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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89 Items found Print
Active Filters: World Leaders, In-Stock Books & Materials
All Color Book of Henry VIII
from Octopus Books Limited
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Amazing Grace of Freedom
by Ken Wales, Susan Wales, Ted Baehr
2nd edition
for 6th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Benazir Bhutto
by Englar, Mary
1st edition from Compass Point Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Brigham Young, Pioneer and Prophet
Let Freedom Ring
by Cory Gideon Gunderson
from Capstone Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Children's Plutarch: Tales of the Greeks
by F. J. Gould
from Yesterday's Classics
Greek History Reference for 4th-8th grade
in Classics Retold (Location: FIC-RET)
$11.95
Churchill
by Paul Johnson
Reprint from Penguin Putnam
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.00
Churchill: Walking with Destiny
by Andrew Roberts
from Penguin Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Cleopatra
by Diane Stanley & Peter Vennema
from William Morrow & Company
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Cleopatra
by Diane Stanley & Peter Vennema
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Coronation of Glory
Reformation Trail Series #12
by Deborah Meroff
from Inheritance Publications
Biography for 8th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$17.95
Fifty Famous People
by James Baldwin
from Yesterday's Classics
for 1st-4th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$11.95
For You They Signed
by Marilyn Boyer
from Master Books
for 3rd-8th grade
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$27.99 $18.00 (1 in stock)
For You They Signed
by Marilyn Boyer
All-in-One Edition from Master Books
for 7th-9th grade
in U.S. History Curriculum (Location: HISCUR-US)
$39.19
Genealogy of the Kings of France and Their Wives
from Ouest-France
for 8th-12th grade
in France (Location: HISMC-FRA)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Genghis Khan
World Leaders Past & Present
by Judy Humphrey
from Chelsea House Publishing
for 4th-5th grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$3.00 (3 in stock)
George vs. George
by Rosalyn Schanzer
Reprint from National Geographic
for 3rd-6th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$6.95
Good Queen Bess
by Diane Stanley & Peter Vennema
from HarperCollins
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.99
Governor of England
by Marjorie Bowen
from Inheritance Publications
Biography for 9th-12th grade
in Inheritance Fiction (Location: FIC-WH03)
$17.95 $10.00 (3 in stock)
Greek Lives
by Plutarch, translated by Robin Waterfield
1st Reissue from Oxford University
Biography for 11th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$13.95
Hannibal
by Jacob Abbott
from Canon Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00
Henry VIII
by Richard Brassey
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.95
Heroes Every Child Should Know
by H. W. Mabie
from Yesterday's Classics
Biography for 5th-8th grade
$15.95
History of King Charles II of England
by Jacob Abbott
from Serenity Publishers
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.99
Hitler
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 7th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$13.95
In the Days of Alfred the Great
by Eva March Tappan
from Yesterday's Classics
for 6th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.95
In the Days of Alfred the Great
by Eva March Tappan
from Living Book Press
for 6th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.99
In the Days of Queen Elizabeth
by Eva March Tappan
from Yesterday's Classics
for 6th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.95
In the Days of Queen Victoria
by Eva March Tappan
from Yesterday's Classics
for 6th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.95 $7.50 (1 in stock)
In the Days of Queen Victoria
by Eva March Tappan
from Bookshelf Central
for 6th-10th grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
In the Days of Queen Victoria
by Eva March Tappan
from Living Book Press
for 6th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.99
In the Days of William the Conqueror
by Eva March Tappan
from Yesterday's Classics
for 6th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.95
In the Days of William the Conqueror
by Eva March Tappan
from Living Book Press
for 6th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.99
J. Pierpont Morgan
by Michael Burgan
1st edition from Compass Point Books
for 4th-7th grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
James I
Sacred Fool Quartet Volume 1
by Otto Scott
from Chalcedon / Ross House Books
for 11th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.00
King's Day
by Aliki
from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Kings and Queens of Scotland
by R. L. Mackie, J. Ross
from Geddes & Grosset
for 8th-Adult
in Great Britain / England (Location: HISMC-BRIT)
$5.50 (1 in stock)
Kitchen Boy
by Robert Alexander
Reprint from Penguin Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Last Lion Volumes 1 & 2
by William Manchester
1st edition from Little, Brown & Company
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of Elizabeth I
by Massimo Rossaro
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of Louis XIV
by Alfredo Panicucci
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of Napoleon
by Mario Rivoire
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Life & Times of Peter the Great
by Giancarlo Buzzi
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Life and Death of Adolf Hitler
by James Cross Giblin
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 5th-8th grade
2003 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$11.99
Lives of Famous Romans
by Olivia Coolidge
from American Home-School Publishing
Roman History for 7th-12th grade
in Ancient Rome (Location: HISW-ANRO)
$17.99
Lives of Thomas Becket
by Michael Staunton
from Manchester University Press
Biography for 11th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$39.95
Lonely but Not Alone
by HRH Wilhelmina, Princess of the Netherlands
from McGraw-Hill
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Lost Peace
by Robert Dallek
from HarperCollins
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Make Way for Sam Houston
by Jean Fritz
from Penguin Putnam
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.99
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)
Mansa Musa and the Empire of Mali
by P. James Oliver
from CreateSpace
for 3rd-6th grade
in Africa (Location: HISMC-AFR)
$9.99
Mein Kampf
by Adolf Hitler, translated by Michael Ford
from Elite Minds, Inc.
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$29.95
Never Give In
Leaders in Action Series
by Stephen Mansfield
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$19.99
Never Give In
Leaders in Action Series
by Stephen Mansfield
Second Edition from Highland Books
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Peter the Great
by Diane Stanley
from William Morrow & Company
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99 $12.00 (2 in stock)
Peter the Great
by Diane Stanley
from William Morrow & Company
Biography for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Peter the Great
by Diane Stanley
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
Biography for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Peter the Great
by Diane Stanley
from InquisiCorp Corporation
Biography for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Peter the Great: His Life and World
by Robert K. Massie
from Wings Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Plutarch's Lives Volume I
by Plutarch, translated by John Dryden
from Modern Library
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$19.00
Plutarch's Lives Volume I
by Plutarch, translated by John Dryden
from Modern Library
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$20.00 $15.00 (1 in stock)
Plutarch's Lives Volume II
by Plutarch, translated by John Dryden
from Modern Library
Biography for 11th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$20.00
Pontius Pilate
by Paul L. Maier
2nd edition from Kregel Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.50 (1 in stock)
Pontius Pilate
by Paul L. Maier
2nd edition from Kregel Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.50 (1 in stock)
Poor Richard in France
by F. N. Monjo, illustrated by Brinton Turkle
from Henry Holt and Company
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Prince and Heretic
Prince of Orange Nassau Volume 1
by Marjorie Bowen
from Inheritance Publications
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.95
Queen Eleanor
by Polly Schoyer Brooks
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 7th-9th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.99
Queen Elizabeth I: Forging an Empire
by Elizabeth Linington, illustrated by Robert Boehmer
from Kingston House
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Roman Lives
by Plutarch, translated by Robin Waterfield
Reissue from Oxford University
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.95 $7.50 (1 in stock)
Royal Faces
by Hugh Clayton
from Thames and Hudson
for 4th-9th grade
in Great Britain / England (Location: HISMC-BRIT)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Slaves' Champion
by Henry Wheeler
from New Leaf Press
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Stalin
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 7th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$13.95
Ten Kings and the Worlds They Ruled
by Milton Meltzer
1st edition from Orchard Books
Picture Book Biography for 3rd-7th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$16.00 $15.00 (1 in stock)
Time Great People of the 20th Century
by Kelly Knauer, editor
from Time-Life Books
for 8th-12th grade
in 20th Century (Location: HISW-20)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Tutankhamun
by Robert Green
from Grolier Publishing
Biography for 4th-6th grade
in Ancient Egypt (Location: HISW-ANEG)
$6.95 $3.50 (2 in stock)
Two Lives of Charlemagne
Penguin Classics
by Einhard & Notker the Stammerer, translated by Lewis Thorpe
from Penguin Classics
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$16.00
Two Lives of Charlemagne
Penguin Classics
by Einhard & Notker the Stammerer, translated by David Ganz
from Penguin Classics
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$16.00
Unknown to History
by Charlotte M. Yonge
from Living Book Press
for 7th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.99
What Really Happened in Ancient Times
by Terri Johnson, editor, illustrated by Darla Dixon
from Knowledge Quest
Biographies for 4th-8th grade
in Ancient History (Location: HISW-ANC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
What Really Happened in Ancient Times
by Terri Johnson, editor
Revised from Knowledge Quest
Biographies for 4th-8th grade
in Ancient History (Location: HISW-ANC)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
Who Was Abraham Lincoln?
Who Was?...Series
by Janet Pascal
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Who Was? biographies (Location: BIO-WHO)
$5.99 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Who Was Henry VIII?
Who Was?...Series
by Ellen Labrecque, illustrated by Jake Murray
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Who Was? biographies (Location: BIO-WHO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Who Was King Tut?
Who Was?...Series
by Roberta Edwards
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 3rd-4th grade
in Who Was? biographies (Location: BIO-WHO)
$5.99 $3.00 (1 in stock)
William of Orange
by W. G. Van de Hulst
from Inheritance Publications
Biography for 5th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$11.95
William the Conqueror
by Robert Green
from Franklin Watts
for 2nd-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
William Wilberforce
World Changers
by John Holzmann
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
William, by the Grace of God
Prince of Orange Nassau Volume 2
by Marjorie Bowen
from Inheritance Publications
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.95
Winston's War
by Max Hastings
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
World's Great Explorers: Alexander the Great
by Maureen Ash
from Children's Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton?
by Jean Fritz
from Penguin Putnam
for 4th-6th grade
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$6.99