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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'Tis
by Frank McCourt
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Autobiographies & Memoirs for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
13 Soldiers
by John McCain and Mark Salter
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (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: The Man & His Faith
by G. Frederick Owen
from Tyndale House
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Adventure of Missionary Heroism
by John C. Lambert
from Vision Forum
Biography Anthologies for 7th-Adult
in History of Missions (Location: XCH-MIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Davy Crockett
by David Crockett, illustrated by John W. Thomason
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Again Calls the Owl
by Margaret Craven
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Agape Leadership
by Robert L. Peterson and Alexander Strauch
from Lewis and Roth Publishers
for Adult
in Church Ministry & Service (Location: XWO-MIN)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Alexander Hamilton
by Ron Chernow
from Penguin Random House
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Alexander the Great, Killer of Men
by David J. Lonsdale
from Carroll & Graf Publishers
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Alice
by Stacey A. Cordery
from Viking Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
All Hands Aloft!
by Lou A. Schmitt
from Howell-North
for 9th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
All Things Bright and Beautiful
James Herriot Series Book 2
by James Herriot
from St. Martin's Press
Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Amazing Mr. Doolittle
by Quentin Reynolds
from Appleton-Century-Crofts
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
America the Beautiful
by Ben Carson with Candy Carson
from Zondervan
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
America the Beautiful/ A Man of Destiny
by the editors of Country Beautiful Magazine
from Country Beautiful
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
American Childhood
by Annie Dillard
from Harper & Row
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
American Literary Autographs
by Herbert Cahoon, Thomas V. Lange, Charles Ryskamp
from Dover Publications
for Adult
in American Literature Curriculum (Location: LITCUR-AM)
$7.50 (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 (1 in stock)
Americanization of Benjamin Franklin
by Gordon S. Wood
from Penguin Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth
by M. K. Gandhi
from Navajivan Publishing House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Andrew Jackson: Symbol for an Age
by John William Ward
1971 Reprint from Oxford University
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Anne Bradstreet
by Heidi L. Nichols
from P&R Publishing
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$9.79 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Arrow Pointing to Heaven
by James Bryan Smith
Revised from B&H Books
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Art of Art for Children's Books
by Diana Klemin
1st edition from Clarkson Potter Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
At the End of the Santa Fe Trail
by Sister Blandina Segale
4th Printing from Bruce Publishing Co.
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
Dover Thrift Editions
by James Weldon Johnson
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 $2.50 (2 in stock)
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Dover Thrift Editions
by Benjamin Franklin
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
by Benvenuto Cellini
from International Collectors Library
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge
by Calvin Coolidge
from National Notary Association
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge
by Calvin Coolidge, Edited with an Introduction by Amity Shlaes and Matthew Denhart
from ISI Books
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$29.99 $15.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Charles G. Finney
by Charles G. Finney
from Bethany House
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of William Allen White
by William Allen White
from Macmillan
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
B. Franklin, Printer
by David A. Adler
from Holiday House
for 6th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Battle from the Start
by Brian Steel Wills
from HarperCollins
for 9th grade-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Beatrix Potter's Journal (Abridged)
by Beatrix Potter, abridged and introduced by Glen Cavaliero
from Viking Press
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Behind the Scenes
by Elizabeth Keckley, edited by Frances Smith Foster
from Lakeside Press
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
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)
Better a Shield Than a Sword
by Edward Teller
from Free Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Between the Lines
by Tom and Delphine Frazier
from Regent Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Beyond the Sacred Page
Book of Books #2
by Jack Cavanaugh
from Zondervan
for 7th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Black Like Me
by John Howard Griffin & Robert Bonazzi
35th anniversary from Signet Classics
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Black Panther of Sivanipalli
by Kenneth Anderson
1960 printing from Rand McNally
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Blue Like Jazz
by Donald Miller
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.00 (3 in stock)
Book of Concord
by William Howarth
from Viking Press
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Margery Kempe
by Margery Kempe
1st edition from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Born Free
by Joy Adamson
Anniversary from Pantheon Books
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Born to Run
by Christopher McDougall
from Vintage Books
for 9th-Adult
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Brave Companions
by David McCullough
Reprint from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Breakfast with Bonhoeffer
by Jon Walker
from Leafwood Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in Practical Christian Living (Location: XCL-PRAC)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Bruchko
by Bruce Olson
Updated from Charisma House
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Buffalo Bill and the Wild West
by Henry Blackman Sell and Victor Weybright
Reprint from International Cody Family Assoc.
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Burma Surgeon
by Gordon S. Seagrave
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Butch Cassidy and "The Wild Bunch"
by Erin Delfoe and E.W. Allred
from Apricot Press
for 6th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
C. S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table
New edition from Harvest Books
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
C.S. Lewis
Men of Faith
by Catherine Swift
2nd edition from Bethany House
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
C.S. Lewis: Through the Shadowlands
by Brian Sibley
from Revell Publishing
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Calvin, Geneva & the Reformation
by Ronald S. Wallace
from Wipf and Stock Publishers
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Captain Cook R. N. the Resolute Mariner
by Thomas Vaughan and A. A. St. C. M. Murray-Oliver
from Oregon Historical Society Press
Museum Exhibition Catalog for Adult
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Captured!
by Carolyn Paine Miller
1st edition from Christian Herald Books
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Carl Sandburg
by Milton Meltzer
from Twenty-first Century Books
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
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)
Child in the Forest
by Winifred Foley; illustrated by Tricia Newell
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 6th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Choices, Changes
by Joni Eareckson Tada
from Zondervan
Biography for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Chord of Steel
by Thomas B. Costain
from Doubleday & Company
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Christianity and the Constitution
by John Eidsmoe
from Baker Academics
for Adult
in Christianity and the State (Location: XWV-STA)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus and His Legacy
Opposing Viewpoints Series
by Mary Ellen Jones, Editor
from Greenhaven Press
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus: His Story and His Journals
Knowledge Keepers Home Library Series 1492
by Edward Everett Hale and Edward Gaylord Bourne
from Knowledge Keepers
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Churchill: The Greatest Briton
by Christopher Catherwood
from Andre Deutsch
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Churchill: Walking with Destiny
by Andrew Roberts
from Penguin Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Classic Slave Narratives
by Henry Louis Gates, ed.
Reissue from Signet Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.95 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Clive Staples Lewis
by William Griffin
from Harper & Row
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Collector, The
by Jack Nisbet
from Sasquatch Books
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Comes the Comrade!
by Alexandra Orme, translated from the Polish by M.A. Michael and L. Meyer
from William Morrow & Company
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Conversations with Myself
by Nelson Mandela, foreword by Barack Obama
from Picador
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Cornelius Van Til
by John Frame
from P&R Publishing
for 11th-Adult
in Reformed Theology (Location: XTH-REF)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Created for Purpose
by Ron Post
from Coffee House Press
Biography for 11th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Cross Creek
by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Cry of the Kalahari
by Mark and Delia Owens
from Houghton Mifflin
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Dancer: Degas, Forain, and Toulouse-Lautrec
by Annette Dixon with Mary Weaver Chapin, Jill Devonyar, Richard Kendall, and Florence Valdes-Forain
from Portland Art Museum
for Adult
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Dandelion Wine
by Ray Bradbury
from Spectra Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Dante
Penguin Lives
by R.W.B. Lewis
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Dayuma
by Ethel Emily Wallis
from YWAM Publishing
for 7th-Adult
in International Adventures (Location: BIO-INTADV)
$14.99 $7.50 (2 in stock)
Dearest Mama
by Roger Fulford, editor
from Evans Brothers Limited
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Death Valley Scotty
from Trans-Anglo Press
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Defeating the Totalitarian Lie
by Hilmar Von Campe
from HighWay
for 8th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Diary of a Napoleanic Foot Soldier
by Jakob Walter
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: An Evangelical Reassessment
by Georg Huntemann
from Baker Books
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Discovery
by John K. Terres
First Ediition from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Dream West
by David Nevin
from Forge
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Earth is the Lord's
by Taylor Caldwell
from Literary Guild of America
for 11th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Edwardian Lady
by Ina Taylor
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Egg and I
by Betty MacDonald
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
Biography for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.50 (1 in stock)
Eighty Days
by Matthew Goodman
from Ballantine Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Einstein's Cosmos
by Michio Kaku
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History
by Lytton Strachey
4th Printing from Harcourt, Brace & Company
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Embattled Rebel
by James M. McPherson
from Penguin Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Endurance
by Caroline Alexander
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 8th-Adult
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
England Have My Bones
by TH White
from Futura Publications
for 11th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Extravagant Hunger
by Anne Zimmerman
from Counterpoint, LLC
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
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