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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48 Items found Print
Active Filters: 20th Century: 1950-1975, Trade Paperback
And the Word Came With Power
by Joanne Shetler, Patricia Purvis
from Wycliffe Bible Translators
for 2nd-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.50 (2 in stock)
Bruchko
by Bruce Olson
from Charisma House
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.99
Bruchko
by Bruce Olson
Updated from Charisma House
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Children of the Storm
by Natasha Vins
from Bob Jones University Press
Autobiography for 8th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.99
Douglas Macarthur: American Hero
Book Report Biographies
by Barbara Silberdick Feinberg
from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream Speech in Translation
by Leslie J. Holland
from Capstone Press
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$7.95
Elisabeth Elliot
by Geoff Benge, Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-6th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Francis Schaeffer
by Bruce Little, ed.
from P&R Publishing
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.99
Freedom Walkers
by Russell Freedman
from Holiday House
for 4th-6th grade
2007 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$14.99
God's Smuggler
by Brother Andrew
from Chosen Books
Biography for 7th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.99
Gold Cadillac
by Mildred D. Taylor
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King
by Jean Marzollo, illustrated by J. Brian Pinkney
from Scholastic Inc.
Picture Book Biography for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (3 in stock)
If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King
by Ellen Levine
Updated from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Non-Fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$4.50 (2 in stock)
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot
from Broadway Books
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Jesse Jackson
by Pat McKissack
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Jungle Pilot
by Russell Hitt
Updated from Discovery House Publishers
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Jungle Pilot
by Russell Hitt
from Discovery House Publishers
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.99
Kid's Guide to African American History
by Nancy I. Sanders
from Chicago Review Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Let the Circle Be Unbroken
by Mildred R. Taylor
Reissue from Puffin Books
Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$9.99
Life of Martyn Lloyd-Jones: 1899-1981
by Iain H. Murray
from Banner of Truth Trust
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Listening to Crickets
by Candice F. Ransom
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 3rd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (4 in stock)
March (Book One)
by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
from Top Shelf Productions
for 5th-9th grade
Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Book
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
March (Book Three)
by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin; illustrated by Nate Powell
from Top Shelf Productions
for 5th-9th grade
2017 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner, Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Book
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
March (Book Two)
by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
from Top Shelf Productions
for 5th-9th grade
Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Book
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
March - Boxed Set
by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
from Top Shelf Productions
for 5th-9th grade
Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Book
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$24.00 (1 in stock)
Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Man of Peace
by Garnet Jackson, Illustrations by George Ford
from Scholastic Inc.
for 2nd-3rd grade
in Scholastic / Hello Reader! (Location: EAR-SCH)
$3.00 (4 in stock)
Meet Martin Luther King, Jr.
Second Series Landmark / Step Up reprints
by James T. de Kay
from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.99
Meet Maya Angelou
by Valerie Spain
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Now Is Your Time!
by Walter Dean Myers
from HarperCollins
for 7th-10th grade
1992 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
One Giant Leap
by Don Brown
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.95
Picture Book of Thurgood Marshall
by David A. Adler
from Holiday House
for 2nd-5th grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
Portraits of African-American Heroes
by Tonya Bolden
from Puffin Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Road to Memphis
by Mildred Taylor
from Bantam Books
Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Road to Memphis
by Mildred Taylor
from Puffin Books
Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
1991 Coretta Scott King Award
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.99
Ronald Reagan
by Geoff Benge, Janet Benge
from Emerald Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Heroes of History (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Ronald Reagan Our 40th President
by Winston Groom
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.99
Rosa Parks: Young Rebel
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Kathleen V. Kudlinski
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
$7.99
Shadow of the Almighty
by Elisabeth Elliot
from Harper & Row
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Six Days
by Jeremy Bowen
from Pocket Books
History for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Stalin
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 7th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$13.95
Stealing Home
by Barry Denenberg
50th Anniversary from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.99
They Had a Dream
by Jules Archer
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 8th-12th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$3.50 (3 in stock)
Things They Carried
by Tim O'Brien
from Mariner Books
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.95
Through Gates of Splendor
by Elisabeth Elliot
from Tyndale House
Biography for 8th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.99
Tommorow You Die
International Adventures
by Reona Peterson Joly
from YWAM Publishing
for 7th-Adult
in International Adventures (Location: BIO-INTADV)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Ugly: A Memoir
by Robert Hoge
from Puffin Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Who Was Rosa Parks?
Who Was?...Series
by Yona Zeldis McDonough, Illustrated by Stephen Marchesi
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Who Was? biographies (Location: BIO-WHO)
Who Were the Beatles?
Who Was?...Series
by Geoff Edgers
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Who Was? biographies (Location: BIO-WHO)
$6.99