THE art of biography, we say — but at once go on to ask, Is biography an art? The question is foolish perhaps, and ungenerous certainly, considering the keen pleasure that biographers have given us.

Jonathan Eig's "King: A Life," a biography of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., was recognized as one of the best books of 2023. Biographies offer a chance to explore the decision-making and ...

Having come out of the closet, or the casino, not long ago, as an unqualified Frank Sinatra idolater, I approached the second volume of James Kaplan’s biography of the singer (“Sinatra: The Chairman”) ...

Think you know the full and complete story about George Washington, Steve Jobs, or Joan of Arc? Think again.

The standout essays in Megan Marshall’s “After Lives” recall her troubled father and the fate of a high school classmate. By Alexandra Jacobs When you purchase an independently reviewed book through ...

When Steve Jobs was 6 years old, his young next door neighbor found out he was adopted. "That means your parents abandoned you and didn't want you," she told him. Jobs ran into his home, where his ...

This is FRESH AIR. The late saxophonist Dexter Gordon is the subject of a new biography written by his wife Maxine Gordon. Dexter Gordon was a bebop prodigy in the 1940s, was sidelined by drugs in the ...

His single authorized biography is mired in controversy. Scholars say it shouldn’t be the last word, but they are struggling for access to his vast and in some cases inaccessible private archives. By ...