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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85 Items found Print
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Abe Lincoln
by Hilah Paulmier (compiled and edited by), illustrated by Lee Ames
First Edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 3rd-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
Admiral of the Ocean Sea
by Samuel E. Morison
from Atlantic Monthly Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Davy Crockett
by David Crockett, illustrated by John W. Thomason
from Charles Scribner's Sons
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$18.00 (1 in stock)
All Hands Aloft!
by Lou A. Schmitt
from Howell-North
for 9th-Adult
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Amazing Mr. Doolittle
by Quentin Reynolds
from Appleton-Century-Crofts
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
America the Beautiful/ A Man of Destiny
by the editors of Country Beautiful Magazine
from Country Beautiful
for Adult
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
World's Greatest Literature
by Benjamin Franklin
from Spencer Press
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Benjamin Franklin
by Carl Van Doren
from Library of America
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$14.00 (1 in stock)
Black Panther of Sivanipalli
by Kenneth Anderson
1960 printing from Rand McNally
for Adult
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Bombs and Blessings
by Retha Hazel Eldridge
from Review and Herald Publishing Association
for 9th-Adult
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
Boswell's London Journal 1762-1763
by Frederick A. Pottle
1st edition from McGraw-Hill
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Buffalo Bill and the Wild West
by Henry Blackman Sell and Victor Weybright
Reprint from International Cody Family Assoc.
for Adult
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
Cheer the Lonesome Traveller
by Leslie Alexander Lacy, illustrated by James Barkley
from Dial Press
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Chord of Steel
by Thomas B. Costain
from Doubleday & Company
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Comes the Comrade!
by Alexandra Orme, translated from the Polish by M.A. Michael and L. Meyer
from William Morrow & Company
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Cross Creek
by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
from Charles Scribner's Sons
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Death Valley Scotty
from Trans-Anglo Press
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$16.00 (1 in stock)
Dynamite Johnny O'Brien
by Milton A. Dalby
from Lowman & Hanford Co.
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$25.00 (1 in stock)
Earth is the Lord's
by Taylor Caldwell
from Literary Guild of America
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Frederic Chopin
by Victor Seroff
from Macmillan
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From Scotland to Silverado
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Harvard University Press
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Geoffrey Chaucer of England
by Marchette Chute
from Dutton Adult
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
George Washington: Man and Monument
by Frank Freidel and Lonnelle Aikman
from Washington National Monument Assoc.
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
George Whitefield: Wayfaring Witness
by Stuart C. Henry
from Abingdon Press
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Great Lion of God
by Taylor Caldwell
Book Club from Doubleday & Company
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Great Waters
by Creston Donald Ketchum
from Hutchinson & Co.
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
In the Days of McKinley
by Margaret Leech
from Harper & Brothers
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Ishi: Last of His Tribe
by Theodora Kroeber
from California State Department of Education
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
John Charles Ryle
by Peter Toon, Michael Smout
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Johnny Appleseed
by Robert Price
from Indiana University Press
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Joshua Barney
by Ralph D. Paine
from Century Co.
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
Kate Greenaway Book
by Bryan Holme, with illustrations by Kate Greenaway
from Gallery Press
for 9th-Adult
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Last Grain Race
by Eric Newby
1st Printing from Houghton Mifflin
for Adult
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$32.00 (1 in stock)
Lewis and Clark Expedition - 3-volume Set
by Meriwether Lewis
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
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$32.00 (1 in stock)
Life and Diary of David Brainerd
by David Brainerd
from Moody Press
Biography for 10th-Adult
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Life and Times of Martin Luther
by J. H. Merle D'Aubigne, translated by H. White
from Moody Press
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Life of Emerson
by Van Wyck Brooks
First Edition from E.P. Dutton & Co.
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Life with Father and Mother
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Log of "Bob" Bartlett
by Captain Robert A. Bartlett
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
Lonely Sea and the Sky
by Francis Chichester
First American Edition from Coward McCann
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Man Called Cervantes
by Bruno Frank
from Viking Press
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Mariner of the North
by George Palmer Putnam
from Duell, Sloan and Pearce
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$25.00 (1 in stock)
Mathew Brady
by James D. Horan
from Bonanza Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Moon and Sixpence
Modern Library
by W. Somerset Maugham
from Heritage Press
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Natural Way to Draw
by Kimon Nicolaides
from Houghton Mifflin
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$14.00 (1 in stock)
Nun's Story
by Kathryn Hulme
from Little, Brown & Company
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Of Yachts and Men
by William Atkin, illustrations by Charles G. Davis, introduction by Charles F. Chapman
from Sheridan House
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
Old Master
by Rene Kraus
1st edition from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for Adult
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
People, Places, Things, Ideas - 4 Volume Set
from Hawthorn Books, Inc.
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$32.00 (1 in stock)
Present Indicative
by Noel Coward
from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
for Adult
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Ranch under the Rimrock
by Dorothy Lawson McCall
from Binford & Mort Publishing
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Rudyard Kipling
by Lord Birkenhead
from Random House
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Sam Houston
by Noel Gerson
from Doubleday & Company
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Sea Trip in Clipper Ship Days
by Mary Matthews Bray
from Gorham Press
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Shorter Life of D. L. Moody
Moody Colportage Library #83
by A. P. Fitt
from Moody Press
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Skipper of the Sentinel
by May Cole Kuhn
from Review and Herald Publishing Association
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Smiling Rebel
by Harnett T. Kane
from Doubleday & Company
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Sons of Sinbad
by Alan Villiers
from Charles Scribner's Sons
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$35.00 (1 in stock)
South Sea Shilling
by Eric Swenson
First Edition from Viking Press
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Strawberry Point
by Florence Roe Wiggins
from T.S. Denison & Company
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
These Wonderful People
by Noel Ames
from People's Book Club
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Torch is Passed...
by Associated Press
from Associated Press
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$6.00 (2 in stock)
Traitor and the Spy
by James Thomas Flexner
1st edition from Harcourt, Brace & Company
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Two Under the Indian Sun
by Jon & Rumer Godden
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Two Years Before the Mast
by Richard Henry Dana, illustrated by Robert Frankenberg
from Doubleday & Company
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Undersea Adventure
by Philippe Diole, translated from the French by Alan Ross
3rd Printing from Julian Messner
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Wallenda
by Ron Morris
from Sagarin Press
for 8th-Adult
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$19.00 (1 in stock)
Willa
by Ruth Franchere
from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
William Shakespeare: A Biography
by A. L. Rowse
First Ediition from Harper & Row
for Adult
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$24.00 (1 in stock)
Winged Horse
by Joseph Auslander & Frank Ernest Hill
from Doubleday & Company
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in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Winning the War with Ships
by Admiral Emory S. Land, introduction by Gen. Charles A. Lindbergh
1st edition from Robert M. McBride & Co.
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$48.00 (1 in stock)
Works of Rousseau
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
from Walter J. Black, Inc.
for Adult
in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
World of Bernini
1973 printing from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Bruegel
Revised, 1975 printing from Time-Life Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Cezanne
Revised, 1974 printing from Time-Life Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Delacroix
by Tom Prideaux
Revised, 1975 printing from Time-Life Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Gainsborough
from Time-Life Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Manet
from Time-Life Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Rembrandt
from Time-Life Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Titian
from Time-Life Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Turner
Time-Life Library of Art
from Time-Life Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Van Gogh
from Time-Life Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Vermeer
from Time-Life Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Whistler
from Time-Life Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Yankee Sails the Nile
by Irving and Electa Johnson
1st edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$9.00 (1 in stock)