Monday, April 21, 2014

Bios and Auto-Bios

The Telegraph gives its list of the 20 best autobiographies and biographies of all time.

I'll take liberties and add in no particular order:
  1. Chronicles of Wasted Time by Malcolm Muggeridge
  2. John Adams by David McCullough
  3. Inside The Third Reich by Albert Speer
  4. The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro
  5. Silent Missions by Vernon Walters
  6. Churchill by Lord Moran
  7. Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson
  8. Primo Levi: A Life by Ian Thomson
  9. The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
  10. The Oak and the Calf by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

6 comments:

David Kanigan said...

OK. You've listed Muggeridge in #1 slot for a reason. I'm on it. Thanks for the recommendation Michael.

Michael Wade said...

David,

You are very perceptive.

Muggeridge's autobiography usually comes in two volumes. I think you'll enjoy it.

Michael

David Kanigan said...

Thanks Michael. His book is out of stock on Amazon and had to order it used. I didn't see that there was 2 volumes. I'll need to go back and check. Thanks for the heads-up. Dave

Michael Wade said...

David,

A one-volume version may be out there. I have Volume I: The Green Stick and Volume II: The Infernal Grove of Chronicles of Wasted Time.

Marvelous books.

Michael

Kurt Harden said...

I need to read Moran's biography of Churchill.

Michael Wade said...

Kurt,

I really enjoyed it. The book was quite controversial. Aside from criticism that the doctor-patient relationship had been breached, some disputed Moran's descriptions of events.

Nonetheless, I highly recommend it.

Michael