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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58 Items found Print
Active Filters: American Presidents & First Ladies, Adult
Abe Lincoln
by Hilah Paulmier (compiled and edited by), illustrated by Lee Ames
First Edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 3rd-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
Abraham Lincoln, the Writer
by Harold Holzer
from Boyds Mill Press
for 6th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Abraham Lincoln: Great Speeches
Dover Thrift Editions
by Abraham Lincoln & John Grafton, editor
from Dover Publications
Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.00
Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith
by G. Frederick Owen
from Tyndale House
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Theodore Roosevelt
by Theodore Roosevelt
from National Geographic
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.00
America 1933
by Michael Golay
from Free Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
by Jon Meacham
from Random House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American President
by Philip Kunhardt, Jr., Philip Kunhardt III, Peter Kunhardt
from Riverhead Books
for Adult
in American Presidency (Location: HISV-PRE)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
American Ulysses
by Ronald C. White
from Random House
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Andrew Jackson: Symbol for an Age
by John William Ward
reprint from Oxford University
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Apostle of Liberty
by Stephen McDowell
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
Bulletproof George Washington
by David Barton
2nd edition from WallBuilder Press
Biography for 9th-adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Bulletproof George Washington
by David Barton
3rd edition from WallBuilder Press
Biography for 9th-adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Bully Pulpit
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Carry a Big Stick
Leaders in Action Series
by George Grant
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Coolidge
by Amity Shlaes
from Harper Perennial
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
FDR
by Jean Edward Smith
from Random House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Franklin and Winston
by Jon Meacham
from Random House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
George Washington
by Verna Hall
from Foundation for American Christian Education
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Principle Approach (Location: HSR-METPA)
George Washington
by M. D. Holmes
from John C. Winston
for 6th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
George Washington's Sacred Fire
by Peter A. Lillback
1st edition from Providence Forum Press
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
George Washington: Man and Monument
by Frank Freidel and Lonnelle Aikman
from Washington National Monument Assoc.
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
God and Ronald Reagan
by Paul Kengor
Reprint from Harper Perennial
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99
God and Ronald Reagan
by Paul Kengor
from Harper Perennial
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Great Captain
by Honore Morrow
from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Heir to the Empire City
by Edward P. Kohn
from Basic Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
His Excellency: George Washington
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Homeschooling: The Making of Theodore Roosevelt
by Charlene Notgrass
from Notgrass Company
for Adult
in Practical Home Schooling (Location: HSR-PRAC)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
In the Arena: A Memoir of Victory, Defeat and Renewal
by Richard Nixon
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
In the Days of McKinley
by Margaret Leech
from Harper & Brothers
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
John Adams
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$22.00 $12.00 (1 in stock)
John Adams
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00
Life of Andrew Jackson
by John S. Jenkins
from New Leaf Press
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$13.50
Life of Washington
by Anna Reed
from New Leaf Press
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.99
Lincoln
by Chuck Wills
from DK Publishing
for 8th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Lost World of Thomas Jefferson
by Daniel J. Boorstin
Reprint Edition from Beacon Press
for 9th-Adult
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
Mary Lincoln
by Ruth Painter Randall
from Little, Brown & Company
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Mornings on Horseback
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
for 9th-Adult
National; Book Award
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$20.00
Naval War of 1812
by Theodore Roosevelt
from Random House
Historical Non-fiction for 10th-Adult
in War of 1812 (Location: HISA-19WET)
$15.95
Off the Record
by Harry S. Truman, edited by Robert H. Ferrell
from Harper & Row
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant
Penguin Classics
by Ulysses S. Grant
from Penguin Classics
Autobiography for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Presidency of George Washington
by Jack D. Warren, Jr.
from University of Virginia Press
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail
by Theodore Roosevelt
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Gilded Age (1865-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
$18.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Real George Washington
American Classics Series Volume 3
by Jay A. Parry, Andrew M. Allison, and W. Cleon Skousen
from National Center for Constitutional Studies
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Return of George Washington
by Edward J. Larson
from William Morrow & Company
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Ronald Reagan
by Dinesh D'Souza
from Free Press
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Ronald Reagan
by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
from DK Publishing
for Adult
in American Presidency (Location: HISV-PRE)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Ronald Reagan Our 40th President
by Winston Groom
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.99
Rough Riders
by Theodore Roosevelt
from Dover Publications
Historical non-fiction for 9th-Adult
in Gilded Age (1865-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
$8.95
Team of Rivals
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
from Simon and Schuster
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Theodore Rex
by Edmund Morris
1st edition from Random House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Theodore the Great: Conservative Crusader
by Daniel Ruddy
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Three Days in January
by Brett Baier with Catherine Whitney
from William Morrow & Company
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Torch is Passed...
by Associated Press
from Associated Press
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Triumph of William McKinley
by Karl Rove
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Truman
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Wars of the Roosevelts
by William J. Mann
from HarperCollins
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Wilderness Warrior
by Douglas Brinkley
from HarperCollins
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)