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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52 Items found Print
Active Filters: Fiction by Genre, Hardcover, In-Stock Books & Materials
A. Lincoln and Me
by Louise W. Borden
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.00 (3 in stock)
Best of James Herriot
by James Herriot
from St. Martin's Press
for 10th-Adult
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Best of James Herriot
by James Herriot
from St. Martin's Press
for 10th-Adult
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Born Free
by Joy Adamson
Anniversary from Pantheon Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Boys in the Boat adapted for Young Readers
by Daniel James Brown, adapted by Gregory Mone
from Penguin Putnam
for 6th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$17.99
Bud, Not Buddy
by Christopher Paul Curtis
from Delacorte Press
Realistic Fiction for 4th-6th grade
2000 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Children of the Northlights
by Edgar Parin d'Aulaire, Ingri d'Aulaire
Reprint from University of Minnesota
for Preschool-4th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$16.95
Children of the Northlights
by Edgar Parin d'Aulaire, Ingri d'Aulaire
1962 Reprint from Viking Press
for Preschool-4th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$28.00 (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)
D'Aulaires' Book of Animals
by Edgar Parin d'Aulaire, Ingri d'Aulaire
from New York Review of Books
for Preschool-4th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$19.95
D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from New York Review of Books
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$29.95
D'Aulaires' Book of Trolls
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from New York Review of Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$22.95
Doctor Like Papa
by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock, Illustrated by James Bernardin
First Edition from HarperCollins
for 2nd-5th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$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)
Every Living Thing
by James Herriot
1st edition from St. Martin's Press
for 8th-Adult
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon
by Dhan Gopal Mukerji
from Dutton Juvenile
for 4th-9th grade
1928 Newbery Medal winner
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$14.00 (2 in stock)
Good Queen Bess
by Diane Stanley & Peter Vennema
from HarperCollins
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.99
How the Heather Looks
by Joan Bodger
Reprint from Living Book Press
for 7th-Adult
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$21.24
I Sailed with Columbus
by Susan Martin
Xlibrary Copy. from Overlook Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
James Herriot's Dog Stories
by James Herriot
1st edition from St. Martin's Press
for 7th-Adult
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
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)
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)
Liberty Letters: The Story of Pocahontas, 1613
Liberty Letters
by Nancy LeSourd
1st edition from Zondervan
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
in Series Books (Location: SER-MISC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Lincoln's Little Correspondent
by Hertha Pauli, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Doubleday & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Living Nativity
by Helen and David Haidle
from Honor Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Christmas & Advent (Location: HOLIDAY)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Lost Garden
by Laurence Yep
from Simon and Schuster
Autobiography for 6th-9th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Man Called Cervantes
by Bruno Frank
from Viking Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Man Who Walked Between The Towers
by Mordicai Gerstein
from Roaring Brook Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Man Who Walked Between The Towers
by Mordicai Gerstein
from Roaring Brook Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Mighty Jackie
by Marissa Moss
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
$11.00 $96.00 (1 in stock)
Moon and Sixpence
Modern Library
by W. Somerset Maugham
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
My Brothers' Flying Machine
by Jane Yolen
from Little, Brown & Company
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Never Dies the Dream
by Margaret Landon
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
New York's Bravest
by Mary Pope Osborne
First Edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 1st-3rd grade
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Ola
by Edgar Parin d'Aulaire, Ingri d'Aulaire
Reprint from University of Minnesota
for 3rd-6th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$16.95
People Could Fly
by Virginia Hamilton
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Poland's Noble Son
by Daughters of St. Paul & Maxine Mayer, illustrated by Maxine Mayer
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Ranch under the Rimrock
by Dorothy Lawson McCall
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Roots
Book Club Edition from Doubleday & Company
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Saint Francis and the Wolf
by Richard Egielski
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Scottish Chiefs
by Jane Porter, edited by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 8th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Sir Charlie
by Paul Fleishman
from Greenwillow Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Sounder
by William H. Armstrong
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-8th grade
1970 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Elsa
by Joy Adamson
from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Strawberry Point
by Florence Roe Wiggins
from T.S. Denison & Company
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
This Promise of Change
by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy
from Bloomsbury Publishing
for 6th-12th grade
2020 Robert F. Siebert Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99
Three Against the Wilderness
by Eric Collier
6th Printing, 1960 from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Trails Plowed Under
by Charles M. Russell
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Two Years Before the Mast
by Richard Henry Dana, illustrated by Robert Frankenberg
from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Two Years Before the Mast (abridged)
by Richard Henry Dana Jr.
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Wild West
Book Club from Time-Life Books
for 6th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Yankee Doodle Boy
by Joseph Martin
from Holiday House
Historical Non-Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$12.00 (1 in stock)