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.
Did you find this review helpful?
43 Items found Print
Active Filters: Artists & Illustrators, 10th grade (Ages 15-16)
Coloring Paris
by Tomislav Tomic, illustrator
from Walter Foster
for 6th-Adult
in Adult Coloring Books (Location: COL-ADULT)
Essential Claude Monet
by Catherine Morris
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 9th-12th grade
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Francis W. Edmonds
by H. Nichols B. Clark
from Smithsonian Books
for 7th-12th grade
in Clearance: Art & Music (Location: ZCLE-ART)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
In August Company
from Morgan Library
for 9th-Adult
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
John James Audubon: Painting America's Wildlife
by Janet Stevenson, illustrated by Robert Boehmer
from Encyclopedia Britannica
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Leonardo da Vinci
by Richard McLanathan
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 8th-Adult
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of Leonardo
by Liana Bortolon
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Life & Times of Michelangelo
by Maria Luisa Rizzatti
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Life of Picasso Volume II
Book 2 of 4
by John Richardson with Marilyn McCully
First Edition 2nd Printing from Random House
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Lust for Life: A Novel of Vincent Van Gogh
by Irving Stone
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
M.C. Escher Kaleidocycles
Box from Purple Pomegranate Productions
for 6th-Adult
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Mathew Brady
by James D. Horan
from Bonanza Books
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Michaelangelo
Masters of Art
by Gabriella di Cagno
from Peter Bedrick Books
for 5th-Adult
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Moon and Sixpence
Modern Library
by W. Somerset Maugham
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
N.C. Wyeth's Wild West
by N. C. Wyeth
from Brandywine River Museum
for 7th-12th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
Natural Way to Draw
by Kimon Nicolaides
from Houghton Mifflin
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Norman Rockwell's America
by Christopher Finch, Illustrated by Norman Rockwell
from Reader's Digest
for 3rd-Adult
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Passion for the Impossible
by Miriam Huffman Rockness
from Discovery House Publishers
for 8th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien
by Christopher Tolkien (editor and text), illustrations by J.R.R. Tolkien
2021 Reissue from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Lord of the Rings (Location: LIR-LOTR)
$35.00
R. v. R.: The Life of Rembrandt Van Rijn
by Hendrik Van Loon
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Randolph Caldecott
by Leonard S. Marcus
from Frances Foster Books
for 7th-Adult
Raphael: Painter of the Renaissance
Immortals of Art
by Henry S. Gillette
from Franklin Watts
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Robert Bateman: An Artist in Nature
by Robert Bateman, text by Rick Archbold
from Random House
for 9th-Adult
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Romance of Leonardo da Vinci
by Dmitri Merejcovski
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
Self-Portrait: Trina Schart Hyman
from Harper & Row
for 4th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Trails Plowed Under
by Charles M. Russell
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
World of Bernini
1973 printing from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Bruegel
Revised, 1975 printing from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Cezanne
Revised, 1974 printing from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Delacroix
by Tom Prideaux
Revised, 1975 printing from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Gainsborough
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Leonardo
by Robert Wallace
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
World of Manet
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Michelangelo
by Robert Coughlan
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
World of Rembrandt
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Rubens
by C. V. Wedgwood
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
World of Titian
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Turner
Time-Life Library of Art
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Van Gogh
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Velazquez
Time-Life Library of Art
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
World of Vermeer
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Watteau
Time-Life Library of Art
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
World of Whistler
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)