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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143 Items found Print
Active Filters: 19th Century America, 6th grade (Ages 11-12), Hardcover
Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance
by Frances Cavanah
from Rand McNally
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg, illustrated by James Daugherty
from Harcourt, Brace & Company
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Abraham Lincoln
Initial Biography
by Genevieve Foster
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Historical Non-fiction for 3rd-6th grade
1945 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Abraham Lincoln in Peace and War
by Earl Schenck Miers
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
America's Robert E. Lee
by Henry Steele Commager, illustrated by Lynd Ward
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Andrew Jackson: Soldier and Statesman
by Ralph K. Andrist
from Harper & Row
for 5th-8th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Black Hawk, Young Sauk Warrior
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Cathrine S. Cleven
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
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)
BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom
by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Michele Wood
from Candlewick Press
for 4th-6th grade
2021 Newbery Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99
Buffalo Bill's Great Wild West Show
Landmark #73
by Walter Havighurst, illustrated by John C. Wonsetler
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Buffalo Bill's Life Story
by William F. Cody, Illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
1966 printing from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Buffalo Bill: Boy of the Plains
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Augusta Stevenson
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
Cabin Boy to Advent Crusader
by Virgil Robinson, illustrated by Harry Baerg
from Southern Publishing Association
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham, illustrated by John O'Hara Cosgrave II
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Cartier Sails the St. Lawrence
by Esther Averill, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky
from Harper & Brothers
for 4th-8th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perces
by Shannon Garst, illustrated by Douglas Gorsline
from Julian Messner
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Clara Barton
Landmark #58
by Helen Dore Boylston
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Clara Barton: Girl Nurse
by Augusta Stevenson
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Daniel Boone, Wilderness Scout
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Stewart Edward White, illustrated by Henry C. Pitz
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Daniel Boone, Wilderness Scout
by Stewart Edward White, illustrated by James Daugherty
from Garden City Books
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Daniel Boone: The Opening of the Wilderness
Landmark #21
by John Mason Brown
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
David Farragut
The History of the Civil War
by Russell Shorto
from Stan Clark Military Books
for 5th-8th grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
Davy Crockett
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Constance Rourke, illustrated by Walter Seaton
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-7th grade
1935 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Davy Crockett
Landmark #57
by Stewart H. Holbrook
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Davy Crockett
by George Edward Stanley
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 4rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Davy Crockett: Young Rifleman
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Aileen Wells Parks
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Dolly Madison
Landmark #47
by Jane Mayer
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Eagle and the Fort
by Dorothy Morrison
from Atheneum
Biography for 5th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Eli Whitney: Great Inventor
by Jean Lee Latham
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Emancipation Proclomation
by Tonya Bolden
from Abrams Books for Young Readers
for 4th-9th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Forever Free
by Dorothy Sterling, illustrated by Ernest Crichlow
from Doubleday & Company
for 5th-8th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
Forever Free
by Dorothy Sterling, illustrated by Ernest Crichlow
from Doubleday & Company
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Forward March to Freedom
by Barbara Kay Greenleaf
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
George Rogers Clark: War in the West
Events of the Revolution
by Susan and John Lee, illustrated by Richard Wahl
from Children's Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Geronimo: Wolf of the Warpath
Landmark #81
by Ralph Moody, illustrated by Nicholas Eggenhofer
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Heroines of the Early West
Landmark #91
by Nancy Wilson Ross
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Inventing the Future
by David Edward Sloane, Marfe Ferguson Delano
from National Geographic
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Invincible Louisa
by Cornelia Meigs
from Little, Brown & Company
for 5th-8th grade
1934 Newbery Medal winner
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
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)
James J. Hill: Young Empire Builder
by Mildred Comfort
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Jeb Stuart
Historical American Biographies
by Lynda Pflueger
from Enslow
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Jed Smith, Young Western Explorer
by Olive W. Burt
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Jim Bowie: Boy with a Hunting Knife
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Gertrude Hecker Winders
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Joe Meek
by Shannon Garst
from Julian Messner
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
John Charles Fremont
by Ronald Syme, illustrated by Richard Cuffari
from William Morrow & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
John Jacob Aster: Boy Trader
by Dorothy S. Anderson, illustrated by Gray Morrow
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
John James Audubon
Landmark #48
by John & Margaret Kieran, illustrated by Christine Price
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Kate Douglas Wiggin
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Dharathula H. Millender
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
Kit Carson
A Discovery Book
by Nardi Reeder Campion, illustrated by Shannon Stirnweis
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Kit Carson and the Wild Frontier
Landmark #53
by Ralph Moody
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Kit Carson: Folk Hero and Man
by Noel B. Gerson
from Doubleday & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
La Salle of the Mississippi
by Ronald Syme
from William Morrow & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Lady of Arlington
by Harnett T. Kane
from Doubleday & Company
for 6th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Lee and Grant at Appomattox
Landmark #8
by MacKinlay Kantor
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Legends of the Wild West
by James A. Crutchfield, Bill O'Neal, Dale L. Walker
from Publications International
for 3rd-8th grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Lewis & Clark Expedition
Spencer Press Landmark #5 (RH#15)
by Richard L. Neuberger
from Spencer Press
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Lincoln and Douglas
Landmark #44
by Regina Z. Kelly
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Lincoln: A Photobiography
by Russell Freedman
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1988 Newbery Medal winner
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (3 in stock)
Linda Richards
A Discovery Book
by David R. Collins
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Lotta Crabtree
by Lois V. Harris
from Pelican Publishing Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Lucretia Mott
A Discovery Book
by Doris Faber
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Make Way for Sam Houston
by Jean Fritz; illustrated by Elise Primavera
First Edition from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Man of the Monitor
by Jean Lee Latham
from Harper & Row
for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Many Thousand Gone
by Virginia Hamilton
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Marcus and Narcissa Whitman
A Discovery Book
by Marian T. Place
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Marcus Whitman: The Great Command
by Nard Jones
2nd edition from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 6th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Mark Twain on the Mississippi
by Earl Schenck Miers, illustrated by Robert Frankenberg
from World Publishing Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Meagher of the Sword
by Christian D. Stevens, illustrated with photographs
from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Mr. Bell Invents the Telephone
Landmark #30
by Katherine B. Shippen, illustrated by Richard Floethe
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Narcissa and Marcus Whitman
Heroes of God
by Anne West Williams
from Association Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
O Captain, My Captain
by Robert Burleigh; illustrated by Sterling Hundley
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 3rd-8th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$19.99
People at the Center of Women's Suffrage
by Deborah Kops
1st edition from Blackbirch Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Gilded Age (1865-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Pirate Lafitte and the Battle of New Orleans
Landmark #19
by Robert Tallant
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Real Book About Abraham Lincoln
by Michael Gorham, illustrated by Elinore Blaisdell
from Doubleday & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Real Books series (Location: VIN-RBA)
Real Book about Buffalo Bill
by Adolph Regli, illustrated by Robert J. Lee
from Garden City Books
for 4th-7th grade
in Real Books series (Location: VIN-RBA)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Real Book About Our Armed Forces
by Clayton & K.S. Knight
from Garden City Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Real Book of American Tall Tales
by Adolph Regli, Robert J. Lee
from Garden City Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Real Books series (Location: VIN-RBA)
Retreat to Glory
by Jean Lee Latham
from Harper & Row
for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
River-Boy
by Isabel Proudfit
1958 Printing from Julian Messner
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Robert E. Lee and the Road of Honor
Landmark #54
by Hodding Carter
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Sacajawea of the Shoshones
by Della Gould Emmonds
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Sam Houston: Boy Chieftain
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Augusta Stevenson
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Seneca Chief, Army General
Creative Minds Biographies
by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk, illustrated by Karen Ritz
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Sequoyah: Young Cherokee Guide
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Dorothea J. Snow
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Simon Bolivar: The Liberator
Immortals of History
by Robert N. Webb
from Franklin Watts
for 5th-9th grade
Sitting Bull: Champion of his People
by Shannon Garst
from Julian Messner
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Sitting Bull: Dakota Boy
by Augusta Stevenson
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Standing Like a Stone Wall
by James I. Robertson Jr.
from Atheneum
for 6th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Stonewall Jackson
Landmark #86
by Jonathan Daniels
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Story of Abraham Lincoln
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #9
by Nina Brown Baker, illustrated by Warren Baumgartner
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 3rd-8th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Andrew Jackson
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #13
by Enid LaMonte Meadowcroft, illustrated by David Hendrickson
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Annie Oakley
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #37
by Edmund Collier, illustrated by Leon Gregori
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Buffalo Bill
Signature Books #1
by Edmund Collier, illustrated by Nicholas Eggenhofer
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Clara Barton
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #25
by Olive Price, illustrated by Ruth Ives
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Crazy Horse
Signature Books #28
by Enid Lamonte Meadowcroft, illustrated by William Reusswig
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 4th-8th 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 Daniel Boone
Signature Books #15
by William O. Steele, illustrated by Warren Baumgartner
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Davy Crockett
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #3
by Enid LaMonte Meadowcroft, illustrated by C. B. Falls
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Dwight D. Eisenhower
Signature Books #38
by Arthur J. Beckhard, illustrated by Charles H. Geer
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 3rd-8th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
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