biography.com

• True Crime Blog
• A&E Classics
• A&E Crime Central
• Link A&E on facebook
• Link A&E on twitter
• Link A&E on youtube
• Link A&E on instagram
• Link A&E on tiktok

Biography continues to highlight newsworthy personalities and events with compelling and surprising points-of-view, and remains the defining source for true stories from some of the most accomplished non-fiction storytellers of our time.

Biography Music

Biography: Bobby Brown

Who Killed Tupac?

Biography: KISStory

Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne

Biography: I Want My MTV

Garth Brooks: The Road I'm On

Biography: Kenny Rogers

David Cassidy: The Last Session

Wwe legends: watch now, no sign in required.

Biography: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

Biography: "Rowdy" Roddy Piper

Biography: "Macho Man" Randy Savage

Biography: Booker T

Biography: Shawn Michaels

Biography: Ultimate Warrior

Biography: Mick Foley

Biography: Bret "Hitman" Hart

WWE's Most Wanted Treasures

Biography specials.

Elizabeth Smart: Autobiography

Gotti: Godfather and Son

Farrah Fawcett Forever

JFK Jr. The Final Year

Chris Farley: Anything for a Laugh

Jeff Dunham: Talking Heads

Jeff Foxworthy: Stand Up Guy

Biography: The Trump Dynasty

Biography shorts.

John Cena has branched out into other entertainment, but he'll Never Give Up on the thing that made him a superstar.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson

Learn how a football injury in college turned Dwane Johnson to pro-wrestling.

Pedro Pascal

Pedro Pascal's long road to Hollywood began with an escape from Chile.

Before Gal Gadot got her start as an action star, she trained in the Israeli Army.

Chris Stapleton

Chris Stapleton carries his coal country past with him.

Shania Twain

The story of how Shania Twain got her name plays like a country music ballad.

Biography You Need to Know

You Need to Know Shirley Chisholm

When she ran for president in 1972, Shirley Chisholm changed the rules of who could be considered presidential material.

You Need to Know Tony Hansberry

A 14-year-old's innovative approach to suturing impacts the lives of women around the world.

You Need to Know Maria Tallchief

America's first prima ballerina danced her way from Oklahoma to the world stage.

Biography Shows

Cultureshock: Freaks and Geeks: The Documentary

Cultureshock: Chris Rock's 'Bring the Pain'

Biography articles.

The Woman Who Stole Freddie Mercury's Heart

Blondie Recorded 'Autoamerican' to Help 'Resolve Racial Tensions' by Crossing Musical Genres

Biography.com

Get instant access to free updates.

Don’t Miss Out on A&E news, behind the scenes content, and more!

• Privacy Notice
• Terms of Use

Need help with the site?

Create a profile to add this show to your list.

The Best 10 Biographies by Women to Add to Your Reading List

From former first ladies to famous actors and standup comedians.

We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back.

The books on this list include incredible true stories about remarkable women who overcame great adversity, from Hollywood heavyweights sharing their personal stories for the first time to women journeying through grief, love, heartbreak, and hardship. While some of these books explore what it means to move forward after a violent crime, others explain the influence a person's upbringing had on their identity. Here, we round up 10 of the best biographies of women to add to your reading list in 2024.

'Becoming' by Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama needs no introduction following her eight-year tenure as first lady in the White House, but that doesn't make her story any less remarkable. Becoming covers everything from Michelle's youth in Chicago to her relationship with husband and former president Barack Obama and the way she's learned to juggle working on a world stage alongside raising her family. Rather than shying away from her mistakes, Michelle reflects on her life to date, offering every ounce of wisdom she's gathered, making her memoir an essential read.

'I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban' by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

When Malala Yousafzai was just 15 years old, she was shot in the head after standing up to the Taliban regarding her right to an education. Seemingly against all odds, Yousafzai survived the attack, and was subsequently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for her advocacy on behalf of children and young people. Since then, she has continued her activism by supporting young women to receive an education, while opposing extremism. I Am Malala is Yousafzai's incredible story , told in her own words.

'Inside Out: A Memoir' by Demi Moore

As an award-winning actor and the ex-wife of Bruce Willis , Demi Moore is no stranger to the spotlight. In Inside Out: A Memoir, Moore uses her wit and candor to discuss her unlikely rise to fame, the difficulties she encountered as a Hollywood star, and aspects of her personal life even the most dedicated fan wouldn't know. From her very real battles with sexism to the disintegration of multiple relationships, Moore doesn't hold anything back in her emotional autobiography.

'Know My Name' by Chanel Miller

With Know My Name, Chanel Miller gave up her anonymity as Emily Doe to tell her story. In 2016, Brock Turner was found guilty of three counts of felony sexual assault, for which he was sentenced to six months in county jail, although he would only serve three. Following the trial, Miller's victim impact statement went viral online, in which she revealed the devastating impact the crime had on every aspect of her life. Know My Name is an intimate portrayal of what it's like to survive a life-changing event and find a new forward.

'Finding Me' by Viola Davis

Viola Davis' biography , Finding Me, elevated the actor to EGOT status when she took home a Grammy for her performance of the audiobook, and it's easy to see why. Discussing her humble upbringing on Rhode Island and her quest to forge a career as an actor, Davis encourages honesty and self-reflection when readers look back on their own stories. While Davis' talent is undeniable, her journey to stardom has been anything but simple, making Finding Me an important and timeless read.

'Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology' by Leah Remini: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology

After leaving Scientology in July 2013, Leah Remini was forced to rebuild her life from the ground up. Despite being a famous actor, Remini was seemingly adrift in the world without her former religion and allegedly faced harassment and stalking by the organization for fleeing. Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology tracks Remini's upbringing in the church, the reasons she finally decided to leave, and the ways in which her life changed after she walked away.

'Survival of the Thickest' by Michelle Buteau

Comedian Michelle Buteau has continually proven herself with roles in Netflix movies, such as Someone Great and Always Be My Maybe, and on TV shows like Russian Doll and First Wives Club. In Survival of the Thickest, Buteau provides readers with an insight into her life growing up in New Jersey with Caribbean parents and why she made the move to Miami for college. Both hilarious and intimate, Buteau gets candid about her chaotic life as a standup comedian, starting a family with her Dutch husband, and the difficult decisions she faced when becoming a mother.

'Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail' by Cheryl Strayed

Brought to the big screen in a movie starring Reese Witherspoon , Cheryl Strayed's Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail is a story of resilience, heartbreak, grief, and an 1100-mile solo hike. Leaving behind a difficult romantic relationship and personal demons and still reeling from the death of her mother, Strayed navigates the challenging walk with very little hiking experience. In spite of her shortcomings, the journey changes the course of her life forever.

'Crying in H Mart' by Michelle Zauner in H Mart: A Memoir

Known as the lead singer of Japanese Breakfast , Michelle Zauner's biography is an exploration of family, food, identity, loss, and the journey to discovering oneself. From her childhood in Oregon to her experiences staying in Seoul, South Korea, with her grandmother, Zauner examines the strands that form her identity as a Korean American. In addition to tracking her career as a rock musician, Zauner opens up about the devastating family diagnosis that changed her outlook on life and heritage.

'I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home' by Jami Attenberg

Author Jami Attenberg is known for her novels The Middlesteins and The Melting Season, and for short story collections such as Instant Love . In I Came All This Way to Meet You, Attenberg shares the experiences that shaped her worldview, including following her father's occupation as a traveling salesman. As Attenberg discovered her own creative identity, she also found the less glamorous aspects of writing, such as the cross-country book tours and the lack of stable housing. Despite the challenges, Attenberg's memoir provides the encouragement needed to never quit, whatever the project.

Jada Pinkett Smith’s New Memoir Shocks In More Way

The Best Books About Philosophers

12 Best Prime Day Book Deals to Read Now

10 Best True Crime Books

The Best Memoirs by Musicians

The Best Celebrity-Narrated Books on Audible

The Best Books About Activists to Inspire You

The Best Books About Founding Fathers

The Best Books About Inventors

Best Books About Scientists

The 20 Best Memoirs Everyone Should Read

Gianluca Vacchi

Gianluca Vacchi biography Gianluca Vacchi (August 5, 1967) Born in Bologna, Italy. Italian businessman and artist, known for his eccentricity...

Benjamin Franklin

J.K. Rowling

Celebrities.

Nicola Porcella

Nicola Porcella Biography Nicola Emilio Porcella Solimano (February 5, 1988), better known as Nicola Porcella, is an actor and TV...

Wendy Guevara

Paris Hilton

Leonardo DiCaprio

Denzel Washington

Ryan Reynolds

Anthony Hopkins

Julia Roberts

Fernando Botero

Gustave Courbet

Anime history

John Ruskin

John Harvey McCracken

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Philosophers.

Rudolf Carnap

Peso Pluma Biography Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija (June 15, 1999), known artistically as Peso Pluma, is a singer and songwriter born in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico. He...

Sebastián Piñera

Sebastián Piñera Biography Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique (December 1, 1949 – February 6, 2024) was a politician, entrepreneur, and engineer, born in Santiago, Chile. He...

Natanael Cano

Natanael Cano Biography Nathanahel Rubén Cano Monge (March 27, 2001), known artistically as Natanael Cano, is a singer and songwriter from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. Regarded as...

Enzo Vogrincic

Enzo Vogrincic Biography Enzo Vogrincic Roldán (March 22, 1993) is an actor hailing from Montevideo, Uruguay. He has garnered international acclaim for his exceptional portrayal of...

Xavi Biography Joshua Xavier Gutiérrez Alonso (May 5, 2004), known by his stage name Xavi, is a singer and songwriter from Phoenix, Arizona. His ascent to...

Travis Kelce

Travis Kelce Biography Travis Michael Kelce (October 5, 1989) is an American football player born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, United States. He is known for being...

Emily Rudd Biography Emily Ellen Rudd (February 24, 1993), better known as Emily Rudd, is an actress and model hailing from Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States....

Arata Mackenyu

Arata Mackenyu Biography Mackenyu Maeda (前田 真剣佑), also known artistically as Arata Mackenyu or simply Mackenyu (November 16, 1996), is an actor from Los Angeles, California,...

Taz Skylar Biography Tarek Yassin Skylar (December 5, 1995), known artistically as Taz Skylar, is an actor born in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. He is renowned...

Jacob Gibson

Jacob Gibson Biography Jacob Romero Gibson (July 11, 1996), also known as Jacob Gibson, is a theatre, film, and television actor from Jamaica. He is renowned...

Recent Posts

Alan Walker

Michael Oher

Adelaido “Payo” Solís

LP (Singer)

The 7 Best Biography Sites for Famous and Inspirational People

Biographies give us a historical look into the lives and times of notable people. They help to teach, inspire, and improve us as people.

Famous people, both living and dead, can help to inspire us to greater things and teach us about missing gaps in our own knowledge. Indeed, by studying the lives of some of the most famous people throughout history, you can turn yourself into a better person. And who doesn’t want that?

Thanks to the internet, you don’t need to spend a fortune on physical biographies in your local bookstore. Here are the best websites for biographies of renowned people who have ever lived.

1. Biography

Biography has been online for many years and has become one of the most well-known sites out there for memoirs, interviews, and life stories.

The People section has grown to thousands of entries and covers everyone from actors to scientists. When you click on a person's profile, you'll get a brief overview of their life, a list of “quick facts”, and information on their education, career, and personal life.

Biography also has entire sections dedicated to nostalgia, celebrities, history and culture, and crime and scandal. Most of the content in these sections takes a long-form article approach.

If you enjoy the content on the main site, make sure you also check out Biography's YouTube channel. Most of the videos are a couple of minutes long and focus on a single person.

S9 is like a Wikipedia of biographies . The content is editable by the users, and they also can contribute to the existing biographies on the site.

Every day, there is a selection of featured biographies, with many of the selections being for people you might not have heard of but who have achieved wonderful things in their lives. The site also has a birthday section and a latest biographies section, allowing you to delve into the lives of different fascinating people every time you log on.

S9 even has a biographical game in the form of a quiz. The questions are, predictably, based on people's lives. Fair warning—to get a good score, you need to have a serious deep amount of knowledge.

3. Notable Biographies

The simply organized encyclopedia on famous and historical personalities is very readable with an alphabetically arranged Wikipedia-like presentation. You can also add your own information through a form.

It lacks the large number of entries that you will find on some of the other sites on this list, but don't let that put you off. If you're looking for a who's-who of various global luminaries rather than endless lists of people you have never heard of, this is the site for you.

4. Women's History Month

Women's History Month is an official site produced by the US government. Of course, the month of the celebration itself is March, but you can visit and enjoy the site and its massive amount of content throughout the year.

The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in commemorating and encouraging the study, observance, and celebration of the vital role of women in American history.

Overall, the site is an exhaustive resource on women who have impacted history through the ages. It pays tribute to some of the greatest women in history with multimedia content and other exhibits.

5. Wikipedia

If you want information on famous people, you can never go too far wrong with the ubiquitous Wikipedia. If anyone has achieved something globally noteworthy in their lives, you can be almost certain that they will have an entry on the site.

Of course, for the true giants of history, the entries can run to tens of thousands of words. But even for slightly less-famous people, you will still be able to find plenty of information.

Wikipedia is also one of the few biography sites that is available in multiple languages. For regionally famous people, you might find their local entry has far more information than the English-language entry. You can use Google Translate if you cannot understand the language in question.

And hey, if no article exists about the person in question, you can always try and make one yourself!

6. Academy of Achievement

The Academy of Achievement aims to provide readers with insight into the visionaries and pioneers who have shaped the modern world around us. The academy has existed for more than six decades, thus making inclusion in its hall of fame an honor in its own right.

For all the people who have made it onto the hallowed list over the years, you can access complete biographies, samples of their work, images, interviews, video content, and more.

7. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

If you're a politics fanatic, you will love the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. It features a biography for all 12,877 people who have served in the House of Representatives and Congress since the forming of the United States.

For each person, you will be able to find information about the congresses they served, the years they served, the state/territory they represented, their position, and their party. Of course, there is also a text article dedicated to each person, with information on their personal life, background, and career.

We've also covered some of the best sites for unbiased fact-checking if this isn't enough for your politics fix.

8. Academy of American Poets

If literature is more your thing, head to the Academy of American Poets. It offers more than 3,000 biographies of contemporary and classical poets from the US.

The site also offers non-biographical content. For example, there are thousands of poems for you to read, a poem-a-day feature, a library containing books, texts, and more, and even materials for teachers and links to poetry events near your location.

Learn About People to Become a Better Person

No matter what hobbies and interests you have, there is always something to be learned by studying the lives of other people.

Whether they help you find an answer to a moral question, inspire you to start a new project, or simply helps you pass some time on your commute, these sites will all help to keep you entertained and engaged for hours.

Biography Online

Biographies of the famous, influential, and inspirational.

People throughout history who influenced and changed the world, from Socrates and Plato to Sir Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy.

Over 50 influential women who helped to shape the world in which we live. Including; Sappho, Malala Yousafzai, Indira Gandhi, Susan B. Anthony, Helen Keller, Princess Diana, Joan d’Arc, Greta Thunberg and Mother Teresa.

A selection of inspirational people who have helped create a better world. Includes Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and Albert Einstein.

Famous men and women who have campaigned for, and promoted human and civil rights. Includes Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks.

Great artists such as Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci and Pablo Picasso. Greatest works of art :  Mona Lisa , Statue of David

The great scientists who have changed our world from Archimedes to Albert Einstein and Marie Curie. Also; list of famous inventors .

Famous poets and authors. Great writers including J. R. R. Tolkien, George Orwell, Ernst Hemingway, J.K.Rowling and C.S. Lewis

Saints and sages from different religious and spiritual traditions. Including The Buddha, Jesus Christ, Muhammed and the Dalai Lama.

100 great sporting personalities from the fields of football, athletics, tennis, gymnastics, boxing and more.

A list of famous Africans, including Nelson Mandela, Haile Selassie, Kofi Annan, Tegla Laroupe, and Wangari Maathai.

Famous military leaders from Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and Napoleon to modern military commanders.

Featured biographies

Recently added pages

• Tenzing Norgay – (1914 – 1986) Nepalese-Indian climber who was first to climb Mount Everest.
• Herbert Hoover (1874 – 1964) the 31st US president during the Great Depression
• Sir Edmund Hillary (1919 – 2008) New Zealand climber who became first to climb Mount Everest.
• Simone Weil –  Philosopher, mystic and member of French Resistance.
• James Joyce – Irish contemporary writer.
• George R.R. Martin (1948 – )- Best selling fantasy author of “Game of Thrones”
• Sadhguru (1957 – ) Indian Guru and founder of Isha yoga foundation
• Charles Lindbergh (1902 – 1974) US air pilot who flew from NY to Paris.
• Simon Bolivar (1783–1830) Venezuelan military and political leader who was instrumental in helping Latin American countries achieve independence.
• Diego Maradona (1960 – ) Argentinian footballer. Voted greatest player of 20th Century.
• Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) Austrian composer of the late classical period.
• Prophet Muhammad (570–632) Founder of Islam.
• Anne Frank (1929-45) Diarist and writer who perished in the Holocaust.
• Karl Marx (1818-1883) Political philosopher and founder of Marxism
• James Watt – inventor of a more powerful steam engine
• 100 most influential people – Influential figures of world history.
• Sappho Biography – The enigmatic poet of Lesbos.
• Sojourner Truth (1797 – 1883) Civil rights campaigner
• Harriet Tubman (1822 – 1913) Escaped slave who helped others to escape on the Underground Railroad.
• Grace Kelly (1929–1982) American film actress and Princess of Monaco.
• Meister Eckhart – (1260–1327) German mystic, philosopher and religious administrator.
• People who promoted religious tolerance – Timeline of religious tolerance.
• People who changed their minds – Some of the greatest u-turns in beliefs and opinions.
• Martin Niemöller (1893–1984) German pastor, imprisoned for opposing Hitler.
• Germans who resisted Hitler – Including: Dietrich Bonhoffer, Claus von Stauffenberg.
• Mozart (1756 – 1791) – Classical composer and musical genius
• Famous historical figures – from the age of the Ramayana to the present day.
• Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) African American, anti-slavery campaigner.

Deposit Photos – I use some photos from this source of stock images.

Join Discovery, the new community for book lovers

Trust book recommendations from real people, not robots 🤓

Blog – Posted on Monday, Jan 21

The 30 best biographies of all time.

Biographer Richard Holmes once wrote that his work was “a kind of pursuit… writing about the pursuit of that fleeting figure, in such a way as to bring them alive in the present.”

At the risk of sounding cliché, the best biographies do exactly this: bring their subjects to life. A great biography isn’t just a laundry list of events that happened to someone. Rather, it should weave a narrative and tell a story in almost the same way a novel does. In this way, biography differs from the rest of nonfiction .

All the biographies on this list are just as captivating as excellent novels , if not more so. With that, please enjoy the 30 best biographies of all time — some historical, some recent, but all remarkable, life-giving tributes to their subjects.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the number of great biographies out there, you can also take our 30-second quiz below to narrow it down quickly and get a personalized biography recommendation  😉

Which biography should you read next?

Discover the perfect biography for you. Takes 30 seconds!

1. A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar

This biography of esteemed mathematician John Nash was both a finalist for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize and the basis for the award-winning film of the same name. Nasar thoroughly explores Nash’s prestigious career, from his beginnings at MIT to his work at the RAND Corporation — as well the internal battle he waged against schizophrenia, a disorder that nearly derailed his life.

2. Alan Turing: The Enigma: The Book That Inspired the Film The Imitation Game - Updated Edition by Andrew Hodges

Hodges’ 1983 biography of Alan Turing sheds light on the inner workings of this brilliant mathematician, cryptologist, and computer pioneer. Indeed, despite the title ( a nod to his work during WWII ), a great deal of the “enigmatic” Turing is laid out in this book. It covers his heroic code-breaking efforts during the war, his computer designs and contributions to mathematical biology in the years following, and of course, the vicious persecution that befell him in the 1950s — when homosexual acts were still a crime punishable by English law.

3. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton is not only the inspiration for a hit Broadway musical, but also a work of creative genius itself. This massive undertaking of over 800 pages details every knowable moment of the youngest Founding Father’s life: from his role in the Revolutionary War and early American government to his sordid (and ultimately career-destroying) affair with Maria Reynolds. He may never have been president, but he was a fascinating and unique figure in American history — plus it’s fun to get the truth behind the songs.

Prefer to read about fascinating First Ladies rather than almost-presidents? Check out this awesome list of books about First Ladies over on The Archive.

4. Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston

A prolific essayist, short story writer, and novelist, Hurston turned her hand to biographical writing in 1927 with this incredible work, kept under lock and key until it was published 2018. It’s based on Hurston’s interviews with the last remaining survivor of the Middle Passage slave trade, a man named Cudjo Lewis. Rendered in searing detail and Lewis’ highly affecting African-American vernacular, this biography of the “last black cargo” will transport you back in time to an era that, chillingly, is not nearly as far away from us as it feels.

5. Churchill: A Life by Martin Gilbert

Though many a biography of him has been attempted, Gilbert’s is the final authority on Winston Churchill — considered by many to be Britain’s greatest prime minister ever. A dexterous balance of in-depth research and intimately drawn details makes this biography a perfect tribute to the mercurial man who led Britain through World War II.

Just what those circumstances are occupies much of Bodanis's book, which pays homage to Einstein and, just as important, to predecessors such as Maxwell, Faraday, and Lavoisier, who are not as well known as Einstein today. Balancing writerly energy and scholarly weight, Bodanis offers a primer in modern physics and cosmology, explaining that the universe today is an expression of mass that will, in some vastly distant future, one day slide back to the energy side of the equation, replacing the \'dominion of matter\' with \'a great stillness\'--a vision that is at once lovely and profoundly frightening.

Without sliding into easy psychobiography, Bodanis explores other circumstances as well; namely, Einstein's background and character, which combined with a sterling intelligence to afford him an idiosyncratic view of the way things work--a view that would change the world. --Gregory McNamee

6. E=mc²: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis

This “biography of the world’s most famous equation” is a one-of-a-kind take on the genre: rather than being the story of Einstein, it really does follow the history of the equation itself. From the origins and development of its individual elements (energy, mass, and light) to their ramifications in the twentieth century, Bodanis turns what could be an extremely dry subject into engaging fare for readers of all stripes.

7. Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario

When Enrique was only five years old, his mother left Honduras for the United States, promising a quick return. Eleven years later, Enrique finally decided to take matters into his own hands in order to see her again: he would traverse Central and South America via railway, risking his life atop the “train of death” and at the hands of the immigration authorities, to reunite with his mother. This tale of Enrique’s perilous journey is not for the faint of heart, but it is an account of incredible devotion and sharp commentary on the pain of separation among immigrant families.

8. Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera

Herrera’s 1983 biography of renowned painter Frida Kahlo, one of the most recognizable names in modern art, has since become the definitive account on her life. And while Kahlo no doubt endured a great deal of suffering (a horrific accident when she was eighteen, a husband who had constant affairs), the focal point of the book is not her pain. Instead, it’s her artistic brilliance and immense resolve to leave her mark on the world — a mark that will not soon be forgotten, in part thanks to Herrera’s dedicated work.

9. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Perhaps the most impressive biographical feat of the twenty-first century, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is about a woman whose cells completely changed the trajectory of modern medicine. Rebecca Skloot skillfully commemorates the previously unknown life of a poor black woman whose cancer cells were taken, without her knowledge, for medical testing — and without whom we wouldn’t have many of the critical cures we depend upon today.

10. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Christopher McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp, hitchhiked to Alaska and disappeared into the Denali wilderness in April 1992. Five months later, McCandless was found emaciated and deceased in his shelter — but of what cause? Krakauer’s biography of McCandless retraces his steps back to the beginning of the trek, attempting to suss out what the young man was looking for on his journey, and whether he fully understood what dangers lay before him.

11. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Three Tenant Families by James Agee

"Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.” From this line derives the central issue of Agee and Evans’ work: who truly deserves our praise and recognition? According to this 1941 biography, it’s the barely-surviving sharecropper families who were severely impacted by the American “Dust Bowl” — hundreds of people entrenched in poverty, whose humanity Evans and Agee desperately implore their audience to see in their book.

12. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

Another mysterious explorer takes center stage in this gripping 2009 biography. Grann tells the story of Percy Fawcett, the archaeologist who vanished in the Amazon along with his son in 1925, supposedly in search of an ancient lost city. Parallel to this narrative, Grann describes his own travels in the Amazon 80 years later: discovering firsthand what threats Fawcett may have encountered, and coming to realize what the “Lost City of Z” really was.

13. Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang

Though many of us will be familiar with the name Mao Zedong, this prodigious biography sheds unprecedented light upon the power-hungry “Red Emperor.” Chang and Halliday begin with the shocking statistic that Mao was responsible for 70 million deaths during peacetime — more than any other twentieth-century world leader. From there, they unravel Mao’s complex ideologies, motivations, and missions, breaking down his long-propagated “hero” persona and thrusting forth a new, grislier image of one of China’s biggest revolutionaries.

14. Mad Girl's Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted by Andrew Wilson by Andrew Wilson

Titled after one of her most evocative poems, this shimmering bio of Sylvia Plath takes an unusual approach. Instead of focusing on her years of depression and tempestuous marriage to poet Ted Hughes, it chronicles her life before she ever came to Cambridge. Wilson closely examines her early family and relationships, feelings and experiences, with information taken from her meticulous diaries — setting a strong precedent for other Plath biographers to follow.

15. The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes

What if you had twenty-four different people living inside you, and you never knew which one was going to come out? Such was the life of Billy Milligan, the subject of this haunting biography by the author of Flowers for Algernon . Keyes recounts, in a refreshingly straightforward style, the events of Billy’s life and how his psyche came to be “split”... as well as how, with Keyes’ help, he attempted to put the fragments of himself back together.

16. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder

This gorgeously constructed biography follows Paul Farmer, a doctor who’s worked for decades to eradicate infectious diseases around the globe, particularly in underprivileged areas. Though Farmer’s humanitarian accomplishments are extraordinary in and of themselves, the true charm of this book comes from Kidder’s personal relationship with him — and the sense of fulfillment the reader sustains from reading about someone genuinely heroic, written by someone else who truly understands and admires what they do.

17. Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts

Here’s another bio that will reshape your views of a famed historical tyrant, though this time in a surprisingly favorable light. Decorated scholar Andrew Roberts delves into the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, from his near-flawless military instincts to his complex and confusing relationship with his wife. But Roberts’ attitude toward his subject is what really makes this work shine: rather than ridiculing him ( as it would undoubtedly be easy to do ), he approaches the “petty tyrant” with a healthy amount of deference.

18. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson IV by Robert A. Caro

Lyndon Johnson might not seem as intriguing or scandalous as figures like Kennedy, Nixon, or W. Bush. But in this expertly woven biography, Robert Caro lays out the long, winding road of his political career, and it’s full of twists you wouldn’t expect. Johnson himself was a surprisingly cunning figure, gradually maneuvering his way closer and closer to power. Finally, in 1963, he got his greatest wish — but at what cost? Fans of Adam McKay’s Vice , this is the book for you.

19. Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

Anyone who grew up reading Little House on the Prairie will surely be fascinated by this tell-all biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Caroline Fraser draws upon never-before-published historical resources to create a lush study of the author’s life — not in the gently narrated manner of the Little House series, but in raw and startling truths about her upbringing, marriage, and volatile relationship with her daughter (and alleged ghostwriter) Rose Wilder Lane.

20. Prince: A Private View by Afshin Shahidi

Compiled just after the superstar’s untimely death in 2016, this intimate snapshot of Prince’s life is actually a largely visual work — Shahidi served as his private photographer from the early 2000s until his passing. And whatever they say about pictures being worth a thousand words, Shahidi’s are worth more still: Prince’s incredible vibrance, contagious excitement, and altogether singular personality come through in every shot.

21. Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss

Could there be a more fitting title for a book about the husband-wife team who discovered radioactivity? What you may not know is that these nuclear pioneers also had a fascinating personal history. Marie Sklodowska met Pierre Curie when she came to work in his lab in 1891, and just a few years later they were married. Their passion for each other bled into their passion for their work, and vice-versa — and in almost no time at all, they were on their way to their first of their Nobel Prizes.

22. Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson

She may not have been assassinated or killed in a mysterious plane crash, but Rosemary Kennedy’s fate is in many ways the worst of “the Kennedy Curse.” As if a botched lobotomy that left her almost completely incapacitated weren’t enough, her parents then hid her away from society, almost never to be seen again. Yet in this new biography, penned by devoted Kennedy scholar Kate Larson, the full truth of Rosemary’s post-lobotomy life is at last revealed.

23. Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

This appropriately lyrical biography of brilliant Jazz Age poet and renowned feminist, Edna St. Vincent Millay, is indeed a perfect balance of savage and beautiful. While Millay’s poetic work was delicate and subtle, the woman herself was feisty and unpredictable, harboring unusual and occasionally destructive habits that Milford fervently explores.

24. Shelley: The Pursuit by Richard Holmes

Holmes’ famous philosophy of “biography as pursuit” is thoroughly proven here in his first full-length biographical work. Shelley: The Pursuit details an almost feverish tracking of Percy Shelley as a dark and cutting figure in the Romantic period — reforming many previous historical conceptions about him through Holmes’ compelling and resolute writing.

25. Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin

Another Gothic figure has been made newly known through this work, detailing the life of prolific horror and mystery writer Shirley Jackson. Author Ruth Franklin digs deep into the existence of the reclusive and mysterious Jackson, drawing penetrating comparisons between the true events of her life and the dark nature of her fiction.

26. The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel

Fans of Into the Wild and The Lost City of Z will find their next adventure fix in this 2017 book about Christopher Knight, a man who lived by himself in the Maine woods for almost thirty years. The tale of this so-called “last true hermit” will captivate readers who have always fantasized about escaping society, with vivid descriptions of Knight’s rural setup, his carefully calculated moves and how he managed to survive the deadly cold of the Maine winters.

27. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

The man, the myth, the legend: Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple, is properly immortalized in Isaacson’s masterful biography. It divulges the details of Jobs’ little-known childhood and tracks his fateful path from garage engineer to leader of one of the largest tech companies in the world — not to mention his formative role in other legendary companies like Pixar, and indeed within the Silicon Valley ecosystem as a whole.

28. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

Olympic runner Louis Zamperini was just twenty-six when his US Army bomber crashed and burned in the Pacific, leaving him and two other men afloat on a raft for forty-seven days — only to be captured by the Japanese Navy and tortured as a POW for the next two and a half years. In this gripping biography, Laura Hillenbrand tracks Zamperini’s story from beginning to end… including how he embraced Christian evangelism as a means of recovery, and even came to forgive his tormentors in his later years.

29. Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) by Stacy Schiff

Everyone knows of Vladimir Nabokov — but what about his wife, Vera, whom he called “the best-humored woman I have ever known”? According to Schiff, she was a genius in her own right, supporting Vladimir not only as his partner, but also as his all-around editor and translator. And she kept up that trademark humor throughout it all, inspiring her husband’s work and injecting some of her own creative flair into it along the way.

30. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt

William Shakespeare is a notoriously slippery historical figure — no one really knows when he was born, what he looked like, or how many plays he wrote. But that didn’t stop Stephen Greenblatt, who in 2004 turned out this magnificently detailed biography of the Bard: a series of imaginative reenactments of his writing process, and insights on how the social and political ideals of the time would have influenced him. Indeed, no one exists in a vacuum, not even Shakespeare — hence the conscious depiction of him in this book as a “will in the world,” rather than an isolated writer shut up in his own musty study.

If you're looking for more inspiring nonfiction, check out this list of 30 engaging self-help books , or this list of the last century's best memoirs !

Continue reading

More posts from across the blog.

30 Best Memoirs of the Last Century

Whether you're looking to travel back in time or journey out to the frontiers of the latest thinking, we've got you covered with the 30 best memoirs from the last one hundred years.

70 Best Coming-of-Age Books of All Time

Everybody has to grow up sometime — and the books on this list show that it can happen in surprising ways. We’ve hand-picked the very best of the genre to bring you seventy must-read coming-of-age books.

A Guide to Gothic Literature: The Top 10 Books You Have to Read

Gothic literature has been haunting readers for centuries. Here's a guide to the genre's captivating history and key elements, along with the essential list of ten entrancing Gothic tales.

Heard about Reedsy Discovery?

Trust real people, not robots, to give you book recommendations.

Or sign up with an

Or sign up with your social account

• Submit your book
• Reviewer directory

We made a writing app for you

Yes, you! Write. Format. Export for ebook and print. 100% free, always.

James Bond’s creator lived a life to rival the spy’s

• Show more sharing options
• Copy Link URL Copied!

Book Review

Ian Fleming: The Complete Man

By Nicholas Shakespeare Harper: 864 pages, $45 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org , whose fees support independent bookstores.

In Nicholas Shakespeare’s new biography of author Ian Fleming, James Bond arrives on the scene rather late. But there’s a good reason to delay focusing on the secret agent Fleming created: His life before Bond is far more interesting than what followed, and much of it would find its way into the books like “bullion,” Shakespeare writes, “to be cut into slices.”

Fleming didn’t publish “Casino Royale” — the novel that introduced Bond to the world — until 1953, when Fleming was 43. By that time, he had already lived multiple lives: as a war reporter, book collector, stockbroker, merchant banker, naval intelligence operative. Fleming may have been staring at a blank page in 1953, but his advance work was abundant: His own thrill-seeking life would become the raw material of his remunerative popular art.

Shakespeare, a British novelist and the author of a biography of English writer Bruce Chatwin, is the first Fleming biographer to get his hands on just about everything Fleming wrote, which helps to make this biography somehow both capacious and breathlessly entertaining. He does a fine job of clearing up some of the hazier myths about Fleming’s tenure in British naval intelligence, even while much of that documentation remains classified. The subtitle of “Ian Fleming: The Complete Man” is apt: This is certainly the most three-dimensional portrait of a complex man who gamely tried to shore up the postwar morale of his beloved England with his fictional hero at a time when the Empire desperately needed it.

The photo that wrapped Marlon Brando’s homoerotic swagger in a tight leather jacket

A new book traces how a gender-bending image from 1953’s ‘The Wild One’ resonated far beyond American gay subculture.

March 27, 2024

Ian Fleming was to the manner born. His grandfather Robert was one of the wealthiest merchant bankers in 19th century England. Fleming lost his father, Val, in World War I, which might have given his overbearing mother, Eve, sufficient leverage to gain control over her son’s life. It didn’t work out that way.

He was, for a time, her reclamation project: a dropout at Eton College and then a bust at Sandhurst Military Academy. He tried on a few mainstream white-collar jobs, but his short career as a stockbroker was mostly long lunches and minimal trade orders.

Fleming found his metier when Eve smoothed the way for him to work as a cub reporter at Reuters news service. As Shakespeare shows us time and again, Fleming was blessed with great timing. Dispatched to Stalin’s Russia in 1933 to cover a sensational corporate fraud trial whose docket included saboteurs and double agents, Fleming returned to England entranced with state secrets and the business of intelligence. The assignment changed the course of his life.

How 3 shades of jazz swirled together in 1959 to make ‘Kind of Blue’

James Kaplan’s triple biography weaves together ‘3 Shades of Blue’ in the backstories of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Bill Evans at the height of jazz’s cultural sway.

March 8, 2024

Through his contacts, Fleming finagled an interview with Admiral John Godfrey, the head of Naval Intelligence Division, in the hopes of pivoting into a career as a spycatcher. Again, good timing: As it happened, Godfrey was looking for a factotum. Fleming was hired as Godfrey’s assistant, but he had his boss’ ear in short order, bursting with ideas on how to fool Germany into coughing up the secrets of its supply routes, its combat readiness, its imminent military offensives. For the division, Fleming became the man with the golden mind.

Rumors about Fleming’s war heroics have swirled since the author’s death in 1964; what’s remarkable is that, by Shakespeare’s estimation, most of those outlandish rumors seem to be true. Fleming did spy on German military leaders with cameras and microphones, among other skulduggery. He was not only a crucial conduit during the war between the Naval Intelligence Division and the Americans’ Office of Strategic Services but also, according to Shakespeare, helped to create the organizational template for what became the Central Intelligence Agency. Shakespeare credits Fleming, a “seductive and persuasive force who … could achieve things not always recorded on paper,” with selling the OSS on the British model of intelligence gathering, thus sowing the seeds for a crucial partnership that helped the allies win the war.

All this, and Fleming had yet to write Agent 007 into existence. But Bond was on a slow simmer. When Churchill invited ideas from naval intelligence as to how the British might contain Hitler in the Mediterranean, Fleming’s pitch was pure 007: Line a cave on the southern coast with thick cork for quiet, then throw a wireless radio and some men inside to monitor German ship movements.

In 1942, Fleming convinced Admiral Godfrey to give him his own assault unit, whose remit included capturing German state secrets before the Germans destroyed them. Now Fleming found himself in the center of the action, his dispatches providing crucial intel for the Allies’ most ambitious offensives, including the Normandy landings that liberated Western Europe. There was also contact with Bletchley Park and the great “Enigma Machine” codebreaker Alan Turing, but Fleming’s ideas for intelligence retrieval were either too dangerous or too absurd to contemplate. Fleming stored it all up for later use in his fiction, when he “would execute in modern form those plans which (he) had conceived against the Nazis.”

Somehow Fleming, this “war-winner” as Godfrey came to call him, made time for relationships. Unlike Bond, who treats women like beach towels to be discarded after use, Fleming found and lost love, a libertine always in search of more than sex. He cultivated female patrons; one such friend, Maud Russell, supplied the funds for Fleming to build his Goldeneye compound on Jamaica’s northern coast. His marriage was troubled; Ann Fleming was a social climber who hosted literary salons and spent Fleming’s money lavishly. But Ann was the spur for Fleming to write his first Bond book; she was confident her husband could produce something great.

What finally made Fleming pick up his pen? He was mourning the decline of the Empire after the war; it was crumbling away one territory at a time. He also was stunned by the revelation that two MI6 agents had defected in 1951 as Russian spies, that his beloved British intelligence had been breached by an enemy in the most humiliating fashion. The Crown was corroding; James Bond would restore the national character by dint of his total dominion over evil, defeating the Red Menace one ghastly villain at a time. If Fleming’s Navy blues no longer fit him, he would have Bond suit up as his proxy.

Despite the runaway success of “Casino Royale,” the James Bond movie franchise was slow to gestate. By the early 1960s, Fleming’s 70-cigarettes-a-day habit had caught up with him. He suffered a devastating heart attack while embroiled in a nasty plagiarism lawsuit. There was also the matter of gradually declining sales for the Bond books, to the point where Fleming was eager to kill off his hero and move on. But then President Kennedy told a Life magazine reporter that “From Russia, With Love” was one of his favorite books, and Fleming could no longer dispose of Bond even if he tried.

What came next was 27 films that have grossed more than $7 billion. Fleming lived long enough to see only two of the films produced.

Marc Weingarten is the author of “Thirsty: William Mulholland, California Water, and the Real Chinatown.”

More to Read

The canonized and vilified Capt. James Cook is ready for a reassessment

April 2, 2024

Espionage fiction writers pick their favorite fictional spies

Feb. 27, 2024

Pamela Salem, British actor who played James Bond secretary Miss Moneypenny, dies at 80

Feb. 23, 2024

A cure for the common opinion

Get thought-provoking perspectives with our weekly newsletter.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

More From the Los Angeles Times

Lionel Shriver airs grievances by reimagining American society

April 8, 2024

How people of color carry the burden of untold stories

April 3, 2024

10 books to add to your reading list in April

April 1, 2024

How many lives can one author live? In new short stories, Amor Towles invites us along for the ride

March 29, 2024

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

Cole brings plenty, ‘1923’ actor, found dead at 27 after being reported missing.

The actor's uncle Mo Brings Plenty, who also stars in 'Yellowstone,' took to social media earlier this week to ask the public for assistance finding him.

By Carly Thomas

Carly Thomas

Associate Editor

• Share this article on Facebook
• Share this article on Twitter
• Share this article on Flipboard
• Share this article on Email
• Show additional share options
• Share this article on Linkedin
• Share this article on Pinit
• Share this article on Reddit
• Share this article on Tumblr
• Share this article on Whatsapp
• Share this article on Print
• Share this article on Comment

Cole Brings Plenty, an actor in Paramount+’s  1923 who was reported missing earlier this week, has died. He was 27.

The sheriff’s office in Johnson County, Kansas, shared in a news release that deputies were called to Homestead Lane at approximately 11:45 a.m. Friday in reference to an unoccupied vehicle. Authorities said they were searching the area when they “discovered a deceased male in a wooded area away from the vehicle,” who was later identified as Cole.

Related Stories

Adrian schiller, star of 'the last kingdom,' dies at 60, firehouse frontman c.j. snare, who had hits in the '90s including "love of a lifetime," dies at 64.

On Tuesday, Cole’s uncle Mo Brings Plenty, who also stars in Yellowstone , took to Instagram to ask the public for assistance finding the actor who hadn’t been seen since Sunday in Kansas. The Lawrence Police Department confirmed that he was wanted following an alleged domestic violence incident on March 31.

According to police, officers responded to reports of a female screaming for help on Sunday at an apartment but before they arrived at the scene the suspect had already fled on foot. Authorities said traffic cameras identified Cole as the fleeing suspect, which led police to submit an affidavit to the local district attorney for the arrest of Cole following the incident. “We’ve identified him as the suspect, have probable cause for his arrest, and issued an alert to area agencies,” the Lawrence Police Department wrote in a release on Tuesday.

Authorities in Lawrence have since updated that they’re also at the scene in Johnson County “supporting family and investigators” following Cole’s death.

Later on Friday, Mo took to his social media to share this statement from Cole’s father Joe Brings Plenty Sr. and family : “I am deeply saddened to confirm that my son, Cole, has been found and is no longer with us. We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to everyone for the prayers and positive thoughts you sent for Cole. We would also like to thank everyone who came to walk beside us as we searched for my son and provided the resources we needed to expand our search areas. I learned this week how many people knew the goodness in Cole’s heart and loved him.”

Mo had also continued to post on social media throughout the week, asking fans to be on the lookout for Cole. His Instagram post on Thursday said, “We want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone in the community who has contributed their time, resources, and support in helping us search for the missing person. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed, and we are truly thankful for your cooperation and dedication during this challenging time.”

Cole appeared in two episodes of the  Yellowstone  prequel series  1923 last year, as well as in the shows  Into the Wild Frontier  and  The Tall Tales of Jim Bridger .

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Emmys predictions via the feinberg forecast: scott’s first read of 26 categories, ‘tokyo vice’: fan-favorite star unpacks season 2 finale fate and future, tv ratings: ncaa women’s final sets another record, ‘hacks’ star hannah einbinder sets max stand-up special (exclusive), luke bryan says katy perry’s ‘american idol’ exit wasn’t a “huge shock”, national hispanic media coalition releases its first-ever media guide for storytellers (exclusive).

Morning Rundown: Special counsel says history 'refutes' Trump argument, lawyer kills ex-daughter-in-law in deposition, and the most stunning images from the eclipse

RFK Jr. staffer notes how he could block Biden by sending the race to the House

A campaign staffer working for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s independent presidential bid recently raised the prospect of blocking President Joe Biden from being re-elected by sending the election to the House of Representatives, where House members could elect former President Donald Trump, instead.

Rita Palma, a  longtime New York-based critic  of vaccination mandates, appears in a recently uploaded video to be giving a presentation aimed at persuading Republican voters to help Kennedy qualify for the state’s presidential ballot this fall. She identifies herself in the video as the campaign’s New York state director, though the campaign said Monday that she is a "ballot access consultant" and that her comments don't reflect overall campaign strategy.

In those comments, Palma says that she knocked on doors for Trump's campaigns in 2016 and 2020 and has "more Trump T-shirts than I do Bobby Kennedy T-shirts" but that Trump "lost" her because of "the vaccines."

Palma goes on to declare Biden the "mutual enemy" of the Trump and Kennedy voter and says her "No. 1 priority" is depriving Biden of his re-election, not helping Kennedy win.

"Whether you support Bobby or Trump, we all oppose Biden. And my thoughts are that, you know, that’s the No. 1 priority in the country," she says in the video.

And she outlines a specific way to do just that. While national Democrats focus on cutting Kennedy down in key swing states that typically decide elections, Palma pitches the prospect of depriving Biden of wins in blue states like New York. That, according to Palma, could keep both Trump and Biden short of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidential election, leaving the choice to the currently GOP-controlled House, which she says would choose Trump.

In a statement, Kennedy campaign manager Amaryllis Fox described Palma as a "ballot access consultant responsible for scheduling volunteer shifts for our upcoming signature collection drive in the Empire State" and said it should be no surprise that different Kennedy backers come from different ends of the ideological spectrum.

“As an independent movement, our supporters, volunteers, and field organizers come from all sides of the political spectrum and their reasons for supporting Mr. Kennedy are as disparate as their backgrounds,” the campaign statement said.

“She is not involved in electoral strategy, nationally or in New York. This was not a campaign event. Palma was speaking as a private citizen and her statements in no way reflect the strategy of the Kennedy campaign, which is to win the White House with votes from former Trump and Biden supporters alike," the statement continued.

The video once again highlights how the presence of Kennedy and other third-party contenders in the presidential election could scramble the outcome. Previously, NBC News reported that No Labels last year was floating the prospect of its presidential efforts ’ sending the election to the House . The organization ultimately decided not to field a ticket .

In the video, Palma describes her outlook: "I’m going to vote for Bobby. However, if Trump — if I wake up Nov. 6 and Trump wins, I’m not going to be overly upset. But if Biden wins, we’re all going to be terribly upset, because he’s ruining America, and the people that control him are ruining our country. "

She called her blue-state 2024 strategy "Make Your Republican Vote Count," one she said she started preaching well before she joined the Kennedy campaign.

"If Republicans accepted the fact that New York, Maryland, Illinois, California, New Jersey, Connecticut, most of the Northeast is going to go blue, why wouldn’t we put our vote to Bobby and at least get rid of Biden and ... give those 28 electoral votes [in New York] to Bobby rather than to Biden?" Palma says in the video.

"If it's a Republican Congress, they'll pick Trump, so we're rid of Biden," she says.

"All we need is, like, four blue states and there's no way he can get in," she adds, speaking about Biden.

As she speaks, Palma stands in front of a slideshow that outlines a path to "block Biden from winning the presidency #1 priority," which includes both supporting Kennedy and also "Go to Pennsylvania to help Trump."

CNN first reported on the existence of the video , a truncated version of which has been making the rounds on social media Monday and drawing criticism from Democrats .

NBC News obtained a 36-minute version of the video from a source who downloaded it before it was deleted from YouTube. The source said the YouTube description for the video said it took place at a church in Poughkeepsie and was uploaded Friday. The video has a small handful of cuts in it, but it includes fuller conversation than the short version published to social media Monday, and it includes a question-and-answer session with attendees.

Palma confirmed the authenticity of the video to CNN. She requested that NBC News send her questions by text message and hadn't yet replied to a request for comment.

In the video, Palma says that when the Kennedy campaign hired her, she told it she wouldn't stop making this specific appeal, admitting it is an "unusual campaign message."

"If I’m allowed to preach that, if I’m allowed to, you know, get that message out there, then yeah, I will definitely work for the campaign. But I don’t want to be restricted in what I say, because I think this is a really winning strategy," she says she told the person hiring her for a role on the campaign.

"And my boss said, well, OK, you know, you have to. He suggested I isolate it to certain markets, which of course I do. I don't go into Manhattan talking about this," Palma says.

Fox, the Kennedy campaign manager, added in her statement that it's "looking into whether any misrepresentations were made."

"Our campaign champions freedom of speech for all our supporters, volunteers, contractors and staff, as long as they do not claim to speak on our behalf," she continued.

Palma also didn’t answer a question from NBC News about whether she's serving as the New York state director, as she claims in the video, or as a ballot access consultant, as the campaign claims. She's listed as attending a "private reception" for donors in Melville, New York, featuring Kennedy later this month.

Ben Kamisar is a deputy political editor in NBC's Political Unit. 

Katherine Koretski is a 2024 NBC News campaign embed.

• April 9, 2024 | The Latest Fact Checks curated by Media Bias Fact Check 04/09/2024
• April 9, 2024 | Daily Source Bias Check: Fairport Educational Alliance
• April 8, 2024 | The Latest Fact Checks curated by Media Bias Fact Check 04/08/2024
• April 8, 2024 | Daily Source Bias Check: Irvine Times
• April 7, 2024 | The Latest Fact Checks curated by Media Bias Fact Check 04/07/2024 (Weekend Edition)

Biography (A&E) – Bias and Credibility

Least biased.

These sources have minimal bias and use very few loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by appeals to emotion or stereotypes).  The reporting is factual and usually sourced.  These are the most credible media sources.  See all Least Biased Sources.

• Overall, we rate biography.com Least Biased based on minimal editorializing. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.

Detailed Report

Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED Factual Reporting: HIGH Country: USA Press Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE Media Type: Website Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY

In 1987 A&E launched Biography as a documentary TV Series that depicts the life of notable people. According to Deadline , in 2013, A&E Networks rebranded the Bio Channel to Lifestyle Channel “FYI.” In 2014 A&E Networks and Say Media partnered, and currently, Biography.com serves as a website portal for the series. Paul Buccieri is the President & Chairman of A+E Networks Group.

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

A&E Television Networks, a joint venture of The Hearst Corporation , The Walt Disney Company, and ABC TV group, owns and publishes the Biography website through San Francisco-based SAY Media (video advertising company). Hearst corporation also owns newspapers, magazines, and TV channels; for example, Hearst owns the San Francisco Chronicle , the Houston Chronicle , Cosmopolitan , and Esquire . Advertising generates revenue.

Analysis / Bias

In review, Biography publishes information on the lives and careers of “notable figures in the history of entertainment, sports, arts, science, politics, and warfare” Biography.com editors typically specialize in entertainment and celebrity journalism.

When publishing biographies, Biography.com often sources to itself and the History Channel, which is part of A+E Network here or A&E here . A&E and the History Channel tend to interview people close to the subject to give their perspective on the person; therefore, generally, the biographies are reported factually and with minimal bias. For example, when covering political figures such as Donald Trump Jr. , they provide examples of his controversies, like meeting with the Russians but do editorialize the content. In general, there is little bias, and all information is sourced correctly.

Failed Fact Checks

• None in the Last 5 years. They are used as a reference by IFCN fact-checkers.

Overall, we rate biography.com Least Biased based on minimal editorializing. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record. (M. Huitsing 06/01/2022)

Source: https://www.biography.com/

Last Updated on May 14, 2023 by Media Bias Fact Check

Do you appreciate our work? Please consider one of the following ways to sustain us.

MBFC Ad-Free 

MBFC Donation

Left vs. Right Bias: How we rate the bias of media sources

Explore Similar Sources:

• Age of Autism – Bias and Credibility
• Bellingcat – Bias and Credibility
• Bellingham Herald – Bias and Credibility
• AgDaily – Bias and Credibility
• Biology of Sex Differences Journal – Bias and Credibility

Support our mission - ad-free browsing & exclusive content. If you value our work, consider becoming a member.

New membership plans available.

Every contribution counts

Never see this message again

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Margaret Tynes, Soprano Who Soared in Verdi and Strauss, Dies at 104

Because there were few opportunities for Black singers in the U.S., she began performing in Europe, where she was praised for her work in “Tosca,” “Carmen” and other operas.

By Adam Nossiter

Margaret Tynes, an American soprano who was acclaimed in Europe but neglected in the United States at a time when Black singers were newly breaking into the operatic world, died on March 7 in Silver Spring, Md. She was 104.

Her nephew Richard Roberts confirmed the death, in a nursing home.

In the 1960s and ’70s Ms. Tynes’s incendiary, full-throated voice was heard in roles like Aida and Salomé at opera houses in Vienna, Prague and Budapest, earning high praise on the continent — “an exceptional voice, intense in every coloring, vibrant and dramatic,” the Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera newspaper wrote — even while U.S. critics were cooler.

Reviewing her performance in Benjamin Britten’s “The War Requiem,” the Süddeutsche Zeitung of Munich wrote, “What Britten expects of a woman’s voice can only be achieved by a singer of Margaret Tynes’s caliber.”

But she did not make her Metropolitan Opera debut until 1974, when she was 55, in a run of three performances in the title role of Janacek’s “Jenufa.” That run both began and ended her career there.

Ms. Tynes grew up in the segregated South and gained a measure of American fame in the 1950s — recording “A Drum Is a Woman” with Duke Ellington, singing heartfelt renditions of “Negro spirituals” on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and appearing with Harry Belafonte in the musical “Sing, Man, Sing.” She also sang at the funeral of W.C. Handy, the musician known as “the father of the blues,” and toured the U.S.S.R. with Mr. Sullivan’s show in 1958.

Her breakthrough in opera, the genre that defined her career, came in Europe in 1961, when she sang Salomé in Luchino Visconti’s production at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. Time magazine described her as “moving about the stage with catlike grace, her rich, ringing voice zooming with ease through the high, precarious lines,” and as a “girl with veins of fire.”

American opera would prove to be a tougher hurdle for Ms. Tynes.

In the history of Black American opera singers, Ms. Tynes was “from a lost generation,” Naomi André , a University of North Carolina musicologist and opera specialist, said in an interview.

Born 22 years after Marian Anderson , who did not make her debut at the Metropolitan Opera until age 57 in 1955, Ms. Tynes was nonetheless older than Black opera stars like Leontyne Price, Grace Bumbry, Shirley Verrett and Jessye Norman .

Those singers entered their prime as the marches and demonstrations of the civil rights movement were bringing down racial barriers. Ms. Tynes, by contrast, was already in Europe.

She was thus “an interesting bridge” between Ms. Anderson and the newer generation of Black opera singers, said Ms. André, who has written about Black opera singers. Ms. André noted that Ms. Tynes, her neglect notwithstanding, had an “incredible” voice, and suggested that her success in Europe was a testimony to her singular talent.

Her one major recital on disk, a blistering collection of arias by Verdi and Richard Strauss, was released by the Qualiton label in Hungary in 1962. In a 2021 episode of the podcast “Counter Melody” that was devoted to her, the American singer Daniel Gundlach noted that Ms. Tynes reached the sulfurous high C of the Aida aria “O Patria Mia” with ease.

A recording of Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater” earned a favorable review in 1972 in Gramophone magazine, where she was praised for her “creamy-voiced soprano,” though the publication said she “sounds uneasy in the high notes” and “is not always exact in pitch.”

But her major recordings, though hardly widely known, have earned unstinted praise from connoisseurs. In an email, Peter Clark, the former archivist at the Metropolitan Opera, called them “impressive singing by any standard,” adding, “Her expressivity and dramatic involvement is exciting to hear.”

In the 1960s and ’70s, Ms. Tynes sang for seven seasons with the State Opera in Vienna, for eight seasons with opera companies in Prague and Budapest, and in Barcelona for another four, according to Mr. Roberts and the singer Kevin Thompson , a friend of Ms. Tynes’s. “Once she was invited to perform in Europe, her skill and recognition grew,” Mr. Roberts said.

She was seen in “Norma,” “Tosca” and “Carmen” and played Lady Macbeth in Verdi, as well as Leonora in “La Forza del Destino,” among other roles. In Hungary and Czechoslovakia, she was always “greeted quite warmly,” Mr. Roberts recalled. The Budapest weekly Film Szinhaz Muzsika (Film Theater Music) said of her Aida performances, “She is a rare, singular phenomenon on the operatic stage.”

The reception was different in the United States. Of her performance at the Met, the New York Times critic Donal Henahan wrote: “It would be pleasant to be able to report that Miss Tynes, an American soprano who has had considerable success in European houses, swept all before her. Unfortunately, she seemed seriously miscast, and only intermittently could one detect real quality in the voice or much evidence of dramatic grasp.”

Ms. Tynes was unfazed by her foreshortened U.S. career, Mr. Roberts said, because “the path to performance in Europe was so well paved.” In her era, Mr. Thompson said, “you had to go to Europe,” adding that “racism is real.” She continued to perform into her 70s.

Margaret Elinor Tynes was born on Sept. 11, 1919, in Saluda, a small town in east Virginia, one of 10 children of Joseph Walter Tynes, a pastor at Providence Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., and Lucy (Rich) Tynes, a schoolteacher. Ms. Tynes grew up in Greensboro, sang in the church choir and had won a singing competition by the age of 6.

She attended Dudley High School in Greensboro and earned a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in 1939 and a master’s degree in music education from Columbia University in 1944. Her first break came in 1946 when she sang Bess for a U.S.O. (United Service Organizations) production of “Porgy and Bess.”

In 1961, she married Hans von Klier, a German aristocrat and industrial designer. They lived in Milan and on Lake Garda until his death in 2000, when she moved back to the United States.

She is survived by nieces and nephews, including Mr. Roberts, a retired federal judge.

Whether her U.S. career was stymied for racial reasons, “I never heard Aunt Margaret complain she had doors slammed in her face,” Mr. Roberts said. “I remember her saying she went from opportunity to opportunity.”

Adam Nossiter has been bureau chief in Kabul, Paris, West Africa and New Orleans, and is now a Domestic Correspondent on the Obituaries desk. More about Adam Nossiter

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes

Yellowstone spinoff actor Cole Brings Plenty found dead at 27 after going missing

The "1923" actor had been sought by Kansas police in connection with an alleged domestic violence incident.

Cole Brings Plenty, the actor known for appearing on the Yellowstone prequel series 1923 , has been found dead at 27 after going missing and being sought by Kansas police in connection with an alleged domestic violence incident.

The Johnson County Sheriff's said in a news release Friday that deputies had been dispatched to an unoccupied vehicle in the area of 200th and Homestead Lane. "Deputies checked the area and discovered a deceased male in a wooded area away from the vehicle," authorities said. "The deceased male has been identified as Cole Brings Plenty, 27."

Investigators and the medical examiner were on the scene Friday afternoon, and the investigation is ongoing. A spokesperson for the sheriff's office told Entertainment Weekly that no additional information was available.

"I am deeply saddened to confirm that my son, Cole, has been found and is no longer with us," said Joe Brings Plenty Sr., Cole's father, in a statement to EW on Friday evening. "We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to everyone for the prayers and positive thoughts you sent for Cole. We would also like to thank everyone who came to walk beside us as we searched for my son and provided the resources we needed to expand our search areas. I learned this week how many people knew the goodness in Cole’s heart and loved him. During this incredibly difficult time, we ask for privacy as we process our grief and figure out how we move forward. Please know we appreciate you and appreciate your understanding,

Frazer Harrison/Getty

On Tuesday, the the Lawrence Police Department announced that it had "submitted an affidavit to the District Attorney for the arrest of Cole Brings Plenty after an incident Sunday morning at an apartment in Lawrence. We've identified him as the suspect, have probable cause for his arrest, and issued an alert to area agencies."

The department said that officers initially responded to reports of a woman screaming for help, but the suspect fled before they arrived at the scene. Because the matter involved an allegation of domestic violence, authorities did not provide further details so as to protect the alleged victim.

Brings Plenty's family members, including his uncle Moses Brings Plenty — a fellow actor who plays Mo on  Yellowstone  — had also reported Cole as a missing person and sought help finding him on social media .

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

Michelle Shining Elk, a spokesperson for the Brings Plenty family, said Wednesday in a statement to EW that they had been unable to contact Cole, and that his disappearance was "uncharacteristic" and "deeply concerning," but urged the public not to jump to conclusions. "Regardless of the speculations, concrete evidence that Cole is on the run does not exist, and we urge everyone to refrain from making unfounded claims," the statement said. "We must allow the legal system to determine truth and justice — assigning guilt because someone is missing is not helpful to either party or the due process to which each of us has a right."

In addition to playing sheep herder Pete Plenty Clouds in two episodes of 1923 , Brings Plenty's TV credits included The Tall Tales of Jim Bridger and Into the Wild Frontier .

Related content:

• Yellowstone spinoff actor Cole Brings Plenty sought by police after alleged domestic violence incident
• 1923  star Aminah Nieves on Teonna's journey and telling Indigenous stories: 'We're still here'
• Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren go back in time in new  1923  photos

Related Articles

Rev. Cecil ‘Chip’ Murray, voice of calm during L.A. riots, dies at 94

He presided for nearly three decades over the first african methodist episcopal church in south los angeles, which was at the epicenter of the 1992 unrest.

The Rev. Cecil “Chip” Murray, a preacher who helped cool the fury that exploded across much of Los Angeles during its 1992 riots and later helped lead the city’s recovery through church-based initiatives to address racial and economic inequities, died April 5 at his home near Los Angeles. He was 94.

The death, in the View Park-Windsor Hills area of Los Angeles County, was announced by the University of Southern California Center for Religion and Civic Culture.

For nearly three decades, Rev. Murray presided over the city’s oldest Black congregation, the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Los Angeles, turning a struggling community into an 18,000-member powerhouse that attracted politicians and celebrities and channeled millions of dollars into the poor, largely African American and Latino neighborhoods surrounding it.

When those neighborhoods boiled over on April 29, 1992, a few hours after a mostly White jury acquitted four Los Angeles Police Department officers in the videotaped beating of Black motorist Rodney G. King , members of the news media from across the country flocked to First AME Church, bringing national prominence to its charismatic pastor known for his commanding baritone and bristly eloquence.

The spotlight fell on First AME in part because it was situated at the epicenter of the riots. But it was also the spiritual home of Tom Bradley , the city’s first Black mayor, who had agreed to convene a prayer rally at the church when the verdicts in the police brutality case were announced.

Rev. Murray turned First AME, founded in 1872 by a former enslaved person, into a 24-hour command post and refuge that would shelter and feed thousands of displaced residents during and after the worst violence the city had seen since the 1965 Watts riots.

He had used his pulpit to warn against self-destruction: “If you’re going to burn something down, don’t burn down the houses of the victims, brother!” he exhorted before the verdicts were delivered. “Burn down the legislature! Burn down the courtroom! Burn it down by voting, brother!”

A few days later, he wept when he saw much of the city on fire. His philosophy that the church had to operate “beyond the walls of the sanctuary” was quickly put to the test.

When he heard that firefighters were afraid to answer a call to save a South Los Angeles landmark — the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building, which was designed by revered Black architect Paul R. Williams — he mobilized 100 volunteers into a peacekeeping and arbitration force. Made up of parishioners and pastors in their best church clothes, the group linked arms and shielded the firefighters from a mob.

Later that night, Rev. Murray and his followers intercepted a group of police officers in riot gear. Rioters were throwing rocks and bottles, some of which hit the peacekeepers. When the officers ignored Rev. Murray’s pleas to back off, the pastor ordered his crew to line up with the crowd and face the police with them.

“When we turned to face the police, the rock-throwing stopped and the crowd went away,” recalled the Rev. Mark Whitlock, who worked under Rev. Murray at First AME and went on to head the Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement at the University of Southern California. “Cecil Murray had emotional intelligence. He’d trust his instincts and defuse a really bad situation.”

Rev. Murray offered an unsparing analysis of the causes and consequences of the violence, which left more than 50 people dead and caused $1 billion in property damage. From his pulpit, he denounced rioters who harmed their own community as well as the discriminatory institutions and systems that let them down.

“Maybe the record will show we didn’t set most of those fires. But we do have to confess we set some of those fires, to our shame,” he told parishioners in his first Sunday sermon after the unrest began.

“We are not proud that we set those fires, but we’d like to make a distinction to America this morning: the difference between setting a fire and starting a fire. We set some of those fires,” he said, “but we didn’t start any of those fires.”

When the rebuilding effort began, Rev. Murray tapped government agencies and corporate donors such as Arco and Disney for millions of dollars to launch an economic development program, FAME Renaissance.

The initiative created 4,000 jobs, 300 new homeowners and 500 new businesses, according to Whitlock, who headed the effort. Under Rev. Murray, he said, the church “became this fueling station and social service agency that really helped heal the city.”

In 2004, Rev. Murray retired as pastor and joined USC as the John R. Tansey chair of Christian ethics. In 2012, the university created the center named for him that helps faith leaders tackle social problems in their communities.

Cecil Murray was born in Lakeland, Fla., on Sept. 26, 1929, the second of three siblings. He grew up in West Palm Beach, Fla., after his mother died and his father, a high school principal, remarried.

He was a teenager when he saw his father — “the most fearless person I knew,” he later said — confront three Whites harassing indigent Black people for collecting food handouts. The Whites reacted with their fists, leaving Rev. Murray, his brother and their father battered and bloody.

After the encounter, the elder Murray dabbed his wounds to make with his sons a blood oath that they would always love and protect Black people.

Years after that episode, a tragic accident brought Rev. Murray to the second major turning point in his life.

In 1951, he received a history degree from Florida A&M University, a historically Black institution in Tallahassee, and embarked on an Air Force career.

He married the former Bernadine Cousin, a schoolteacher, in 1958. She died in 2013. Survivors include a son, Drew.

He was serving as a radar interceptor and navigator at an air base in Oxnard, Calif., in 1958 when his fighter jet crashed after takeoff, trapping him inside the damaged plane. He described feeling a force guiding him as he methodically removed his bulky gear and squeezed through a small opening in the cockpit.

When he emerged he saw that the pilot had slipped into burning gasoline. Rev. Murray tried to smother the flames, but the man suffered burns across more than 90 percent of his body. Before he died, he summoned Rev. Murray to his bedside “just to thank me, just to tell me he loved me,” Rev. Murray, who was decorated for valor, recalled in a 1992 interview with the Los Angeles Times . “And he was this young White Southern guy from South Carolina, where racism was rife.”

Three years later, he left the Air Force to enroll at Claremont School of Theology in California, where he received a doctorate in religion in 1964. He was a pastor in Pomona, Calif.; Kansas City, Kan.; and Seattle before moving in 1977 to what was supposed to be a plum assignment in Los Angeles.

When he arrived at First AME, however, he discovered that the church was suffering from crushing debt and Sunday attendance that had dwindled to fewer than 300 elderly regulars. Rev. Murray quickly started to shake things up with an energetic preaching style. He replaced staid hymns with gospel music, which so riled many congregants that Rev. Murray would take off in his car after each of the morning services to avoid their disapprobation.

Eventually he turned the church’s attention outward, urging parishioners to join task forces addressing such ills as crime, homelessness, high dropout rates and unemployment.

“I tell them to hold the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other,” Rev. Murray told the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1995. “On Sunday, it’s about saving souls. But on Monday through Saturday, it’s about saving the community.”