenya’s President Jomo Kenyatta, spent most of his career in exile working on the London underground; his life and prolific works show what an extensive contribution he made to Kenya’s print culture. 51 Lisa Lindsay has pieced together the remarkable career of James Churchwill Vaughan, born to a freed slave in South Carolina. In the 1850s, Vaughan migrated to Liberia but disliked it intensely and took a post with a white American mission among the Yoruba. He escaped enslavement himself in a local civil war, and after further serious setbacks finally set himself up in business in Lagos. By the time of his death in 1893 , his family was far more prosperous than the Vaughan relatives he had left behind in America. 52

Closer to contemporary times, and probably as close one can get to the other end of the range of biographical narrative, is van Onselen’s minutely detailed study of the life of Kas Maine, an African sharecropper in South Africa. For, as he points out at the start, “this is a biography of a man who, if one went by the official record alone, never was.” 53 Yet through years of collecting oral testimony and filling out the social history of the Highveld, van Onselen was able to track the wanderings of a poor but proud and endlessly resourceful family who were pushed from one white farm to another and then into a “homeland.” One knows that this is the story of so many countless black farming communities; yet the strength of the study is its rare emphasis on the everyday details of just one man’s life—the preoccupations of raising crops and livestock, the skills of negotiating with brusque white landowners and storekeepers, the difficulties of moving possessions from one tenuous arrangement to the next, the tensions between generations as the young fell out with the elders, the need to hone arts such as cobbling and herbalism to keep body and soul together during hungry times.

The range of women’s stories is no less remarkable. McCord’s account of the life of Katie Makhanya reveals an accomplished singer from the Eastern Cape whose high point had been an overseas tour with an African choir in the 1890s; they sang for Queen Victoria. 54 Edgar and Sapire reconstruct the life of Nontheto Nkwenkwe, a prophetess whose following was so extensive in the Ciskei region of South Africa that the authorities became alarmed at her ability to unite Africans in common cause against injustice. She was arrested in 1922 and spent her remaining years in isolation in a mental asylum. Though incarcerated 600 miles from home, her supporters attempted to visit her several times but were turned back. 55 A near contemporary of Nkwenkwe, Christina Sibiya was one of the wives of the Zulu king, Solomon kaDinuzulu, in the 1920s. Brought up a Christian, she was pressured into marriage and endured much abuse before escaping the royal court and struggling to maintain a livelihood. She regained some social status when her son, Cyprian, succeeded to the Zulu kingship on Solomon’s death. 56

Insightful use has been made of extended collective biography, too. An early example is Margery Perham’s Ten Africans , appearing in 1936 . Perham explained in her introduction that the context was “the peculiar condition of empire under which we control the destinies of people we do not understand.” 57 Her task was therefore to acquaint readers with the variety of African lives so they might understand them better within the framework of a benign trusteeship. Six of the stories were told to interlocutors, and four were provided by the informants themselves. Perham warned her readers that some of the contributors had harsh things to say about their encounters with colonial rule. It was rare then for Africans to give voice to their conditions of life in biographical or autobiographical form and as such, the accounts of these eight men and two women are a valuable snapshot of life in “British” Africa in the 1930s.

Collective biography has been employed in more recent times as a means for deepening understanding of social history. Iliffe’s study of East African doctors explores the ambiguities of medical professionalism in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania and the determined efforts of doctors to look to the interests of their patients against great odds. 58 Also in East Africa, Geiger has shown how a focus on the biographies of Tanganyikan African National Union (TANU) women challenges many of the received wisdoms about the contribution they have made to nationalist movements. Women moved between kin groups on marriage, which gave them a more expansive, “trans-ethnic” perspective than men. Thus, far from a nationalist organization like TANU “teaching” them nationalism, they were able to help create it in various ways, such as through their dance groups, which were fundamental in building mass organization. 59

In southern Africa, Bozzoli and Nkotsoe studied a group of twenty-two elderly women in order to understand how gender had affected their lives, choices, and consciousness. Most had been born into moderately well-off peasant families in the early 20th century ; in the post–First World War period, they were among the first generation of BaFokeng women to have gone out to work, predominantly as domestic workers in the white homes of Pretoria and Johannesburg. Nearly all of them married and revealed the novel approaches to the relationship they had developed, such as “bringing something into the marriage themselves” from their earnings—their choice was furniture. 60 In later life, most returned to Phokeng to look after grandchildren, as their own children were by now locked into the same oscillating pattern of migrant labor.

In what he calls a “social biography,” Werbner traces the history of several generations of the Lupondo family of Matabeleland. It stretches from the time when their chiefdom was incorporated into Southern Rhodesia, through the armed struggle that brought independence to the renamed Zimbabwe and the subsequent vicious civil war between rival nationalist organizations. To survive was to endure physical as well as psychological dislocation: eviction and resettlement, bitterness and disillusionment. Personal loyalties became as important as struggles over land. What makes this “social” is not merely the large cast of characters involved; it is also the way in which Werbner weaves together the perspectives of different family members: “the history of a family, seen from within, can never be a single account.” 61

Which lives might be considered “representative,” and which “exceptional,” is never a fixed matter. For one thing, scholarly conceptions about the relationship between individual and society are dynamic: “self” and “identity” have become ubiquitous concepts with obvious implications for the way in which individual agency is portrayed; this was not the case in the 1970s. For another, individual lives, as well as biographical studies about them, grow and recede in importance according to the preoccupations of the times.

Biography and the Production of African History

An attempt has been made to identify the most prominent characteristics of biographical writing in an African setting and to convey something of the richness of the characters who have become biographical subjects. Some of the broader issues for the study of biography include: what its relationship to history is; how one defines biography; and hence how one conceives the relationship between writer and subject.

The Relationship Between Biography and History

Ikime’s purpose in releasing his biographical collections in the 1970s was clear: to underline “the essential factor of continuity in African history.” 62 Biography, then, was being harnessed to historical purpose. In a similar vein, one of the editors of the Dictionary of African Historical Biography explained that it had been intended as an entry point into African history. Biography was the chosen mode because “individual biographies are units to which any person can relate, and that they serve as useful foundations upon which to build broader historical understanding.” 63

These two examples demonstrate something unusual about history and biography in Africa. The hostility that historians of other places have until recently displayed toward biography—“the profession’s unloved stepchild, occasionally but grudgingly let in the door, more often shut outside with the riffraff”—never took hold in this context, where history writing and biography have always tended to enjoy a mutually supportive relationship. 64 Rotberg has expressed probably the most extreme position on the matter: “Biography is history, depends on history, and strengthens and enriches history. In turn, all history is biography.” 65

In part, this support can be attributed to a more open and interdisciplinary approach to history writing, drawing liberally on archaeology, linguistics, literary forms, and anthropology, for example. It may also be due to the strength of a narrative tradition in African historiography: that “all human enterprise necessarily rests on a narrative sense of its actors’ place in a fruitfully linear, or redemptively recursive, sense of time.” 66 Much biography writing shares these narrative assumptions. Like scholarly history and biography themselves, narrative largely originated outside of Africa; and, in fact, a substantial portion of biographical and historical production about Africa still occurs outside the continent. Yet, like history and biography, narrative has been extensively indigenized. This indigenization was evident in the Ikime biographies but is also a characteristic of much history writing on the continent. It also fed into a thriving literary tradition.

Narrative is not the only quality that draws biography and history together. Biography works on a conceptual level, too: it enables emotional connection with historical subjects and makes links between phenomena that may otherwise remain isolated. When subjects travel widely—even crossing oceans—the biographer is forced to follow. As Lindsay noted of her appropriately named Atlantic Bonds , pursuing “Church” Vaughan and his family enabled her to connect what had previously been disconnected histories, unfolding simultaneously in the American South and in West Africa. It also meant giving a history to the rather static concept of “the African diaspora,” so that its changing meaning over time and place could be understood. 67 In similar vein, the point was recently made that biography

offers a particularly useful approach to the examination of practices and experiences of boundary crossing in imperial and colonial history. Biographies can alert us to how ‘ordinary’ individuals and groups commuted between different spaces, jurisdictions, milieus, identities and even temporalities . . . into which they were categorised according to the ideologies and rules of well-ordered colonial worlds. 68

It is this capacity to “connect the disconnected” that led van Onselen to call biography “history without boundaries.” 69

What, Then, Is Biography?

It is some years since Hilda Kuper, a leading anthropologist of her generation, defined biography as “stories about someone by someone else.” 70 This formulation posits a clear distinction between the “about” and the “by”; many examples of biography writing fit such a description. Yet Kuper was also aware that biography is a highly mediated affair, involving as it does a relationship of power between writer and subject, particularly in cases where the subject is living and complicit in the undertaking. Someone’s life history, which is a portrayal of self, akin to autobiography, is recorded, translated, reorganized, and interpreted by someone else as biography. 71 This has been an issue for as long as biographies—especially those based on oral testimony—have been written. Yet awareness of authorial position in relation to a subject’s life has been a characteristic of biography writing only in more recent times. 72

Although in the 1930s Rebecca Reyher felt great empathy with her subject, Christina Sibiya, both were immersed in a racial and social hierarchy that assumed white power and black subservience. Reyher was a temporary American visitor in Zululand, dependent on a white male interpreter to collect Sibiya’s testimony. The result, she declared, was that “I have recorded it as she told it.” 73 Reyher also employed the novelistic device of first-person dialogue to tell Christina’s story. McCord did the same for Katie Makhanya—both authors were accomplished storytellers—although McCord was a Zulu speaker and had a long family connection to Makhanya, thus altering the balance between interlocutor and subject. 74 Moreover, McCord problematized her role as the writer of Makhanya’s story in ways that Reyher was unable to do. Nevertheless, this form of expression prompted a debate about the limits to the use of evidence, in the context of relations of power and powerlessness across cultural, racial, and linguistic divides. 75

The question of authorial responsibility is not restricted to the use of oral testimony. A study of what are called “tin trunk texts”—letters, diaries, and notebooks kept safe by their owners long after they were produced—reveals “the imagining of new kinds of personhood” all over colonial Africa. 76 Their subjectivity strongly suggests that these are autobiographical texts. Yet their presentation is mediated by the scholars who have combed through them and in some cases have interviewed their prolific authors. These complications have led some to elide the categories of biography and autobiography as auto/biography, which is a reminder of the messiness that always seems to characterize the space between writer and subject. 77

Whatever sources have been used in the construction of biography, this discussion assumes that the products take written form. Rathbone argues that written biography and autobiography are comparatively recent imperatives in Africa, “a direct consequence of the arrival and expansion of Western Christianity and especially that of Protestant Christianity from the end of the eighteenth century .” 78 This is possibly more a reflection of the state of knowledge than of the production of biography; research on the older indigenous literate cultures is already changing this view. Several biographies of African women, written by Africans, were produced before the 19th century . One of these, on the life of 17th-century Ethiopian woman Walatta Petros, was originally written in Ge’ez and has recently been translated into English. 79 There is also a case for taking a broader view of what biography and autobiography mean in Africa—whether oral traditions that perpetuate the memories of notable figures ought to be included in autobiographical traditions—although this debate is beyond the scope of this article. As an example, Fall recounts a project in Senegal that valorizes oral/life testimony as a form of autobiography in its own right, rather than serving only as a source for written works. 80

In her Biography: A Very Short Introduction , Lee sets out ten rules for biography. Starting with the basic requirements of nonfiction (everything relevant should be included, and everything should be evidenced), she ends with the tenth rule: “there are no rules for biography.” 81 She is referring to the shape-shifting, provisional nature of the form. There is one “rule” she omits that in an African setting is particularly relevant. In fact it seems so obvious that it has gone unmentioned by virtually every writer on the subject of biography: one’s subject must be named . Even if one chooses to preserve that subject’s anonymity, one must have been able to identify that subject and trace them back through the archival record. It is (for example) what allowed Iliffe to produce his study of African doctors, so that, in the words of one reviewer, “We can no longer imagine the medical history of East Africa as the story of named European doctors and anonymous African assistants .” 82

The reason this is such a pressing matter in ex-colonial settings is that it is remarkable how infrequently administrators, missionaries, and the like actually named individual Africans, unless for official purposes such as tax collection or court appearance. Letters, diaries, and published and unpublished reports far more often referred to “a native pastor nearby,” or “our most outstanding native pupil,” and so on. For complex reasons, few Africans have left collections of papers neatly lodged in libraries and archives. Pursuing a subject therefore also involves pursuing their fragmentary traces across vastly scattered repositories; when potential subjects are not named, the task is rendered even more challenging. There are related sensitivities with regard to naming, or more specifically name-changing, as a tool of colonial and missionary control, which have implications for biographical practice in Africa. 83

The Promise of African Biography

In common with its phenomenal growth elsewhere, Africa-related biography is alive and well. While there are well-established traditions of biography writing in some parts of the continent, much biography continues to be produced outside it. This observation requires some qualification, however. For one thing, it is based only on English-language sources, extensive though these are. Knowledge of indigenous forms of biography is, as yet, incomplete; one feels that the study of biography in Africa has only just begun. The centuries-old Ge’ez biographies of women’s lives anticipate even more remarkable discoveries to come. “Tin trunk” archivy will, if scholars are receptive to its possibilities, reveal treasures of personal memoir that challenge current generalizations.

The supportive association struck up between history and biography will continue to enrich both. As more biographies appear, more individuals will find a mention in historical narratives, which will stimulate more research on individual lives. Only by keeping close company can practitioners of biography and history continue to debate the extent to which individuals make history and history makes individuals.

Discussion of the Literature

The field of biographical writing in Africa is dominated by actual biographies of individuals or groups. Much of this work has been contributed by scholars based in Europe and North America, most of whom are not themselves African. This observation is not meant in any way to invalidate their work. On the contrary, it is to acknowledge the contributions they have made toward uncovering the lives of important African figures, both in the past and the present and whether famous and forgotten. At the same time, it is possible to identify well-established traditions on biography writing on the continent, such as in South Africa and Ethiopia.

Much biographical writing in English dates from the 1970s, although a few examples, now considered “classics,” were published before that. Examples of these earlier texts include Shepperson and Price’s Independent African and Perham’s Ten Africans . These examples indicate two strong characteristics that developed in later work: individual and collective biography. The possibilities of individual biography are demonstrated in Africa’s most famous figure, Nelson Mandela. Collective biography has taken multiple forms, from microbiography to the study of social history.

Examples of microbiography include the Dictionary of African Christian Biography (DACB) and the Oxford Dictionary of African Biography (ODAB). The DACB is an initiative of the Centre for Global Christianity and Mission at Boston University School of Theology. Its purpose is to gather the biographical details of those who have shaped the character and growth of Christianity in Africa. The ODAB, the most ambitious collective biographical project on Africa to date, aims to collect ten thousand entries for its online edition, covering the whole of Africa and through all historical times. Examples of the use of collective biography in writing social history include Iliffe’s East African Doctors and Werbner’s Tears of the Dead .

Since the 1970s, biographical studies of African subjects have multiplied. Probably the most famous subject has been Nelson Mandela, around whom a biographical “industry” has developed. Two of the best-known biographies are those by Anthony Sampson and Tom Lodge. Many “ordinary” people have also been the subjects of biography.

Women have received less biographical attention than men, although they have been active in writing autobiographical memoir. One of the more famous is Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai.

It is generally believed that written biography is a recent development in Africa and a product of missionary and colonial conquest. However, evidence is emerging of far older biographical traditions among Africa’s indigenous literate communities. The most celebrated to date is the 17th-century biography of Ethiopian Walatta Petros. A further point to consider is whether, in Africa, oral traditions that perpetuate the memories of notable figures ought also to be included in narrative auto/biographical traditions.

It is important to keep in mind that writing biography involves a relationship of power between writer and subject and that biography and autobiography may have many of the same characteristics. This is especially the case when oral testimony (a form of autobiography) is used to gather evidence from living subjects.

Biography in Africa has enjoyed a close relationship with history writing. In addition, there is a growing critical literature on biography.

Primary Sources

There are no “natural” repositories of African biography; on the contrary, because few African figures have bequeathed their papers to collections, biographers of particular subjects will more often relate the challenges of searching across regions and continents for the odd fragment of information. Such is the nature of the “archive” for African biography. Having noted the difficulties, it is also necessary to mention the rewards: these are very great, when one is able—with enough perseverance—to piece together bits of a jigsaw that no one had bothered to try assembling before. The length of lists of archival and other sources in most African biographies will provide an indication of what is involved.

Acknowledgments

The writer would like to thank Brian Willan and two anonymous reviewers for very helpful comments on an earlier draft.

Links to Digital Materials

• African Biography on the Internet (Columbia University). Extensive list of resources on mostly artistic and political figures; some links may not work.
• Biographical Resources: An African and African Diaspora Approach: Online Resources (Cornell University). Despite the title, this focuses heavily on African American history but contains a few good Africa-specific resources as well.
• Dictionary of African Christian Biography (Boston University).
• Dictionary of African Biography . This is a subscription-only reference; the online version is continually being extended.
• Lisa Lindsay discusses her biography of James Churchwill Vaughan on Episode 93: Atlantic Bonds and Biography: from South Carolina to Nigeria , African Online Digital Library (Michigan State University).
• Heather Hughes discusses her biography of John Langalibalele on Episode 54: Political Biography , African Online Digital Library (Michigan State University).
• There is a wide range of individual biographical shorts on African leaders and unsung individuals on the CCTV channel .

Further Reading

• Gälawdewos . The Life and Struggles of Our Mother Walatta Petros: A Seventeenth-Century African Biography of an Ethiopian Woman (Trans. W. L Belcher and M. Kleiner ). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015.
• Ikime, Obaro . ed. Leadership in 19th Century Africa. Essays from Tarikh . London, UK: Longman, for the Historical Society of Nigeria, 1974.
• Iliffe, John . East African Doctors: History of a Modern Profession . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
• Lindsay, Lisa . Atlantic Bonds: A Nineteenth-Century Odyssey from America to Africa . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017.
• Lodge, Tom . Mandela: A Critical Life . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Mathaai, Wangari . Unbowed: One Woman’s Story . London, UK: Arrow, 2008.
• Perham, Margery . ed. Ten Africans . London: Faber & Faber, 1936.
• Smith, Mary . Baba of Karo: A Woman of the Muslim Hausa . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981.
• Van Onselen, Charles . The Seed is Mine: The Life of Kas Maine, A South African Sharecropper 1894–1985 . Cape Town: David Philip, 1995.
• Werbner, Richard . Tears of the Dead: The Social Biography of an African Family . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press for the International African Institute, London, 1991.

1. One of the earliest means by which Africans were introduced to western audiences was the slave, or ex-slave, narrative, telling the experiences of individual lives. In many ways these form a separate genre on which there is an extensive literature, and for that reason are not covered in the present article. See for example William L. Andrews and Henry Louis Gates , eds., Slave Narratives (New York: Library of America, 2000).

2. Obaro Ikime , ed., Leadership in 19th Century Africa: Essays from Tarikh (London: Longman, for the Historical Society of Nigeria, 1974). The three sections of the volume, together with the chapters in each section, are as follows: state and empire builders, John D. Omer-Cooper, “Shaka and the Rise of the Zulu”; John D. Omer-Cooper, “Moshesh and the Creation of the Basuto Nation—the First Phase”; G. O. Ekemode, “Kimweri the Great: Kilindi King of Vuga”; Charlotte A. Quinn, “Maba Diakhou Ba: Scholar-Warrior of the Senegambia”; R. Griffeth, “Samori Toure,” in Reformers and Modernisers ; R. T. Tignor, “Muhammed Ali, Moderniser of Egypt”; R. Pankhurst, “Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia”; G. M. Uzoigwe, “Kabalega and the Making of a New Kitara,” in Resisters and Collaborators ; J. D. Omer-Cooper, “Moshesh and the Survival of the Basuto Nation—the Second Phase”; C. C. Wrigley, “Apolo Kagwa: Katikkiro of Buganda”; E. A. Ayandele, “Abdel Kader and the French Occupation of Algeria, 1830–1847”; Ian Henderson, “Lobengula: Achievement and Tragedy’”; E. J. Alagoa, “Koko: Amanyanabo of Nembe”; and Philip Igbafe, “Oba Ovonramwen and the Fall of Benin.”

3. The African Historical Biographies were published by Heinemann Educational Books, London, under the general editorship of Obaro Ikime. The author, title, and date of each volume are as follows: R. H. Kofi Darkwah , Menelik of Ethiopia (1972); Anthony J. Dachs , Khama of Botswana (1971); Obaro Ikime , Nana of the Niger Delta (1972); Peter Sanders , Moshweshwe of Lesotho (1971); Philip Aigbona Igbafe , Obaseki of Benin (1972); K. Yeboa Daaku , Osei Tutu of Asante (1976); Tekana N. Tamuno , Herbert Macaulay: Nigerian Patriot (1976); Obaro Ikime , Chief Dǫghǫ of Warri (1976); Adeleye Ijagbemi Naimbana of Sierra Leone (1976); E. J. Alagoa , King Boy of Brass (1975); Ngwabi Bhebe , Lobengula of Zimbabwe (1977); A. C. Unomah , Mirambo of Tanzania (1977); and R. Kent Rasmussen , Mzilikazi of the Ndebele (1977).

4. V. P. Franklin and Bettye Collier-Thomas , “Biography, Race Vindication and African American Intellectuals,” Journal of African American History 87 (2002): 160–174.

5. Ikime, “Introduction” to Leadership in 19th Century Africa , xvi.

6. Kwame Anthony Appiah, cited in Cheryl-Ann Michael , “African Biography: Hagiography or Demonization?” Social Dynamics 30, no. 1 (2004): 3.

7. T. D. Mweli Skota , The African Yearly Register: Being an Illustrated National Biographical Dictionary (Who’s Who) of Black Folks in Africa (Johannesburg: Orange, 1932).

8. Tim Couzens , The New African: A Study of the Life and Work of H. I. E. Dhlomo (Johannesburg: Ravan, 1985).

9. See Jonathan Fenderman , “Evolving Conceptions of Pan-African Scholarship: W. E. B. du Bois, Carter G. Woodson and the ‘Encyclopedia Africana,’ 1909–1963,” Journal of African American History 95, no. 1 (2010): 71–91.

10. William Edward Burghardt du Bois, “ A Statement Concerning the Encyclopaedia Africana Project, 1 April 1962 .” In fact this had been a feature of Ikime’s collective biographies as well, with African authors (only just) outnumbering non-African ones.

11. Lawrence Henry Ofosu-Appiah , ed., The Encyclopaedia Africana Dictionary of African Biography: Volume 1, Ethiopia-Ghana (New York: Reference Publications, 1977); Lawrence Henry Ofosu-Appiah , ed., The Encyclopaedia Africana Dictionary of African Biography: Volume 2, Sierra Leone-Zaire (Algonac, MI: Reference Publications, 1979); and Keith Irvine , ed., The Encyclopaedia Africana Dictionary of African Biography: Volume 3, South Africa—Botswana-Lesotho-Swaziland (Algonac, MI: Reference Publications, 1995).

12. Mark Lipschutz and R. Kent Rasmussen , Dictionary of African Historical Biography (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1978). Mention should also be made of the African Biographical Archive : Victor Herrero Mediavilla , ed., African Biographical Archive / Afrikanisches Biographisches Archiv (Munich: K.G. Saur Verlag, 1995–1999). Many English, French, and German publications were searched, resulting in a biographical compilation of many thousand entries. Sheldon’s more recent dictionary, although not confined to biography, contains a wide range of women’s microbiographies. See Kathleen E. Sheldon , Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005).

13. Dr. Jonathan Bonk, project director .

14. Emmanuel Kwaku Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates , eds., The Oxford Dictionary of African Biography (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).

15. Preface to the Oxford Dictionary of African Biography .

16. Joseba Agirreazkuenaga and Mikel Urquijo , “Collective Biography and Europe’s Cultural Legacy,” The European Legacy 20, no. 4 (2015): 373–388. On collective biography as method, see also Angela Jones , “Lessons from the Niagara Movement: Prosopography and Discursive Protest,” Sociological Focus 49 (2016): 63–83.

17. Columba Kaburi Muriungi , “Let’s Sing Our Heroes: A Comparison of Biographical Series for Children in Kenya and South Africa,” Literator: Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 25, no. 3 (2004): 181–197. “They Fought For Freedom” was published in the 1990s by Maskew Miller Longman under the general editorship of John Pampallis; the UNESCO Women in African History series is published jointly by UNESCO and HarperCollins; titles in the Voices of Liberation series include Albert Luthuli, Ruth First, and Patrice Lumumba (Pretoria, South Africa: HSRC); and African Leaders of the Twentieth Century (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2015) include Steve Biko, Emperor Haile Selassie, Patrice Lumumba, and Thomas Sankara. These have also been published in the Pocket Biographies series by Johannesburg-based Jacana Media.

18. Information obtained from Panaf Books (regrettably this website is no longer available) and personal communication with R. Molteno, London.

19. Editors of Panaf Books , Forward Ever: The Life of Kwame Nkrumah (London: Panaf, 2006).

20. Susan Geiger , “Tanganyikan Nationalism as ‘Women’s Work’: Life Histories, Collective Biography and Changing Historiography,” The Journal of African History 37, no. 3 (1996): 466.

21. J. B. Webster, “Preface” in Leadership in 19th century Africa , ed. Ikime, viii.

22. David Sweetman , Women Leaders in African History (London, UK: Heinemann Educational, 1984).

23. The term “new African” was coined by South African writer Herbert Dhlomo in the 1940s and has been popularized by the work of Ntongela Masilela through his New African Movement website. It has a clear South African focus, although the attributes that Masilela identifies in his subjects are much more widely dispersed on the continent. The term is introduced to succinctly express the alternative source of leadership that became available with the spread of missionary activity and Western education. It makes no assumptions about the way in which such individuals related to broader African (and indeed international) society.

24. “The story of Kofoworola Aina Moore, of the Yoruba Tribe, Nigeria,” written by herself, in Margery Perham , ed., Ten Africans (London, UK: Faber & Faber, 1936), 323. This memoir was written at the end of Moore’s studies at Oxford. On her return to Nigeria, she became a prominent educationist and was active in the women’s movement and various other civic organizations. She married Sir Adetokunbo Adegboyega Ademola, later Chief Justice of the Nigerian Supreme Court. Her period at Oxford is remembered on the TORCH website.

25. Donovan Williams , “Tiyo Soga 1829–71,” in Black Leaders in Southern African History , ed. Christopher Saunders (London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1979), 127–141; and L. D. Ngcongco , “John Tengo Jabavu,” in Black Leaders, ed. Saunders (London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1979), 142–156. Williams had published a more extended biography two years earlier: Donovan Williams , Umfundisi: A Biography of Tiyo Soga, 1829–1871 (Alice, [South Africa]: Lovedale, 1978).

26. Edwin Smith , Aggrey of Africa: A Study in Black and White (London: Student Christian Movement, 1929).

27. H. C. Armstrong , Grey Steel (J.C. Smuts) (Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1939); F. S. Crafford , Jan Smuts: A Biography (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1946); William Keith Hancock , Smuts: The Sanguine Years, 1870–1919 , Vol. 1 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1962); William Keith Hancock , The Fields of Force, 1919–1950 , Vol. 2 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1962); W. E. G. Solomon , Saul Solomon: The Member for Cape Town (Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1948); and Alan Paton , South African Tragedy: The Life and Times of Jan Hofmeyr (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1965).

28. On hagiography, see Michael, “African Biography.” Examples include William Edgett Smith , Nyerere of Tanzania (London, UK: Victor Gollancz, 1973); Basil Davidson , Black Star: A View of the Life and Times of Kwame Nkrumah (New York, NY: Praeger, 1974); and Thomas Tlou , Neil Parsons , and Willie Henderson , Seretse Khama 1921–1980 (Johannesburg: Macmillan, 1995). Probably because theirs was the longest struggle for freedom on the continent and attracted such a high degree of international attention, the biographical representation of African nationalist and freedom fighter figures from South Africa is extensive. See, as examples, Brian Willan , Sol Plaatje: A Biography (Johannesburg: Ravan, 1984); Bongani Ngqulunga , The Man Who Founded the ANC: A Biography of Pixley kaIsaka Seme (Cape Town: Penguin, 2017); Benjamin Pogrund , How Can Man Die Better: The Life of Robert Sobukwe (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, 1990); Donald Woods , Biko (Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1987); and Alan Wieder , Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War Against Apartheid (Johannesburg: Jacana, 2013). Women’s biographies include Marieke Faber Clarke with Nyathi Pathisa , Lozikeyi Dlodlo Queen of the Ndebele (Bulawayo [Zimbabwe]: Amagugu, 2010); Nwando Achebe , The Female King of Colonial Nigeria, Ahebi Ugbabe (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011); Linda Heywood , Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017); and Helen Cooper , Madame President. The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2017).

29. Examples of autobiographical memoirs include Nnamdi Azikiwe , My Odyssey (New York, NY: Praeger, 1970); Oginga Odinga , Not Yet Uhuru (London, UK: Heinemann, 1967); Mamphela Ramphele , A Life (Cape Town: David Philip, 1995); Wangari Mathaai , Unbowed: One Woman’s Story (London, UK: Arrow, 2008). Emperor Haile Sellassie’s autobiography, originally published in Amharic, appeared in English in two volumes, each with a different translator/editor: The Autobiography of Emperor Haile Sellassie I “My Life and Ethiopia’s Progress” 1892–1937 , ed. and trans. Edward Ullendorff (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976); My Life and Ethiopia’s Progress: Haile Sellassie I, King of Ethiopia , ed. and trans. Harold Marcus with Ezekiel Gebissa and Tibebe Eshete (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1994).

30. Janet G. Vaillant , Black, French and African: A Life of Léopold Sédar Senghor (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990); and Heather Hughes , First President: A Life of John L. Dube, Founding President of the ANC (Johannesburg: Jacana, 2011). For an example that demonstrates the exceedingly complex and painful engagement with the vagaries of nationalist movements, see Jocelyn Alexander , “Loyalty and Liberation: The Political Life of Zephaniah Moyo,” Journal of Eastern African Studies 11, no. 1 (2017): 166–187.

31. Anthony Kirk-Greene , “His Eternity, His Eccentricity, or His Exemplarity? A Further Contribution to the Study of H.E. the African Head of State,” African Affairs 90, no. 359 (1991): 166. Although the remark was meant to underline the dangers of writing about the living, one might add that biographers (Africans and others) based in better-resourced institutions in North America and Europe, tend to dominate the field of subjects, alive and dead, because researching and writing biography is often a long and costly task. For a notable critical treatment of a living subject, which possibly confirms Kirk-Greene’s point, see John Iliffe , Obasanjo, Nigeria and the World (Woodbridge, UK: James Currey, 2011).

32. Urther Rwafa , “Theorising Mandela,” Journal of Literary Studies 33, no. 4 (2017): 90.

33. Carli Coetzee , “Mandela’s Meanings: A Translated and Adapted Life,” Altre Modernità 12, no. 11 (2014): 15–28.

34. Nelson Mandela , No Easy Walk to Freedom (London, UK: Heinemann, 1965).

35. Luli Callinicos , Oliver Tambo: Beyond the Engeli Mountains (Cape Town: David Philip, 2004).

36. Mary Benson , Nelson Mandela: The Man and the Movement (London, UK: Penguin, 1986); and Fatima Meer , Higher than Hope: “Rolihlahla We Love You” (Johannesburg: Skotaville, 1988). Re-issued as Higher Than Hope: The Authorised Biography of Nelson Mandela (London, UK: Penguin, 1990).

37. Nelson Mandela , Long Walk to Freedom (Randburg [South Africa]: Macdonald Purnell, 1994).

38. Author Mandla Langa produced a kind of sequel to the 1994 autobiography by assembling Mandela’s notes from his time in office, as well as a draft memoir Mandela had been working on. Nelson Mandela and Mandla Langa , Dare Not Linger: The Presidential Years (London, UK: Pan Macmillan, 2017).

39. Anthony Sampson , Mandela: The Authorised Biography (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, 1999). This time, the study was endorsed directly by Mandela, rather than via Winnie Mandela, as had been the case with the Meer study; the couple divorced in 1996.

40. Sampson, Mandela , 487–488.

41. Richard Stengel , Mandela’s Way: Fifteen Lesson on Life, Love and Courage (London, UK: Virgin, 2010).

42. Steve Davis , “Struggle History and Self-Help: The Parallel Lives of Nelson Mandela in Conventional and Figurative Biography,” African Studies 73, no. 2 (2014): 169–191.

43. Tom Lodge , Mandela: A Critical Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006).

44. Tom Lodge , “Secrets and Lies: South African Political Biography,” Journal of Southern African Studies 41, no. 3 (2015): 688.

45. This is Boehmer’s criticism of Mandela’s treatment; see Elleke Boehmer , Nelson Mandela: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 3–7. Other recent biographies of South African politicians have adopted this approach to great effect. See, for example, Lindie Koorts , D.F. Malan and the Rise of Afrikaner Nationalism (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 2014).

46. Gunner argues that the public and private should be seen as “densely overlapping,” rather than separate spheres. Liz Gunner, “‘Let All the Stories Be Told’: Zulu Woman , Words and Silence.” Afterword to Rebecca Hourwich Reyher , Zulu Woman: The Life Story of Christina Sibiya (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa: University of Natal Press, 1999), 199.

47. Mary Smith , Baba of Karo: A Woman of the Muslim Hausa (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981). Whether this counts as “biography” or “autobiography” is considered in the article.

48. Wright, cited in Susan Geiger , “Women’s Life Histories: Method and Content,” Signs 11, no. 2 (1986): 339.

49. Marcia Wright , “Life and Technology in Everyday Life: Reflections on the Career of Mzee Stefano, Master Smelter of Ufipa, Tanzania,” Journal of African Cultural Studies 15, no. 1 (2001): 18.

50. George Shepperson and Thomas Price , Independent African: John Chilembwe and the Nyasaland Rising of 1915 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1958).

51. Wangari Muoria-Sal , Bodil Folke Frederiksen , John Lonsdale , and Derek Peterson , eds., Writing for Kenya: The Life and Works of Henry Muoria . (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Academic, 2009), 1–424.

52. Lisa Lindsay , Atlantic Bonds: A Nineteenth-Century Odyssey from America to Africa (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017).

53. Charles van Onselen , The Seed is Mine: The Life of Kas Maine A South African Sharecropper 1894–1985 (Cape Town: David Philip, 1995), 3.

54. Margaret McCord , The Calling of Katie Makhanya: A Memoir of South Africa (Cape Town: David Philip, 1995).

55. Robert Edgar and Hilary Sapire , African Apocalypse: The Story of Nontetha Nkwenkwe, a Twentieth-Century South African Prophet (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1999).

56. Reyher, Zulu Woman .

57. Margery Perham, ed., Ten Africans , 9.

58. John Iliffe , East African Doctors: History of a Modern Profession (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998).

59. Geiger, “Tanganyikan Nationalism as ‘Women’s Work’.”

60. Belinda Bozzoli with Mmantho Nkotsoe , Women of Phokeng: Consciousness, Life Strategy and Migrancy in South Africa, 1900–1983 (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational, 1991), 109. Previously, men would have exchanged bogadi (bridewealth cattle or equivalent) with a woman’s father before marriage; the woman herself would not have been expected to contribute a dowry.

61. Richard Werbner , Tears of the Dead: The Social Biography of an African Family (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press for the International African Institute, London, 1991), 109. A further collective biography of note is Sandra Rowoldt Shell , Children of Hope: The Odyssey of the Oromo Slaves From Ethiopia to South Africa (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2018).

62. Ikime, Leadership in 19th Century Africa , xiv.

63. R. Kent Rasmussen , “Foreword to the First Edition,” in Dictionary of African Historical Biography , ed. Mark Lipschutz and R. Kent Rasmussen (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1987), vii.

64. David Nasaw , “AHR Roundtable Historians and Biography; Introduction,” American Historical Review 114, no. 3 (June 2008): 573.

65. Robert Rotberg , “Biography and Historiography: Mutual Evidentiary and Interdisciplinary Considerations,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 40, no. 3 (2001): 305. Among Rotberg’s several biographies, see The Founder: Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988).

66. John Lonsdale , “Agency in Tight Corners: Narrative and Initiative in African History,” Journal of African Cultural Studies 13, no. 1 (2000): 8.

67. Lisa Lindsay in conversation with Peter Limb and Laura Fair, Episode 93 of Africa Past and Present: The Podcast About African History, Culture and Politics .

68. Achim von Oppen and Silke Strickrodt , “Introduction: Biographies Between Spheres of Empire,” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 44, no. 5 (2016): 718.

69. van Onselen, The Seed is Mine , ix.

70. Hilda Kuper , “ Biography as Interpretation ,” Eleventh Annual Hans Wolff Memorial Lecture, African Studies Programme, University of Indiana (April 21, 1980): 25.

71. Kuper, “ Biography as Interpretation ,” 28.

72. For a useful account of so-called positionality (albeit from a geographical perspective) see Kim V. L England . “Getting Personal: Reflexivity, Positionality and Feminist Research,” Professional Geographer 46, no. 1 (1994): 80–89.

73. Reyher, Zulu Woman , 9.

74. McCord recorded Makhanya’s story in 1954, although the book it was based on came out in 1995, when McCord herself was in her eighties.

75. See, for example, Stephan Meyer , “Collaborative Auto-biography: Notes on an Interview with Margaret McCord on The Calling of Katie Makhanya: A Memoir of South Africa,” Oral Tradition 15, no. 2 (2000): 230–254.

76. Karin Barber , “Introduction,” in Africa’s Hidden Histories: Everyday Literacy and Making the Self (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006), 3.

77. See, for example, Judith Lutge Coullie , Stephan Meyer , Thengani Ngwenya , and Thomas Olver , eds., Selves in Question (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2006).

78. Richard Rathbone , “African Biography,” Contemporary Review 293, no. 1702 (2011): 339.

79. Gälawdewos , The Life and Struggles of Our Mother Walatta Petros: A Seventeenth-Century African Biography of an Ethiopian Woman ( W. L Belcher and M. Kleiner , Trans.). (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015).

80. Babacar Fall , “Orality and Life Histories: Rethinking the Social and Political History of Senegal,” Africa Today 50, no. 2 (2003): 55–65.

81. Hermione Lee , Biography: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 18.

82. Steven Feierman , “Collective Biography of African Doctors,” Journal of African History 41, no. 3 (2000): 516. Emphasis added.

83. Meghan Healy and Eva Jackson , “Practices of Naming and the Possibilities of Home on American Zulu Mission Stations in Colonial Natal,” Journal of Natal and Zulu History 29, no. 1 (2011): 1–19.

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Biography: what is biography, definition, types of biography, characteristics, origin and more 

What is biography.

It is one of the most important subgenres of the didactic genre of literature, since it consists of the text of the history of the life of a person. It is a written narration in which the most important facts of a person’s life are related as a summary, starting with the birth, with the whole context of the place of origin, and in some cases even going back to family history. The narrator is not the protagonist.

As for the completion of the biography, many of them are written when the protagonist has already died, so that it covers his or her life from beginning to end. However, it is up to the writer to choose how far the biography will go, especially if the protagonist lives.

Meaning of the subgenre biography

The term comes from the union of the Greek bios, which refers to life, and graphein, which refers to writing. This is how the term is configured, giving rise to a form of writing focused on life, so that it can also be used in a symbolic sense.

Definition of the sub-genre biography

It is a type of text written in the third person, in which the content consists of a summary of the life of a person, however, it may include appreciations by the author in which aspects related to the context of the life of the protagonist of the biography are specified, in addition to information related to accurate data.

What is the function of a biography?

A text like this gathers a great amount of information about the life of a person, so that its purpose is, above all, to make known fundamental features of the life of the person about whom the biography is made, in most cases it is about public people in which their professional activity is highlighted, appreciations about their private life or other activities for which they have stood out, which are essential to understand their work.

History and origin of the biographical subgenre

It is considered that the biographical text type has its beginnings since Antiquity, however, it should be noted that at that time it had not been established as a literary subgenre, so it had not been formally classified. It was in the Middle Ages, with the Renaissance movement, that biography began to be recognized, since at that time it was necessary to provide specific information on the artists in order to gradually eliminate the ancient Greek models from which it sought to dissociate itself.

With the passage of time, biography, like humanity, achieved an important evolution, in which it gradually came to incorporate a desperate search for documents that would allow an approach to the lives of subjects and artists. This will be key to the realist movement, which we have already talked about in a previous article. Thus, by the present time, the biography manages to consolidate itself as a writing that allows us to know the life of a character from the most relevant and determining events for the activity for which he is publicly known, in the case of figures recognized in the political, social, cultural, etc. field.

Characteristics of the biography subgenre

Let us look at the essential characteristics of this literary subgenre:

The central theme that distinguishes the biography from other didactic subgenres is the narration of the most relevant facts of a person’s life, which is presented through a written text. It deals with real events in the life of an equally existing person. Its content goes from the birth of a person until the present time or the time of his death. Some authors write about the author even after death, especially if he left works that keep his name active.

Mode of composition

At the time when a biography is being written, as well as when it is read, the organization of the events that are exposed are arranged chronologically, following the line of life. Likewise, in the writing, the author maintains an objective and accurate look in which everything he mentions can be verified. However, the author may mention some particular assessments.

Another of the most relevant aspects of this type of subgenre has to do with the type of narrator who writes, since the story is narrated in the third person.

Mode of presentation

Although it is essentially a written text, so that it can be presented in documents and books, the truth is that these serve as a basis for the reproduction of the biography through other formats, as has happened in recent years where the lives of key characters are exposed through documentaries, films, programs, etc.

Historical content

A biography, although it has a series of data on important dates, also tends to make tours around important trips or journeys made by the character, so that it incorporates historical events during their travels, as many of them influence their activities and will have an important impact on decision making. This information also allows the reader to situate and contextualize the reader in relation to the time and space of the person’s life.

Structure of the biography subgenre

As for the structure of this type of text, it is similar to the organization usually used in narrative texts, since it has an opening section, an introduction and a closing section as a conclusion at the end of the text. Thus, the biography is organized as follows:

Introduction: as its name indicates, this initial part introduces the character about whom we are going to talk. Thus, the full name, date and place of birth (if desired date and place of death), and finally the activity he/she developed in life, that is to say, his/her profession and specialty, are mentioned.

Development: in this part begins as such the order of the biography. Here the author begins with the narration of all those events that were transcendental for the protagonist’s life, so he can start by pointing out particularities of his origin, the activity of his parents and siblings, if he focuses on the family circle, etc.

Conclusion : it is the closing of the text in which we reach the last years of the character’s life, if he/she has passed away, or the present time, if the author prefers. Often, in this part the author’s subjectivity is evident due to a series of evaluations that are made in relation to the transcendence of the protagonist.

Likewise, the structure of the biography usually includes other elements in its organization such as:

Dedication: this is a space that occupies one or two short sentences in which the author or writer of the biography allows himself to show affection, either to the protagonist of his biography or to people he esteems.

Preface: in this section the author can relate some of his or her personal experiences in relation to the moment prior to consolidating the biography to be presented. In this sense, he/she can address issues such as the reasons that prompted him/her to develop his/her work, the reasons and the research tools, for example.

Acknowledgements: in the final part of the biography, although it can also appear at the beginning, the author proceeds to thank different people, including those who helped him/her to find relevant information about the protagonist, as well as other people who have accompanied the process through complementary activities, company, photographic work, data collection, etc.

Annexes: in this section the author can include annexes such as photographs, articles and documents that have been mentioned during the course of the biography and that are duly indicated to lead the reader to them.

Types of the biography subgenre

According to the field in which a biography is developed, it is possible to identify some modalities that give rise to a number of types of biography. These are:

Authorized biography

These are all biographies that have been reviewed and validated by the author, who, once he/she has reviewed them, approves everything that is exposed within their content and allows the publication of the biography that has been written.

Unauthorized biography

In this case, the biography has not been reviewed by the author, in most cases without seeking the approval of the person whose life is narrated. Often this type of biography is part of the journalistic activity when reporting on a public person, especially when it is a political or social figure.

Book biography

It is given by the type of format in which the biography is presented. Its length allows for a much more detailed and thorough exploration of the protagonist. Often the person written about is a public personality of interest in a specific society and context. Its content includes background, moments prior to becoming known, work, etc.

Professional biography

In this type of biographies the content is focused on the exaltation of the person’s skills, as well as his or her knowledge, abilities, experience and other aspects that may increase the value of the proposal. It includes skills related to personality traits in the quality of the activity.

Informative biographies

They are usually biographies not marked within the literary world, but within the journalistic world, since they tend to emphasize in-depth research with the intention of informing a much wider audience. There is no deepening of the data presented, but they are exposed in an objective and concrete way where specific aspects are highlighted.

How to write a biography?

Now that we have seen what a biography consists of in broad strokes, it is time to see how to write such a text correctly:

Choosing the protagonist 

The first thing we must do when we plan to write a biography is to choose the person about whom we want to develop the text. We can practically choose any person, whether it is a friend, a relative, an acquaintance, an artist, a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher or any other person we want to write about.

Collecting the information 

Once you have chosen the person you are going to write the biography about, it is time to start gathering as much information about the person as possible. Gather information about their life, background, institutions they went through, their jobs, activities and so on, this will allow you to make a complete biography. If you can have contact with the person, interviewing him or her, for example, will be of great help.

If you choose a famous personality, you may find much of this information in audiovisual media, interviews, books, among others. If not, you can approach relatives, friends and people close to you to obtain much more information.

Asking important questions

As you collect information, it is important, at the same time, to keep in mind a series of key questions that will allow you to go deeper and collect baseline information to provide as much data as possible about your entire life. So some of these questions can be: Who were his parents and what did they do, what was the relationship with his family circle like, what was his childhood like, what led him to approach what would become his main activity in life, what are his first steps in his passion, etc.

Organization of the information

When you have all this information, it is time to organize it. Remember to keep a chronological order, even though there are connections between past and present directly, so you should go deeper into different moments that allow you to configure the future of the protagonist seen from the past.

Establish a central idea 

Many biographies maintain an order that revolves around a particular idea, it can be a particularity of the character, an activity or profession that he/she has developed, etc. Elaborating this central idea will allow you to develop the content around the character’s life, through which all the events will pass.

Start writing

It is time to get down to work. Start writing keeping the order you have chosen and the central idea you have set up, although you can indicate it from the beginning, you must take care that the information you add builds it during the course of the biography.

Adding the bibliography 

Because of the type of text you are writing, since it involves a large number of sources of information, it is necessary that each of the sources be added to the final document, including not only documents or books, but also interviews and people who gave you their word, online sources consulted, etc.

Final proofreading 

We have the whole document ready, now we just need to check again aspects such as spelling and grammar, as well as the coherence between paragraphs and other divisions you have decided to make within the biography. You can ask someone to read it so that they can give you their feedback, especially if the person you are talking about is of interest to them as well.

Remember to check some sources beforehand. You can refer to existing biographies of authors, artists, doctors, politicians or any other important personalities. This will allow you to have a closer guide to start writing the biography.

Example of the biography subgenre

The following is an excerpt from the authorized biography of Steve Jobs, one of the most well-known biographies of our times, written by Walter Isaacson:

“This is a book about the eventful life and searing, intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and fierce determination revolutionized six different industries: personal computers, animated films, music, telephony, electronic tablets, and digital publishing. We could even add a seventh: retail, which Jobs didn’t exactly revolutionize, but he did revamp. He also paved the way for a new digital content market based on applications rather than websites. Along the way, he has not only created products that have transformed the industry, but also, on his second try, an enduring company, imbued with his very DNA, filled with creative designers and daring engineers who will be able to carry his vision forward.”

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What Is a Biography? Definition & 25+ Examples

Have you ever wondered what lies beneath the surface of history’s most influential figures?

Imagine a chance to delve into the intricate tapestry of their lives, unraveling the threads that have woven together the very essence of their character, and unearthing the pivotal moments that shaped their destinies.

Welcome to the enthralling world of biographies, where you are invited to embark on a captivating journey into the lives of the extraordinary. Prepare to be captivated by the compelling tales of human resilience, ingenuity, and ambition that lie at the heart of each biography.

Table of Contents

Defining Biography

A biography is a detailed account of a person’s life, written by someone other than the subject. The term “biography” is derived from two Greek words: “bio,” which means life, and “graphy,” which signifies writing. Thus, a biography is the written history of someone’s life, offering an in-depth look at their experiences, achievements, and challenges.

Biographies typically focus on the life of notable individuals, such as historical figures or celebrities, and provide a comprehensive view of their personal and professional journey.

Biographers, the authors of these works, aim to offer an accurate, well-researched portrayal of their subjects by studying various sources and conducting interviews if possible. This thorough research and attention to detail ensure that the resulting narrative is both informative and engaging.

Biographies are a subgenre of non-fiction literature, as they chronicle the lives of real people. However, not all life stories fall under the category of biography.

Autobiographies and memoirs, for instance, focus on the author’s own experiences and are written from a first-person perspective. While autobiographies aim to present an overarching narrative of the author’s life, memoirs tend to focus on specific incidents or periods.

When crafting a biography, it is essential for the biographer to maintain a neutral tone, avoiding any judgment or personal bias. This objectivity allows readers to form their opinions based on the presented facts, gaining a broader understanding of the subject.

Elements of a Biography

A well-crafted biography contains several key elements that provide a comprehensive picture of the subject’s life. These elements help readers gain a deeper understanding of the subject while fostering an emotional connection. Below are some essential aspects of a biography:

Personal and Family Background

The personal and family background section of a biography provides an essential foundation for understanding the subject’s journey and the factors that shaped their life. By exploring the subject’s early years, readers gain insight into the environment and experiences that influenced their character, values, and aspirations.

This section typically begins with an overview of the subject’s birthplace, family origins, and cultural heritage. It delves into the family dynamics, including descriptions of the subject’s parents, siblings, and extended family, shedding light on the relationships that played a crucial role in their development.

The personal and family background section also addresses significant life events, challenges, and milestones that occurred during the subject’s upbringing. These formative experiences may include pivotal moments, such as moving to a new city, attending a particular school, or encountering a mentor who had a lasting impact on their life.

Education and Career

The education and career section of a biography is crucial for understanding the intellectual and professional development of the subject. By tracing the subject’s academic journey and career progression, readers gain a clearer picture of the knowledge, skills, and experiences that shaped their path and contributed to their success.

This section begins by outlining the subject’s educational background, including the schools they attended, the degrees or qualifications they obtained, and any specialized training they received. It also highlights the subject’s academic achievements, such as scholarships, awards, or distinctions, and any influential mentors or teachers who played a significant role in their intellectual growth.

The education and career section also delves into the subject’s professional life, chronicling their work history, job titles, and key responsibilities. It explores the subject’s career trajectory, examining how they transitioned between roles or industries and the factors that influenced their choices.

Major Events and Turning Points

The major events and turning points section of a biography delves into the pivotal moments and experiences that significantly influenced the subject’s life, shaping their character, values, and destiny.

By exploring these transformative events, readers gain a deeper understanding of the forces and circumstances that drove the subject’s actions and choices, as well as the challenges and triumphs they faced along the way.

This section encompasses a wide range of events, which could include personal milestones, such as marriage, the birth of children, or the loss of a loved one.

These personal events often provide insights into the subject’s emotional landscape and reveal the support systems, relationships, and personal values that sustained them through difficult times or propelled them to greater heights.

Influences and Inspirations

The influences and inspirations section of a biography delves into the individuals, ideas, and events that had a profound impact on the subject’s beliefs, values, and aspirations.

By understanding the forces that shaped the subject’s worldview, readers gain a deeper appreciation for the motivations driving their actions and decisions, as well as the creative and intellectual foundations upon which their accomplishments were built.

This section often begins by identifying the key figures who played a significant role in the subject’s life, such as family members, mentors, peers, or historical figures they admired.

It explores the nature of these relationships and how they shaped the subject’s perspectives, values, and ambitions. These influential individuals can provide valuable insights into the subject’s personal growth and development, revealing the sources of inspiration and guidance that fueled their journey.

The influences and inspirations section also delves into the ideas and philosophies that resonated with the subject and shaped their worldview. This could include an exploration of the subject’s religious, political, or philosophical beliefs, as well as the books, theories, or artistic movements that inspired them.

This section examines the events, both personal and historical, that impacted the subject’s life and inspired their actions. These could include moments of personal transformation, such as a life-altering experience or an epiphany, or broader societal events, such as wars, social movements, or technological innovations.

Contributions and Impact

The contributions and impact section of a biography is pivotal in conveying the subject’s lasting significance, both in their chosen profession and beyond. By detailing their achievements, innovations, and legacies, this section helps readers grasp the extent of the subject’s influence and the ways in which their work has shaped the world around them.

This section begins by highlighting the subject’s key accomplishments within their profession, such as breakthroughs, discoveries, or innovative techniques they developed. It delves into the processes and challenges they faced along the way, providing valuable insights into their creativity, determination, and problem-solving abilities.

The contributions and impact section also explores the subject’s broader influence on society, culture, or the world at large. This could include their involvement in social or political movements, their philanthropic endeavors, or their role as a cultural icon.

In addition to discussing the subject’s immediate impact, this section also considers their lasting legacy, exploring how their work has continued to inspire and shape subsequent generations.

This could involve examining the subject’s influence on their successors, the institutions or organizations they helped establish, or the enduring relevance of their ideas and achievements in contemporary society.

Personal Traits and Characteristics

The personal traits and characteristics section of a biography brings the subject to life, offering readers an intimate glimpse into their personality, qualities, and views.

This section often begins by outlining the subject’s defining personality traits, such as their temperament, values, and passions. By exploring these attributes, readers gain insight into the subject’s character and the motivations driving their actions and decisions.

These qualities could include their perseverance, curiosity, empathy, or sense of humor, which may help explain their achievements, relationships, and outlook on life.

The personal traits and characteristics section also delves into the subject’s views and beliefs, offering a window into their thoughts and opinions on various topics. This could include their perspectives on politics, religion, culture, or social issues, providing readers with a clearer understanding of the context in which they operated and the factors that shaped their worldview.

Anecdotes and personal stories play a crucial role in illustrating the subject’s personality and characteristics, as they offer concrete examples of their behavior, actions, or interactions with others.

Quotes and first-hand accounts from the subject or those who knew them well can also be invaluable in portraying their personal traits and characteristics. These accounts offer unique insights into the subject’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences, allowing readers to see the world through their eyes and better understand their character.

Types of Biographies

Biographies come in various forms and styles, each presenting unique perspectives on the lives of individuals. Some of the most common types of biographies are discussed in the following sub-sections.

Historical Fiction Biography

Historical fiction biographies artfully weave together factual information with imaginative elements, creating a vibrant tapestry of the past. By staying true to the core of a historical figure’s life and accomplishments, these works offer a unique window into their world while granting authors the creative freedom to delve deeper into their emotions, relationships, and personal struggles.

Such biographies strike a delicate balance, ensuring that the essence of the individual remains intact while allowing for fictional embellishments to bring their story to life. This captivating blend of fact and fiction serves to humanize these iconic figures, making their experiences more relatable and engaging for readers who embark on a journey through the pages of history.

Here are several examples of notable historical fiction biographies:

• “Wolf Hall” by Hilary Mantel (2009)
• “The Paris Wife” by Paula McLain (2011)
• “Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Tracy Chevalier (1999)
• “The Other Boleyn Girl” by Philippa Gregory (2001)
• “Loving Frank” by Nancy Horan (2007)

Academic Biography

Academic biographies stand as meticulously researched and carefully crafted scholarly works, dedicated to presenting an accurate and comprehensive account of a subject’s life.

Authored by experts or researchers well-versed in their field, these biographies adhere to rigorous standards of accuracy, sourcing, and objectivity. They delve into the intricacies of a person’s life, achievements, and impact, scrutinizing every aspect with scholarly precision.

Intended for an educated audience, academic biographies serve as valuable resources for those seeking a deeper understanding of the subject’s contributions and influence. By placing the individual within the broader context of their time, these works illuminate the complex web of factors that shaped their lives and legacies.

While academic biographies may not always carry the same narrative flair as their fictional counterparts, their commitment to factual integrity and thorough analysis make them indispensable resources for scholars, students, and enthusiasts alike

Here are several examples of notable academic biographies:

• “Einstein: His Life and Universe” by Walter Isaacson (2007)
• “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson (2011)
• “John Adams” by David McCullough (2001)
• “Alexander the Great” by Robin Lane Fox (1973)
• “Marie Curie: A Life” by Susan Quinn (1995)

Authorized Biographies

Authorized biographies offer a unique perspective on the lives of their subjects, as they are written with the explicit consent and, often, active participation of the individual in question.

This collaboration between the biographer and the subject can lead to a more accurate, detailed, and intimate portrayal of the person’s life, as the author is granted access to a wealth of personal information, documents, and anecdotes that might otherwise be inaccessible.

When working on an authorized biography, the biographer is typically given permission to access personal documents, such as letters, diaries, and photographs, which can provide invaluable insights into the subject’s thoughts, emotions, and experiences.

This primary source material allows the biographer to construct a narrative that is grounded in fact and captures the essence of the individual’s life and personality.

Here are several examples of notable authorized biographies:

• “Mandela: The Authorized Biography” by Anthony Sampson (1999)
• “Marilyn Monroe: The Biography” by Donald Spoto (1993)
• “Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Words” by Malka Marom (2014)
• “The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life” by Alice Schroeder (2008)
• “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg” by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik (2015)

Fictionalized Academic Biography

Fictionalized academic biographies merge the best of both worlds, combining the rigorous research and scholarly integrity of academic biographies with the engaging storytelling of historical fiction.

Authors of these works expertly navigate the delicate balance between maintaining factual accuracy and venturing into the realm of imagination.

This approach allows them to explore the subject’s personal life, relationships, and the broader historical context in a compelling manner, while ensuring the narrative remains firmly rooted in well-researched facts.

Here are several examples of notable fictionalized academic biographies:

• “The Women” by T.C. Boyle (2009)
• “Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald” by Therese Anne Fowler (2013)
• “The Marriage of Opposites” by Alice Hoffman (2015)
• “Vanessa and Her Sister” by Priya Parmar (2014)
• “The Last Days of Night” by Graham Moore (2016)

Prophetic Biography

Prophetic biographies delve into the rich and profound narratives of religious figures or prophets, meticulously weaving together insights from sacred texts, religious traditions, and historical accounts.

By providing a comprehensive portrayal of the individual’s life, teachings, and impact on society, these biographies serve as an invaluable resource for understanding the pivotal role these figures played in shaping the course of religious history and the lives of the faithful.

Here are several examples of notable prophetic biographies:

• “Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources” by Martin Lings (1983)
• “The Life of Moses” by F.B. Meyer (1893)
• “The Life of the Buddha: According to the Pali Canon” by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli (1972)
• “The Quest of the Historical Jesus” by Albert Schweitzer (1906)
• “The Lives of the Saints” by Alban Butler (1756)

Biography Development Process

A biography is a comprehensive written account of an individual’s life, and the development process involves several essential components to ensure the biography’s accuracy and readability.

A biographer’s primary responsibility is to conduct extensive research in order to gather a comprehensive array of facts about the subject. This meticulous process involves reviewing various documents and sources that shed light on the individual’s life and experiences, as well as the historical context in which they lived.

Key documents, such as birth and death certificates, provide essential information about the subject’s origins and family background. Personal correspondence, letters, and diaries offer invaluable insights into the subject’s thoughts, emotions, relationships, and experiences. News articles, on the other hand, can reveal public perceptions of the subject, as well as their impact on society and culture.

Archives often serve as treasure troves of information for biographers, as they contain a wealth of primary sources that can help illuminate the subject’s life and times. These archives may include collections of personal papers, photographs, audio recordings, and other materials that offer first-hand accounts of the individual’s experiences or shed light on their accomplishments and impact.

Consulting relevant books and articles is another crucial aspect of a biographer’s research process, as these secondary sources provide context, analysis, and interpretation of the subject’s life and work.

By delving into the existing scholarship and engaging with the works of other researchers, biographers can solidify their understanding of the individual and the historical circumstances in which they lived.

Interviewing people who knew the subject personally is a vital component of a biographer’s research process, as it allows them to access unique insights, personal stories, and firsthand accounts of the individual’s life.

Friends, family members, co-workers, and colleagues can all offer valuable perspectives on the subject’s character, relationships, achievements, and challenges, thereby enriching the biographer’s understanding of their life and experiences.

While subjective anecdotes offer a more intimate glimpse into the subject’s personality and personal life, it is essential for biographers to balance these accounts with factual research.

By corroborating and contextualizing personal stories with objective information gleaned from primary and secondary sources, biographers can ensure that their portrayal of the individual’s life remains accurate and well-rounded.

This process of balancing subjective anecdotes with factual research also allows biographers to present a more nuanced and comprehensive view of their subject. By weaving together personal stories with historical context, biographers can create a richer and more engaging narrative that captures the complexity and multifaceted nature of the individual’s life.

In addition, by considering various perspectives and sources of information, biographers can address potential biases or discrepancies in their account, resulting in a more reliable and credible portrayal of the subject.

This careful attention to detail and commitment to accuracy not only enhances the quality of the biography but also helps establish trust between the biographer and their readers.

Chronological Narration

Organizing a biography in a chronological manner is a highly effective approach, as it allows readers to follow the subject’s life events in a logical and coherent sequence.

By presenting the information in a linear fashion, the biographer enables readers to trace the subject’s journey from their early years to their later accomplishments, making it easier to understand the context and progression of their life.

To effectively arrange a chronological narrative, the biographer should begin by highlighting significant milestones and accomplishments in the subject’s life. These key events serve as anchor points in the story, helping to structure the narrative and maintain the reader’s interest.

By focusing on these pivotal moments, the biographer can illustrate the subject’s growth, development, and achievements over time, providing a clear and engaging overview of their life’s trajectory.

Contextualization

Contextualizing the subject within their historical and cultural framework is a crucial aspect of biographical writing, as it enables readers to gain a deeper understanding of the individual’s life, choices, and significance.

Embedding the subject within their historical context involves examining the political, social, and economic landscape of the time. This includes exploring major events, trends, and issues that affected the subject’s life and decisions, such as wars, social movements, technological advancements, or cultural shifts.

Additionally, considering the subject’s cultural context is essential for understanding their beliefs, values, and creative expression. This involves examining the artistic, intellectual, and philosophical currents of the time, which may have influenced the subject’s work, ideas, or relationships.

Moreover, contextualizing the subject within their historical and cultural framework can help to humanize them, revealing the complexities, contradictions, and struggles that are often inherent in the human experience.

This approach offers readers a more nuanced and empathetic understanding of the subject, allowing them to see the person as a product of their time and circumstances, rather than as an isolated figure.

Famous Biographies and Biographers

The life of samuel johnson, ll.d. by james boswell (1791).

“The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.” is a biography of the English writer and literary critic Samuel Johnson, written by his friend and contemporary James Boswell. Published in 1791, it is often considered one of the greatest biographies in the English language and a pioneering work in the development of modern biography as a literary genre.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) was a prominent figure in 18th-century English literature, known for his wide-ranging knowledge, wit, and moral authority. He is best remembered for his dictionary, “A Dictionary of the English Language,” published in 1755, which became the standard English dictionary for over a century. He was also a prolific essayist, poet, and critic.

James Boswell (1740-1795) was a Scottish lawyer, diarist, and author who became friends with Johnson in 1763. Over the course of their friendship, Boswell made detailed notes of their conversations and observations, which he later used as the basis for his biography.

“The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.” is a comprehensive and vivid portrait of Johnson’s life, character, and work. Boswell covers Johnson’s early years, education, and struggles with poverty and illness, as well as his rise to prominence as a writer and his involvement in the vibrant literary circles of 18th-century London.

The biography also delves into Johnson’s friendships and relationships, including his long association with Hester Thrale, a prominent society hostess, and writer.

What sets Boswell’s biography apart is his skill in capturing Johnson’s personality, wit, and conversation. By presenting Johnson’s thoughts and opinions on a wide range of topics, as well as anecdotes and reminiscences from those who knew him, Boswell creates a vivid and engaging portrait of his subject.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010)

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” is a non-fiction book written by Rebecca Skloot, published in 2010. The book tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman whose cancer cells were taken without her knowledge or consent during a biopsy in 1951. These cells, known as HeLa cells, became the first immortal human cell line, reproducing indefinitely under laboratory conditions.

HeLa cells have been used extensively in medical research, contributing to significant scientific breakthroughs, such as the development of the polio vaccine, gene mapping, and cancer research.

Henrietta Lacks was a young mother of five when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cervical cancer at the age of 31. She received treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where a sample of her cancerous tissue was taken without her knowledge. Henrietta passed away in 1951, but her cells continued to live on, revolutionizing medical research.

Rebecca Skloot spent more than a decade researching Henrietta Lacks’ life and the scientific history of HeLa cells. Skloot also interviewed Lacks’ surviving family members, who were unaware of Henrietta’s contribution to science until the 1970s.

The book explores the ethical issues surrounding the use of human tissue in research, the question of consent, and the lack of compensation for the Lacks family.

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (2004)

“Alexander Hamilton” is a comprehensive biography of the American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, written by historian and biographer Ron Chernow. Published in 2004, the book provides an in-depth look into Hamilton’s life, from his humble beginnings in the West Indies to his significant contributions as a statesman, economist, and influential figure in early American history.

Chernow’s biography delves into Hamilton’s early life as an orphan in the Caribbean, his immigration to the American colonies, and his education. It also explores his involvement in the American Revolutionary War, where he served as an aide to General George Washington and later as an artillery officer.

The book details Hamilton’s role in the development of the United States Constitution and his work as the first Secretary of the Treasury under President Washington, where he was instrumental in establishing the nation’s financial system.

“Alexander Hamilton” also examines Hamilton’s personal life, including his relationships, marriage, and infamous extramarital affair, as well as his longstanding political rivalries with figures such as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Aaron Burr. The biography concludes with the story of Hamilton’s tragic death in a duel with Burr in 1804.

It received critical acclaim and won several awards, including the George Washington Book Prize. The biography also inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda to create the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton,” which premiered in 2015 and went on to achieve widespread popularity and numerous accolades, further solidifying Alexander Hamilton’s place in popular culture and history.

Notable Biographies in Different Fields

Science and technology.

Biographies in the field of science and technology offer fascinating insights into the lives and minds of extraordinary individuals who have made significant advancements in their respective fields.

These biographies often provide an in-depth look at the personal and professional lives of scientists, inventors, engineers, and other innovators, highlighting their discoveries, inventions, and contributions to human knowledge and progress.

Arts and Literature

Biographies of artists, actors, and writers often provide captivating and inspiring accounts of the lives of these creative individuals. By examining their personal and professional journeys, these biographies allow readers to gain a deeper understanding of the inspirations, motivations, and challenges that have shaped their subjects’ artistic achievements.

These biographies often delve into the early lives of their subjects, exploring formative experiences that may have influenced their creative paths. They also examine the artistic processes and the development of the subjects’ distinctive styles, providing valuable insights into their creative methodologies, influences, and inspirations.

Sports and Athletics

Biographies of athletes provide riveting accounts of the lives and careers of remarkable individuals who have achieved greatness in the world of sports. These stories often serve as powerful sources of inspiration, showcasing the dedication, perseverance, and triumphs of athletes who have overcome obstacles and pushed the boundaries of human potential.

These biographies delve into the formative experiences of their subjects, exploring how early influences, innate talent, and personal motivations led them to pursue athletic excellence. They also provide insights into the rigorous training regimens, discipline, and sacrifices that athletes make to achieve their goals, highlighting the incredible determination and work ethic that underpin their success.

Additionally, biographies of athletes often touch on the personal challenges and setbacks these individuals have faced, such as injuries, controversies, or personal struggles.

Historical Figures

Biographies of historical figures offer a unique window into the lives, personalities, and experiences of individuals who have left lasting impacts on the world. By delving into the stories of these influential people, readers can gain a deeper understanding of the political, social, and cultural contexts that shaped their actions and decisions, as well as the lasting legacies they left behind.

These biographies often provide richly detailed accounts of their subjects’ lives, including their upbringing, education, relationships, and personal struggles. By exploring the complex facets of these individuals, biographies help to humanize historical figures, providing a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of their motivations, beliefs, and actions.

In addition to personal narratives, biographies of historical figures often weave together broader historical contexts and events. This allows readers to gain valuable insights into the social, political, and cultural forces that influenced their subjects’ lives and decisions.

Writing a Compelling Biography

A captivating biography requires more than just a simple retelling of a person’s life events. It delves into their personal experiences, relationships, and accomplishments, while maintaining an objective and authentic approach.

Being Objective and Authentic

An essential aspect of a well-written biography is its objectivity. The narrative should portray the real person, depicting their experiences and beliefs accurately.

While it can be tempting to embellish facts or minimize flaws, striving for authenticity is crucial in presenting a credible account. This involves thorough research and verification of facts, even when they contradict the author’s initial assumptions.

Authenticity also extends to the respectful portrayal of a subject’s relationships and exploration of their inner world, while avoiding speculation or gossip.

Balancing Personal and Public Life

When writing a biography, one must strike a balance between the subject’s personal and public life. This includes weaving together stories from their childhood, personal relationships, and major life events that may have shaped their character. The integration of both personal and public aspects contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of their vita.

However, careful consideration must be given to privacy concerns, and it is important to determine which aspects of the individual’s life are appropriate to disclose. Ultimately, the reader should gain insight into the person’s journey without feeling intrusive.

Creating Engaging Storylines

Just as in a novel, a great biography should feature engaging storylines that keep readers interested. This can be achieved by organizing the narrative around important events, challenges, and accomplishments that are relevant and compelling. To maintain a smooth flow, strategically transitioning between these key moments helps maintain reader interest.

The use of different perspectives, anecdotes, and historical context can also enhance the storyline. Paint vivid pictures of the settings, allowing readers to immerse themselves in the subject’s world. Furthermore, showcasing the subject’s resilience, growth, and impact, can contribute to a powerful and memorable biography.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can biographies be fictional or purely factual.

Biographies usually aim to present an accurate and factual representation of someone’s life. However, some authors might take creative liberties and incorporate fictionalized elements for dramatic or storytelling purposes.

It is crucial for readers to be aware of the author’s intentions and approach when reading such biographical works.

Can biographies be biased?

Biographies, like any form of writing, can be subject to biases depending on the author’s perspective, beliefs, or intentions.

It is essential for readers to critically evaluate biographies by considering factors such as the author’s credentials, potential biases, and the sources used in the research process.

By comparing multiple biographies on the same subject or cross-referencing with other sources, readers can develop a more comprehensive and balanced understanding of the individual’s life and achievements.

Are biographies always based on famous or historical figures?

While biographies often focus on famous or historical figures, they can also be written about lesser-known individuals with compelling stories or unique experiences.

These “everyday” biographies can provide valuable insights into the lives of ordinary people and the challenges they face, offering a broader understanding of the human experience and fostering empathy and connection among readers.

Are there any ethical considerations when writing a biography?

Yes, ethical considerations play a significant role in writing biographies.

Biographers must respect the privacy and dignity of their subjects, particularly when dealing with sensitive or personal information. They should also strive for accuracy and fairness, avoiding sensationalism or misrepresentation of facts.

Additionally, biographers should acknowledge and address any potential biases or conflicts of interest that may affect their portrayal of the subject.

Biographies offer us unparalleled access to the lives and legacies of remarkable individuals, spanning diverse genres and approaches.

From historical fiction to academic rigor, prophetic accounts to fictionalized narratives, biographies captivate our imagination and enrich our understanding of the human experience. These literary gems remind us that behind every great achievement lies a story of struggle, triumph, and unwavering determination.

So, let us continue to explore these remarkable journeys, as we delve deeper into the pages of history and the hearts of those who have shaped our world.

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Module 1: Foundations of Sociology

The sociological imagination, learning outcomes.

• Define the sociological imagination
• Apply the sociological imagination

Figure 1.  The sociological imagination enables you to look at your life and your own personal issues and relate them to other people, history, or societal structures.

Many people believe they understand the world and the events taking place within it, even though they have not actually engaged in a systematic attempt to understanding the social world, as sociologists do. In this section, you’ll learn to think like a sociologist.

The sociological imagination , a concept established by C. Wright Mills (1916-1962) provides a framework for understanding our social world that far surpasses any common sense notion we might derive from our limited social experiences. Mills was a contemporary sociologist who brought tremendous insight into the daily lives of society’s members. Mills stated: “Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both” [1] .  The sociological imagination is making the connection between personal challenges and larger social issues. Mills identified “troubles” (personal challenges) and “issues” (larger social challenges), also known as biography, and history, respectively. Mills’ sociological imagination allows individuals to see the relationships between events in their personal lives (biography), and events in their society (history). In other words, this mindset provides the ability for individuals to realize the relationship between their personal experiences and the larger society in which they live their lives.

Personal troubles are private problems experienced within the character of the individual and the range of their immediate relation to others. Mills identified that we function in our personal lives as actors and actresses who make choices about our friends, family, groups, work, school, and other issues within our control. We have a degree of influence on the outcome of matters within this personal level. A college student who parties 4 nights out of 7, who rarely attends class, and who never does his homework has a personal trouble that interferes with his odds of success in college. However, when 50% of all college students in the United States never graduate, we label it as a larger social issue.

Larger social or public issues are those that lie beyond one’s personal control and the range of one’s inner life. These pertain to broader matters of organization and process, which are rooted in society rather than in the individual. Nationwide, students come to college as freshmen who are often ill-prepared to understand the rigors of college life. They haven’t often been challenged enough in high school to make the necessary adjustments required to succeed in college. Nationwide, the average teenager text messages, surfs the Net, plays video games, watches TV, spends hours each day with friends, and works at least part-time. Where and when would he or she get experience focusing attention on college studies and the rigorous self-discipline required to transition into college?

The real power of the sociological imagination is found in how we learn to distinguish between the personal and social levels in our own lives. This includes economic challenges. For example, many students do not purchase required textbooks for college classes at both 2-year colleges and 4-year colleges and universities. Many students simply do not have the money to purchase textbooks, and while this can seem like a “choice,” some of the related social issues include rising tuition rates, decreasing financial aid, increasing costs of living and decreasing wages. The Open Educational Resource (OER) movement has sought to address this  personal trouble  as a  public issue  by partnering with institutional consortia and encouraging large city and state institutions to adopt OER materials. A student who does not purchase the assigned textbook might see this as a private problem, but this student is part of a growing number of college students who are forced to make financial decisions based on structural circumstances.

A majority of personal problems are not experienced as exclusively personal issues, but are influenced and affected by social norms, habits, and expectations. Consider issues like homelessness, crime, divorce, and access to healthcare. Are these all caused by personal choices, or by societal problems? Using the sociological imagination, we can view these issues as interconnected personal and public concerns.

For example, homelessness may be blamed on the individuals who are living on the streets. Perhaps their personal choices influenced their position; some would say they are lazy, unmotivated, or uneducated. This approach of blaming the victim fails to account for the societal factors that also lead to homelessness—what types of social obstacles and social failings might push someone towards homelessness? Bad schools, high unemployment, high housing costs, and little family support are all social issues that could contribute to homelessness. C. Wright Mills, who originated the concept of the sociological imagination, explained it this way: “the very structure of opportunities has collapsed. Both the correct statement of the problem and the range of possible solutions require us to consider the economic and political institutions of the society, and not merely the personal situation and character of a scatter of individuals.”

Watch the following video to see an example of how the sociological imagination is used to understand the issue of obesity.

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• Mills, C. W.: 1959, The Sociological Imagination, Oxford University Press, London. ↵
• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Authored by : Sarah Hoiland for Lumen Learning. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• The Sociological Imagination. Provided by : College of the Canyons. Located at : https://www.canyons.edu/Offices/DistanceLearning/OER/Documents/Open%20Textbooks%20At%20COC/Sociology/SOCI%20101/The%20Sociological%20Imagination.pdf . Project : Sociology 101. License : CC BY: Attribution
• People graphic. Authored by : Peggy_Marco. Provided by : pixabay. Located at : https://pixabay.com/en/network-society-social-community-1019778/ . License : CC0: No Rights Reserved

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10 Characteristics Of History, What are the Features of the Science of History?

History is a branch of social sciences that has as its object of study the past of humanity, both recent and remote, and which is based on books, references and documentary material of various kinds..

Although History can approach any period of the past of human civilization, it is usually circumscribed to its area of ​​interest to those that took place after the invention of writing, since from then on there is some kind of record of what happened . The notion of history and registration are intimately involved.

Traditionally, History has been thought of as one of the humanities, despite the fact that its methods are specific to the Social Sciences. The latter has made it often considered a “bridge” between humanistic and scientific-social disciplines.

Characteristics of History

1. etymology.

The word “history” comes from the ancient Greek, language in which it meant “investigation” or “information”, derived in turn from jistor, which meant “wise man”, “witness” or “judge”.

2. Acceptances

The term “history” has many meanings, not all referred to the science that studies the past, although all have one way or another to do with it and its interests. For example, the period between the invention of writing and current times is called “history”, just as, in ordinary language, “history” is used as more or less synonymous with narration, be it real or imaginary, or for a recount of specific events, as in the case of the “medical history” of Medicine.

3. Branches of History

According to the specific period of your interest, we can talk about different branches of History, for example:

Prehistory. It deals with the remote history of man, that is, that prior to the invention of the writing itself and, therefore, the invention itself of the historical record.

Natural History. The study of the periods of formation of the earth and of the different vegetal and animal biological communities, previous to the appearance of man.

Geohistory Study of certain societies of the past and the geographical structures in which they were sustained and that influenced them.

History of ideas. Study the different transitions of human thought, considered in a very broad sense, as well as the different areas in which they have been produced and the possible interpretations of their origin and meaning.

Universal history. This is the name given to the study of the past of human societies, from remote times to the most recent events.

History of art. Study the different forms of artistic expression that the human being has developed over time, and the relationships that may exist between them.

History of Religion It is dedicated to the study of the forms of religious and mystical manifestation that have taken place throughout the human past, putting them in relation and studying their influences and characteristics.

4. Documentation

The students of human history, above all, draw on references, clues, clues and stories contained in different types of support and discourse, such as history books, scientific articles, literary works, religious stories, chronicles of time, intimate diaries, plastic arts, archaeological remains, correspondences, etc. Practically everything has a usable documentary value.

5. Complementary sciences

History often draws on techniques, knowledge and content from other disciplines such as anthropology, archeology, architecture, literature, librarianship, heraldry, linguistics, numismatics, politics and even philosophy, not just as source of historical documents, but interpretive theories to better explain the human past.

6. Variants

History as a science essentially involves two different aspects that should be distinguished:

The historiography. This is the set of techniques and methods of review, analysis and production of content available to historians, often subject to formal requirements of the historical method and the method of social sciences.

The histology. Also called “Theory of history”, covers the set of explanations and comprehensive methods to deduce why and in what way certain historical phenomena occur.

7. Division of time

While there is no single way to organize the events of the past, the common historian (especially Westerners) usually classify them as follows:

Prehistory. The history prior to the invention of writing. It includes the stone age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic) and the age of metals (Copper Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age).

Protohistory. A more or less defined period that serves as a bridge between prehistory and history proper. Old age. It comprises the first stages of human civilization: classical and late antiquity.

Middle Ages. History of the times in which the West replaced its inheritance of classical cultures with the theocentric culture (Christian or Islamic) and that lasted until the advent of the modern age.

Modern age. End of the Middle Ages and religious obscurantism, characterized by the rebirth of Western European cultures and their expansion throughout the world.

Contemporary age. The most recent events of the last three centuries of history, in which man built a global society and embarked on the technological and industrial revolution.

History as such does not have a definite origin, since it is difficult to establish when man decided to record past events as something to tell future generations. The truth is that it is said that the Greek Herodotus of Halicarnassus (484-425 BC) was the first historian and geographer proper.

Much debate exists around “official” history, that is, the one held by the educational and central bodies of political power, often accused of sinning in its ethnocentric (especially European) view and privileging the history of certain sectors social over others. It is often said that “history is written by the victors”.

10. The “end of History”

The “End of History” is a theory of the Japanese Francis Fukuyama of 1992, in which he proposes that History, understood as a long recount of ideological struggles, that is, attempts to impose one model of humanity on another, has ended with the victory of capitalism over communism and the liberal democracy that followed the Cold War of the 20th century. It is a debated and controversial theory at present.

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