#Biography Recommendations

[theseoblogspace]

Best Top Rated Biographies to Read Now

Summer is the perfect time to relax, unwind, and soak up the sun. And what better way to complement those lazy days than with a compelling book that takes you on a journey through someone else’s extraordinary life? Whether you’re lounging by the pool, enjoying a picnic in the park, or escaping into the shade of a cozy hammock, a top rated biography can transport you to different times and places,…

[virtualplushy]

when shirley jackson said, “the very nicest thing about being a writer is that you can afford to indulge yourself endlessly with oddness, and nobody can do anything about it, so long as you keep writing. all you have to do — and watch this carefully, please — is keep writing.”

[psykopaths]

A Beautiful Mind, (2001)

[ky07isk]

"Augustus - First Emperor Of Rome", Adrian Goldsworthy

Intriguing, captivating, objective.

A complete, beautifully written biography of one of the most influential figures of the ancient world.

It's the second work I read from Goldsworthy and it just proves his genius and mastery once again.

Truly amazing.

[deadpresidents]

Best books on Trump?

Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America by Maggie Haberman (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) Nobody is more plugged-in to Trump's world than Maggie Haberman, and she has been since he first announced he was running for President in 2015. She was one of the rare journalists who took him seriously from the beginning, and it gave her the unique access which results in some remarkable stories. Trump can't help but open up to her, even though he constantly attacks her for her coverage and has said some reprehensible things about her. I can't imagine how exhausted she is of being the Trump expert after almost ten years, and it isn't ending anytime soon.

The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021 by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) Peter Baker has covered the Presidency for over two decades and written excellent books about the past five Presidents. He continues to cover the White House for the New York Times and his frequent pieces analyzing contemporary Presidents in relation to Presidential history are always great. Susan Glasser is a longtime reporter for The New Yorker and is also fantastic with her coverage and has written several good books of her own. From time-to-time, Baker and Glasser, who have been married for years, team up to write a book and The Divider, like their incredible book about James Baker (The Man Who Ran Washington) shows how deep their connections are in Washington and American politics.

The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward's Twenty Interviews with President Donald Trump by Bob Woodward (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) Bob Woodward has written several books about Donald Trump's Presidency, and even before releasing this collection of twenty complete interviews with Trump, the legendary reporter who helped bring down Richard Nixon came to the conclusion that Trump was far more dangerous than Nixon and an undeniable threat to American democracy and the world order. Each of Woodward's other four books about or partially-focused on Trump (which are titled Fear, Rage, Peril, and War respectively -- which is not only appropriate, but might as well have been Trump's campaign slogan) are must-reads. But The Trump Tapes gives you Trump in his own, erratic, redundant, uncensored words full of lies and threats and insanity. It should frighten and repel people, but this is America where ignorance and intolerance openly reign, so instead this fucking country put Trump back in power, but with a mandate and full Congressional control this time. Ugh.

[cockroachesunite]

Mr ‘will jump overboard without a thought to rescue people’ meets the arctic

[borgialucrezia]

okay i know you've mentioned/answered this a million times but i would love to get your top recommendations for borgias published books and content.

i haven't really ventured into those selections but i really want to take the leap into that realm and buy/borrow some books and read them..!

(also i'm curious if you read many fanfictions for the borgias, and if so do you have any good recs?)

💞

hi <33! no worries at all! i love being asked questions about everything related to the borgias, as i get very enthusiastic about them. now, let's start with my favorite borgias biographies:

maria bellonci's 'lucrezia borgia' because i'm very obsessed with accuracy and avoiding cliché biased narratives. it's such a solid read really! it also portrays lucrezia in a way that i've always believed she was—a completely misunderstood woman who is a pawn in the power and ambition games of her father and brother. but deep down, she's just a silly, pretty poetry lover who's guilty by association. this book also debunks cesare's supposed "jealousy" towards juan as the shows how much he loves him (based on the letters to each other) and that rodrigo has always loved his children equally, which is a cherry on top lol.

emma lucas's 'lucrezia borgia.' while it's not entirely accurate because it satisfies my beloved (but not accurate) 'lucrezia is a femme fatale and not saintly' narrative (which i love, by the way), i'm fascinated by how it unexpectedly delves deep into her family, especially rodrigo, cesare, and juan. it also provides great anecdotes about the characters so there's that. despite having negative reviews, the biography is actually very well-written and highly entertaining! fuck the gossip!

christopher hibbert's 'the borgias and their enemies.' for some reason, i keep forgetting to recommend this book to my friends. i tend to get easily investedwith any borgia book that focuses on the pope and his children, providing narratives without forcing you to choose what to believe. the author obviously conducted extensive research before publishing it because when reading a biography (not historical fiction), i prefer to avoid biased perspectives that can be heavily misleading. i also appreciate the fact that machiavelli (and other important figures) plays an important role in this biography because i'm always excited about him.

ferdinand gregorovius' 'lucretia borgia according to original documents and correspondence of her day'. it's also a very unbiased excellent piece of history that is full of validated source. and i just adore how the author is pro-lucrezia as well.

samantha morris' 'cesare and lucrezia: brother and sister of history's most vilified family' is also well documented and well researched! while cesare was given more depth than lucrezia, still, lucrezia's character in this biography is more colorful. obviously the most popular narrative for the borgia family is them being incestuous, corrupt and violent, a family to be feared, but the author suggests otherwise as she sets out to prove this is not the full story and she does make a good argument! as she detailed how they've been portrayed by mainstream media as well as detailing what happened to their descendants.

sarah bradford's 'lucrezia borgia.' okay, so this one isn't a favorite of mine, but i'd recommend it to you or anyone who's a huge fan of ceslu. it's written like a love story biography exclusively about them. while i like how she wrote about ceslu, i heavily dislike how she wrote about juan and rodrigo and how she portrayed them based on narratives from the family's enemies. the author also manipulated a letter about the envoy boccaccio, which is supposed to praise both brothers. but instead, the author just one-upped him with cesare by dunking on him, which i personally find lame and intensely inaccurate since juan borgia was pretty much loved by his wife, his family, and his friends based on the retrieved documents and letters. that being said, i do enjoy the ceslu parts, of course, and i believe any fan of showtime's 'the borgias' who ships ceslu would enjoy this book and its fluent writing and can easily ignore the negatively inaccurate narratives about the other members of the family.

that's all for the biography books! now let's start with historical fiction:

sarah dunant's 'blood and beauty'. one thing about me is that i'm never gonna stop praising this book because it is absolutely my favorite historical fiction book about this extraordinary family! again, i get so invested in any book when the author does extensive research. also, if you're looking for a book about this family that reads like an episode of showtime's 'the borgias,' then this book is your go-to! full of interesting dynamics, and yes, cesare is as cruel and megalomaniacal as history and machiavelli portrayed him, lucrezia as a victim of her father and brother's political ambitions game, and juan as the flawed kid who was eventually sunk deep when he got dragged into his father's ambitions game. while the book doesn't provide a deeper exploration of the characters' psyche, it's more focused on the story by making it very engaging and sheds light on their complex relationships and their rise to power. and every character is highly sympathetic as the author brilliantly humanizes them. in short, it is emotionally intriguing and a must-read for the borgias enjoyers.

mario puzo's 'the family'. you know, i wasn't even surprised a bit that this book's writing and story being groundbreaking because after all, it is written by the author of 'the godfather'. the family is such a compelling book, such tender writing when it comes to lucrezia and cesare. the story becomes intriguing the more you read. i also loved puzo's portrayal of rodrigo as this family man who deeply loves his children yet he uses them as pawns (which is also similar to jeremy irons' portrayal). while i gotta criticize that the characters have no depth and his version of lucrezia as this damsel angel for her father and brother is, uhhh… quite boring. i like her when she's multilayered lol. i also think the way he tried to present cesare and give him the "from zero to hero" trope in order to make him relatable is also lame because cesare's success as a historical figure is because he was calculating and wicked, and definitely not a bitter loser. i mean, i could absolutely ignore the bitterness part, but at least françois arnaud's cesare added so many layers and swag in the characters, therefore you could ignore it. but i can overlook all that when there's an engaging story and great writing, no matter what the characterizations are like. so overall, it's impressive and entertaining, and you will definitely enjoy it.

regarding fanfiction; i'm sorry but i never read any because i feel quite satisfied by all 'the borgias' show canon that we have and all these historical books. i wish i could help with recommending fics :/

thank you very much for the question, and i hope this post answers it. have a great day 💕🫶

[archduchessofnowhere]

I bring you not very good news: Nancy Goldstone wrote a double biography on Elisabeth and Empress Eugenie, to be published on February 6 of next year.

After reading @vivelareine's review of Goldstone's book on Marie Antoinette I simply do not trust this author is a good researcher, and while I won't judge this book until it's out, I can't help but being very wary already. The synopsis alone doesn't give me much hope:

From the acclaimed author of In the Shadow of the Empress comes the thrilling chronicle of two of the most influential and glamorous women in nineteenth-century Europe—Elisabeth, empress of Austria, and Eugénie, empress of France—and their efforts to rule amid the scandal, intrigue, tragedy, and violence of their era.

When they married Emperors Franz Joseph and Napoleon III, respectively, Elisabeth of Austria and Eugénie of France became two of the most famous women on the planet. Not only were they both young and beautiful—becoming cultural and fashion icons of their time—but they played a pivotal role in ruling their realms during a tempestuous era characterized by unprecedented political and technological change.

Fearless, adventurous, and independent, Elisabeth and Eugénie represented a new kind of empress—one who rebelled against tradition and anticipated and embraced modern values. Yet both women endured hardship in their private and public lives. Elisabeth was plagued by a mother-in-law who snatched her infant children away and undermined her authority at court. Eugénie’s husband was an infamous philanderer who could not match the military prowess of his namesake. Between them, Elisabeth and Eugénie were personally involved in every major international confrontation in their turbulent century, which witnessed thrilling technological advances, as well as revolutions, assassinations, and wars.

With her characteristic in-depth research and jump-off-the-page writing, Nancy Goldstone brings to life these two remarkable women, as Europe goes through the convulsions that led up to the international landscape we recognize today.

You see, I don't think it's crazy to pair up Elisabeth and Eugenie in a biography if your focus is going to be their queenship. Because they were very different as empresses, and I'd love a comparative study on why and how was that possible. Yet the synopsis is implying they were similar? How was Elisabeth personally involved in every major international confrontation? She was only personally involved in the Compromise, every other event she only reacted to (if even). Meanwhile Eugenie actively tried to participate in the politics of France and influence her husband (successfully in many cases, I believe).

The "domineering mother-in-law" part also worries me. Unsere liebe Sisi's been out since 2008, there's no excuse to not give Sophie a more nuanced portrayal.

But well, authors usually don't write the synopsis of their books, so I won't read more into it than what I've done already. I truly hope this biography isn't terrible because we don't need to add one more book to the already giant pile of books about Elisabeth that are filled with myths and misinformation.

[marcusagrippa]

turns out i do Not have the clubber's temperament </3

[johntorrington]

according to roland huntford studying apsley cherry-garrard is feminine behavior. apparently.

[burningvelvet]

Sense you are my resident Byron expert, I was wondering if you've read Byron: The Flawed Angel by Phyllis Grosskurth. I haven't read it yet but a friend of mine recommended it.

I personally am reading Wildly Romantic by Catherine M Andronik. Haven't finished but I've liked what I've read so far

I don't think I've read the whole thing but I would firmly categorize it in the section of pop history Byron books (and therefore probably not entirely trustworthy to accurately assess a historical figure). From what I remember of it, I think the below quotation summarizes my thoughts.

From John Clubbe's 2002 article Byron in Our Time, published in The Byron Journal:

"What does Byron have to offer us in the new century? On the evidence of biographies that have appeared in recent years, SexPower--that is, predation, prowess, performance, deviations, titillations--would seem the compelling draw. Full-length lives--Phyllis Grosskurth's Byron: The Flawed Angel (1997), Benita Eisler's Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame (1999) and now Fiona MacCarthy's Byron: Life and Legend (2002)--rival each other in degrees of luridness and in the copious detail, some of it undocumented or mere surmise, in which they itemize and analyze Byron's amours with old and young, male and female, kith and kin. The authors' obsession with Byron's sex life seems more financially than intellectually driven; oddly, it is conjoined with censorious dislike of their subject. Even including sex, these books tell us little we did not know before. Why, except for sex, we should be interested in Byron today is beyond these authors' ability to grasp. Neglected when not forgotten completely in the three biographies are Byron's impressive feats as a writer, feats that for nearly two centuries have fired the hearts and souls of countless readers and shaped imaginative and political life in Britain, Europe, America, Japan, and elsewhere."

As an alternative to her book I recommend the books and resources that I list here in these posts:

https://www.tumblr.com/burningvelvet/698853736137768960/here-are-a-lot-of-the-biographical-sources-ive

https://www.tumblr.com/burningvelvet/716180738717925376/i-love-the-romantics-esp-2nd-gen-and-was

[admiralgiggles]

Books are really easy to get through when there are lots of pictures and the typeface is really big, like I could have read it without my glasses.

It also helps when the story is really interesting. Stephanie Johnson takes readers through the life and times of Tanqueray, her burlesque alter ego. She paints such a vivid picture, it felt like I was right there with her. If you’re looking for a really good and really quick read, check this one out!

[une-sanz-pluis]

Are there any biographies for Henry V that you would recommend? :)

Anne Curry's Henry V: From Playboy Prince to Warrior King is my go-to rec if you're looking for a good, solid overview of and introduction to Henry V's life and reign. My main issue with it is the length - since this is part of the Penguin Monarchs series, it's only 176 pages long, including index, notes and further reading. I would love Curry to write a full-length biography of Henry one day. If you want a more Agincourt-focused introduction to Henry, it's worth picking up Juliet Barker's Agincourt: The King, The Campaign, The Battle - it's pop history but a fairly solid one.

The standard biography of Henry is by Christopher Allmand. It's structured as half-biography, half-thematic analysis of Henry's kingship so it's definitely on the more academic side of things and the coverage of Henry's life is pretty brisk. It's very much worth reading but I don't think it's a good introduction to Henry.

My absolute favourite book on Henry, hands down, is Malcolm Vale's Henry V: The Conscience of a King, which is all about exploring Henry's kingship outside of the warrior king stuff. I would love Vale to write a more complete biography on Henry too.

I hope these recs are helpful. I've answered this question a couple of times so if you want more detail, you can check out the following posts. On this post, I've got a rundown of my favourite books on Henry V and my least favourites, while in this post, I give another rundown with more detail alongside recs for Henry's father and grandfather (Henry IV and John of Gaunt respectively).

[bijouxcarys]

Queen's Hot Space Era: A Deep Dive

Masterlist

I’ve been thinking over this album and era more than usual lately, and decided that I’d write this up. Perhaps as a way to extricate all the Queen knowledge from my head, and the era in question takes up quite a lot of RAM.

The Hot Space album, and era, is very controversial and to this day garners a polarising set of opinions amongst fans and critics alike. So I just thought what the hell, let’s let everyone know what the hell was going on with Queen in the early 80s.

The Hot Space album was the 10th studio album by Queen and was released on the 21st May 1982. It had elements of disco, funk, R&B, dance, and pop, which was very different to what Queen had been doing throughout previous albums. The dance elements of this album was supposedly inspired by the success of Another One Bites The Dust, released in 1980.

Another One Bites The Dust was extremely successful in the US and the UK, the two largest marketing countries in the Western world, at least at the time—and Queen aimed to prolong that success.

The band started recording for Hot Space in June of 1981, and spent a gruelling 10 months on the project before wrapping up the production element in March of 1982. Upon its release, fans and critics found it disappointing. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said “the band that once proudly proclaimed not to use synthesisers on their albums now dramatically reversed course, dedicating the entire first side of the album to robotic, new wave dance pop, all driven by drum machines and coloured by keyboards with Brian May’s guitar coming in as flavour only on occasion.”

The fourth track on Hot Space, Body Language, has been dubbed the worst song in Queen’s discography by fans, and the whole album received no more than a 3-star rating overall.

Rolling Stone gave them a 3-star, whilst the Encyclopedia of Popular Music gave a 1-star… Yikes.

Hot Space is one of the more obscure Queen albums to those who are not currently, or have ever been, active within the fandom. So we’re going to break it down a little bit, and let’s just talk about the background and context of what the hell was going on with them.

So in 1981, Queen recorded Under Pressure with David Bowie, and it’s still considered one of Queen’s staple and most popular songs. It was recorded in Montreux, and was a completely separate project to Hot Space. The band had met up with Bowie and jammed together for a while, just to see if they could come up with something to lay down and master. Of course, as most people know, bassist John Deacon came up with the iconic Under Pressure bass riff, just before they all went out to get some pizza. And by the time they’d returned to the studio, he’d forgotten it! But luckily drummer Roger Taylor remembered it.

Now, this was the first time Queen weren’t working alone; they were used to working only with their producers, never having had anyone else’s input. The two artists merged as one for the song and it pointed in the direction of a potential new road for Queen—it was looking like an exciting one.

But what went wrong during the recording of Hot Space?

Brian May recalls that there was a total change of life for all of them. They travelled to Munich and according to Brian, that’s when things started to go downhill.

Let’s talk a little bit about the studio in which they recorded the album in Munich. It was situated in the basement of a hotel, and it was called Musicland Studios. It closed in the 90s due to some road issues, so it’s no longer open. But Brian remembers this place being grim and depressing.

The band’s mental health started to deteriorate after learning some unsettling details about the place. In Brian’s words:

“A lot of people used to jump off the top of the building and kill themselves off that particular building. We didn’t know that until we got there.”

The urge to finish recording grew, and they spent months at the hotel.

The aim was to create an album that focused more on the dance elements of music due to the success of Another One Bites The Dust, as I mentioned before. They seemed to be in luck, as Freddie Mercury’s entourage at the time was concentrated with dance influences in the form of Paul Prenter.

Now, who was Paul Prenter, you ask? If you’ve seen the film, you’ll kind of already know, but here’s a bit more of an in-depth look at him.

Paul Prenter was Freddie Mercury’s personal manager from 1977 to 1986. Despite their professional relationship, the two also engaged in intimate relations, and Prenter had a huge influence over Freddie’s life during the time he worked for him. He held partial responsibility for Freddie’s excessive involvement in drugs, alcohol, and his growing promiscuity. 

Freddie was known to have fired Prenter in 1986, and shortly after it was plastered all over the news. It turns out Paul Prenter had sold personal stories to the press about Freddie… What a dick.

After receiving money from multiple press outlets, he moved back to his hometown of Belfast and spent it all—smart. He then asked Freddie for more money! After all that, he went back and asked him for money! But it’s okay, he did succumb to complications from AIDS a few months before Freddie. So… Freddie got the last laugh, it seemed.

You’re probably wondering what Paul Prenter had to do with Hot Space. After all, he wasn’t part of the band, right?

Well, Freddie’s life was ruled by the New York-inspired gay lifestyle of the 80s, particularly engaging in extreme partying and extreme promiscuity. And at the time, Freddie had suggested to the band that the music on their new album should sound like that of which they’d play in a gay bar, but those words had initially come from Paul Prenter.

It’s said that Prenter despised guitars and relentlessly referred to Brian May as old-fashioned. Roger Taylor recalled that Prenter was a “very bad influence” on the band:

“He was a very, very bad influence upon Freddie, and hence on the band. He very much wanted our music to sound like you just walked in a gay club, and I didn’t.”

The strain and tension became inevitable with the four personalities—and we all know that John, Freddie, Brian, and Roger have massive personalities. Whilst they had always experienced bickering, as most bands do, they now with the added tension, the production of the album isn’t going to go as smoothly.

“Arguments would start off as creative, but slowly became personal.”

Brian recalls that less and less time was spent in the studio and more time was spent arguing.

To put it into perspective about what life was like for the 10 months they spent recording Hot Space in Munich…A regular day recording this album went a little bit like the following:

The entourage recall waking up at 3am, working for hours, having dinner, and then roadies would mix up cocktails and other things would pursue. The band got mixed up in cocaine and various other drugs. Random women, and relentless drinking, and as any sane person will tell you, that is not a good thing.

Roger described it as an exhausting cycle day after day. Imagine doing that for 9 whole months.

Brian remembers them getting into “deep trouble emotionally” in Munich, which possibly explains why their mental states deteriorated.

Now, the Hot Space era didn’t just end when the album came out. Obviously, when an album comes out, you have to do interviews to promote your album and after months and months of bad influences and arguments, the band’s relationship had kind of broken down. Things continued in quite a tense fashion. 

In fact, Freddie was left very unhappy and depressed after Hot Space wrapped up—it lasted a while, and he was completely immersed in places and habits that remained detrimental to his fate. Freddie became passive during interviews and defensive on certain questions concerning anything but current projects.

His attitude during the 1982 press conference in Europe was already standoffish and it was extremely obvious that he didn’t want to be there. The body language of the others, especially Brian, speaks volumes. The mood is low and they all seem exhausted.

Another nationwide interview the band gave in promotion for the album presented the group separated; Freddie was notably disinterested as the others spoke. There was even a moment where Freddie responds to the interviewer’s question with “let’s break up tomorrow” as a joke. But, watching it, you can’t help but feel there’s some truth to his words. Nobody laughed, even Roger looked uncomfortable by it!

One of the more well-known interviews from this era was with Brian and Roger, which displayed multiple moments of awkwardness with them both trying to make jokes and seem like they’re happy with what they’d produced, making up amateur excuses as to why they created something with a different sound. In my opinion, they just didn’t seem very happy. Do we even need to mention the “shut up” from Roger, and then the succeeding comment from Brian about Mack having the best drum sound?

Then, we have the iconic 1984 Freddie interview, where he left viewers stunned with his answers:

“I love my job, but I hate talking to people like you,” “I’m not an artist, I’m just a musical prostitute, my dear.”

The long-term effects of what happened behind the scenes of Hot Space were everlasting and turned the group into four completely different people than they were prior to 1982. 

As I’ve already mentioned, Hot Space wasn’t received well upon its release, and there are still very strong opinions about it today. Brian stated in 2014 that it isn’t the band’s worst album, but the timing of its release was just wrong. As time goes on, more people begin to accept the Hot Space album as just another reason why Queen is one of the most versatile groups of all time, with them branching out into very different styles to what they’d done earlier in their career, like Sheer Heart Attack, News Of The World, etc…

80s culture looked down upon disco and funk, so reception for Hot Space was bound to be less than amazing. However, today, all styles of music are simultaneously celebrated, and people enjoy the album more now than they did 40 years ago.

So in conclusion, recording Hot Space was a difficult period for Queen. It’s horrible to think about your idols going through the kind of thing they did in the early-mid 80s, influenced by not very nice people. But focusing on the album itself, it’s truly not a bad album at all. Granted, the timing of the release wasn’t the best for Queen, but it holds up as a fan favourite today.

If you haven’t heard any of the songs from Hot Space, besides Under Pressure, I highly recommend you check it out. It’s very different to what Queen usually did and I think it’s worth a listen.

Anyway, I’ll leave it at that. Let me know if you liked this little… post, whatever the hell it is, and if I should do more posts like this. I enjoy throwing all my useless knowledge onto a page lol.

[stcantarella]

how do i get into those roman guys? i watched a bit of rome hbo back in the day. what are good sources to read? or cool books? i love what you post about them even though im always a bit lost

hiii!!! first of all, thank you so much! I'm so excited to get to recommend stuff because I love talking about what I've been reading and watching. Honestly though? My suggestion is that if you're already seeing stuff about the Rome guys and you've watched HBO Rome you have a baseline of knowledge and more or less know some guys so pick your favourite and start there! Reading about your favourite guy will lead you to like 5 different insane guys and you can then continue reading from there :)

I only watched HBO Rome this year I think? But I already knew about some of the guys because my friend Gus is a big Rome fan and I knew I liked Augustus so I read

The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus by Paul Zanker

Then I moved on to Agrippa and read

Marcus Agrippa: Right-Hand Man of Caesar Augustus by Lindsay Powell

which led me to rereading the Shakespeares, a couple of research papers on Crassus, some essays Gus sent me, Camus' Caligula, Catullus' stuff and

Sulla: The Last Republican by Arthur Keaveney

I'm currently reading a Lucullus bio! Other than this I watched a couple of stagings of the Shakesperes and this Cleopatra musical which was sooo fun and whichever Rome movie looked fun like the 1963 Cleopatra and 2003's Imperium: Augustus. I also listened to the History of Rome podcast when washing my dishes.

Currently, I'd recommend subscribing to e-pistulae which I've found is the easiest way of reading Cicero's letters, if you're interested in the Pharsalia, the Pharsalia book club is about to begin soon which I'm very excited about and here's a great list of recommendations if you want to pick up a biography of your favourite guy! Happy reading :))

[deadpresidents]

can you recommend any bios on putin?

Sure. I haven't read a ton of books about Putin/Russia, but there are four books in particular that I have and felt were really good.

•Putin by Philip Short (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) This 2022 title is the most recent book I can personally recommend and the only one published since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Short also wrote two other great books on autocrats that I'd suggest checking out -- Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare, and Mao: The Man Who Made China.

•The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin by Steven Lee Myers (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) Myers, who has been reporting from around the world for decades for the New York Times, published this book in 2015 and it reveals a closer and more-detailed look at Putin the person than outsiders have ever had before.

•The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) Born in Russia and now an American citizen, Gessen, who is now known as M. Gessen is a prominent critic of Putin's rule. They examine how a relatively low-level, seemingly unimpressive KGB operative somehow rose to become Boris Yeltsin's hand-picked successor and one of the most powerful people of the 21st century.

•Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser (BOOK | KINDLE) I make a point of getting every book written by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, whether it's something the married couple has written together or the many books they've written on their own. Published in 2007, after Baker and Glasser finished serving as chiefs of the Washington Post's Moscow bureau in the early years of Putin's first stretch in the Russian Presidency, this book focuses on how Putin impacted a Russia that was rapidly undergoing drastic changes in the 15 years since the Soviet Union collapsed and the backsliding from the delicate form of democracy that Boris Yeltsin had attempted to implement after the end of the Cold War.