Ten Biographies Everyone Should Read

I know that biography is often seen as the red-headed step child of history but I find them fascinating. If you do too, Human Events has come out with a list of Ten American Biographies Everyone Should Read. They had a scholarly panel vote and here is what they came up with:

1. The Education of Henry Adams by Herny Adams.
2. Alexander Hamilton: A Biography by Forrest McDonald.
3. Witness by Whitaker Chambers.
4. The Life of George Washington by John Marshall.
5. Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates by Harry Jaffa.
6. The Sword of Imagination: Memoirs of a Half-Century of Literary Conflict by Russell Kirk.
7. Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant by Ulysses S. Grant.
8. R.E. Lee by Douglas Southall Freeman.
9. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass.
10. A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War by Harry Jaffa.

I must admit that I have only read 2 1/3 of the ten listed. I also think they are a little on the “heavy” side. But if you have the time and energy I amsure they would reward the effort.