Biographies

"Did they tell you stories about the saints of old,
stories about their faith?
Stories like that make a boy grow bold,
stories like that make a man walk straight..."

Rich Mullins, Boy Like Me, Man Like You

Stories about people have a way of affecting us in ways other stories can't. The Bible is primarily stories about people, and it is through these multiple biographies that we understand human nature, the history of redemption, and even to a great extent God Himself. The purpose behind any other biography is largely the same—to help us understand what it means to be human from the examples (sometimes even the bad examples) of those who have preceded us.

The biographies we have chosen for this section represent those of great leaders in history, social and military heroes, and Christian saints past and present who struggled to conform their lives to Christ's perfect example. We have avoided for the most part biographies of history's villains and chronic immoralists, not because they aren't interesting but because they don't represent lives worthy of imitation. We've also decided not to focus on athletes, actors, and celebrities, unless they've made important contributions outside their fields. That's not to say everyone found here was above reproach or even a Christian, but they all demonstrated real human virtues for which they are remembered.

Biographies are also useful for better understanding of a given historical period. While history books can provide good overviews of a period or events, the intimate detail of a good biography can better illustrate a time period and what it was like to be alive then. This also serves to demonstrate the universality of human nature, that people will behave basically the same during any given period and in any given place. Sometimes we get the impression that people of the past, especially people like missionaries and ministers, were somehow more pious than we are—the personal view offered by a good biography dispels this myth and offers encouragement that not even the best men and women are any closer to perfection than we are.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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45 Items found Print
Active Filters: Authors, Playrights & Poets, Vintage & Collectible
America's Mark Twain
by May McNeer, illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Houghton Mifflin
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Benjamin Franklin
by Carl Van Doren
from Library of America
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Booker T. Washington
A Discovery Book
by Lillie G. Patterson
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Captain Marryat
by Tom Pocock
from Stackpole Books
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
Cheer the Lonesome Traveller
by Leslie Alexander Lacy, illustrated by James Barkley
from Dial Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Edith Wharton
by Olivia Coolidge
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Biography for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Eugene O'Neill
by Olivia Coolidge
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Biography for 8th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Geoffrey Chaucer of England
by Marchette Chute
from Dutton Adult
for 12th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
George Bernard Shaw
by Olivia Coolidge
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
James Fenimore Cooper
by Isabel Proudfit
from Julian Messner
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
James Fenimore Cooper
by Donald A. Ringe
from Twayne Publishers
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Jane Addams
A Discovery Book
by Helen Stone Peterson
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
John Charles Ryle
by Peter Toon, Michael Smout
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of Dante
by Maria Luisa Rizzatti
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Life of Emerson
by Van Wyck Brooks
First Edition from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Louisa May Alcott
North Star Books #39
by Helen Waite Papashvily
from Houghton Mifflin
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Louisa May Alcott: Her Life
by Catherine Owens Peare, illustrated by Margaret Ayer
from Henry Holt and Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Man Called Cervantes
by Bruno Frank
from Viking Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Mark Twain: Writing About the Frontier
by Jean Rikhoff
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Meet Maya Angelou
by Valerie Spain
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Noah Webster: Father of the American Dictionary
by Isabel Proudfit
13th printing from Julian Messner
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Pen and Bayonet
by Norah Smaridge, illustrated by June Roberts
First Printing from Hawthorn Books, Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Present Indicative
by Noel Coward
from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
River-Boy
by Isabel Proudfit
1958 Printing from Julian Messner
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Rudyard Kipling
by Lord Birkenhead
from Random House
for 11th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Self-Portrait: Trina Schart Hyman
from Harper & Row
for 4th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Shakespeare of London
by Marchette Chute
1st edition from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 6th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Story of Benjamin Franklin
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #5
by Enid LaMonte Meadowcroft, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Dan Beard
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #43
by Robert N. Webb, illustrated by Everett Raymond Kinstler
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Helen Keller
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #45
by Lorena A. Hickok, illustrated by Jo Polseno
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Louisa May Alcott
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #35
by Joan Howard, illustrated by Flora Smith
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 3rd-8th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Marco Polo
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #22
by Olive Price, illustrated by Frederico Castellon
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Mark Twain
Signature Books #23
by Joan Howard, illustrated by Donald McKay
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biographies for 4th-8th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Robert Louis Stevenson
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #42
by Joan Howard, illustrated by Jo Polseno
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Theodore Roosevelt
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #14
by Winthrop Neilson, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Three Lives of Joseph Conrad
by Olivia Coolidge
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Tom Paine, Freedom's Apostle
by Leo Gurko, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
for 6th-10th grade
1958 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Will Shakespeare and the Globe Theater
World Landmark #21
by Anne Terry White, illustrated by C. Walter Hodges
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
William Shakespeare
by Iris Noble
from Julian Messner
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
William Shakespeare: A Biography
by A. L. Rowse
First Ediition from Harper & Row
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$24.00 (1 in stock)
Winston Churchill
World Landmark #56
by Quentin Reynolds
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
World Explorer: Henry Morton Stanley
World Explorer
by Charles P. Graves
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 1st-4th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Young Hans Christian Andersen
by Hedvig Collin
from Viking Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Young Mark Twain and the Mississippi
Landmark #113
by Harnett T. Kane
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage & Collectible (Location: VIN-COL)
Young Walter Scott
by Elizabeth Janet Gray, jacket and end papers illustrated by Kate Seredy
from Viking Press
for 9th-Adult
1936 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)