Biography category: 101305 books

Henry VIII (SparkNotes Biography Guide) Making the reading experience fun! Created by Harvard students for students everywhere, SparkNotes is a new breed of study guide: smarter, better, faster. Geared to what today's students need to know, SparkNotes provides: chapter-by-chapter...

No American envoy has ever burst on the diplomatic scene and grabbed center stage in the theater of foreign relations like Madeleine Albright. Navigating difficult terrain as few can, Thomas Blood provides exclusive interviews with, and revealing anecdotes from, politicians, friends, adversaries,...

Michael Foot's two-volume biography of Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan (1897-1960) - arguably Britain's greatest socialist, indelibly associated with the founding of the National Health Service, - is one of the major political biographies of the last century. It is the life of an inspirational politician, written...

The separation from his mother at an early age appears to have left a permanent scar on young Isaac Newton that seemed to have followed him through the rest of his life. He never married or had any children and had but a few close friends. He would work frantically for days on end, seemingly without...

For a man that would be known the world over for his genius, Albert Einstein had a rather unimpressive childhood. It would not be until his mid-twenties that his insight into nature and its connection with mathematics became apparent. Working as a Swiss patent clerk, he would squirrel away his research...

Whether you are talking on your cell phone, watching your favorite television program, surfing the web, or using your GPS to guide you on a trip, these are all modern conveniences that were made possible by the foundational work of the nineteenth-century Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell. Though...

John Tyler holds the distinction of being the first president to take office due to the death of a sitting president. Tyler was thrust into office on the death of President William Henry Harrison in 1841 after being vice president for only a month. He was at home in Richmond when he got word of Harrison’s...

Serving the shortest presidential term in American history, William Henry Harrison never had the opportunity to demonstrate his skills as the chief executive. Like Andrew Jackson, Harrison was elected largely on the basis of his reputation as an Indian fighter and a successful major general in the...

A fierce personality with an iron will, Andrew Jackson was an important statesman who left a historic mark on the expansion and consolidation of the United States. Known among both his friends and his enemies as “Old Hickory,” after the hardwood tree, he rose to fame during the War of 1812, where...

John Adams was in some form of service to America for most of his adult life - serving as a representative to the Continental Congress, envoy to European nations, vice president and, finally, ending his political career as the second President of the United States. At only five foot seven, nearly...

In the movies we often see a scientist portrayed as a quiet and pious man or woman dressed in a white lab coat engrossed in deep thought. This image surely fits some; however, not the twentieth-century New Zealander Ernest Rutherford, or Lord Rutherford as he would be known later in life. He was born...

A “long-shot” or “underdog” would best describe the former governor of Tennessee, James Knox Polk, who had lost two reelection bids and now sought his party’s vice-presidential nomination. Events unfolded rapidly at the Democratic convention in the warm summer of 1844. James Polk had hoped...

During his long career, the English chemist and entrepreneur, Sir William Crookes, was able to make significant contributions to photography, chemistry, physics, agricultural science, public health, and scientific journalism. Historians of science have recognized Crookes for his brilliance as an experimental...

Margaret Thatcher was a British stateswoman and the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. From 1975 to 1990, she was the Leader of the Conservative Party. She was elected Prime Minister three times and served for 11 years, longer than any other British prime minister of the 20th century....