biography

Megan Marshall, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for biography, has long been revered for her narrative skills and deep insights into historical figures. In her new book “After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart” she takes those skills to her own art and life.

Music writer Peter Ames Carlin explores the lives of four college friends—Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry—whose bond was unbreakable, even as their fame grew and they became one of the biggest rock bands in the world. Peter's new book is "The Name of This Band is R.E.M."

Magazine writer and biographer, Bill Zehme had been on the Johnny Carson beat for decades. He was a fan and looked at Carson as the great American Sphinx. Finally, he landed a prized interview for Esquire Magazine in 2002 - a decade after Johnny left the airwaves. When Carson died in 2005, Zehme signed a contract to do an expansive biography on the "King of Late Night.He worked on the book for more than a decade and then a cancer diagnosis and ongoing treatments halted his progress. Zehme died in 2023. The New York Times called it "one of the great unfinished biographies." Enter: Mike Thomas, Zehme's former research assistant, who took the notes and the finished chapters and completed the project which became the book "Carson: The Magnificent."

In "Reagan: His Life and Legend" Max Boot, the distinguished political columnist, illuminates the untold story of Ronald Reagan, revealing the man behind the mythology. Drawing on interviews with over one hundred of the fortieth president’s aides, friends, and family members, as well as thousands of newly available documents.

Celebrated NPR music critic Ann Powers explores the life and career of Joni Mitchell in her new book, "Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell." The book is a tale of long journeying through a life that changed popular music.

Keith O’Brien has written a new biography of a flawed legend—baseball’s tragic character—the man who could never return to the game he lived to play in his new book: “CHARLIE HUSTLE: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball.”

Brad Gooch, noted biographer of Flannery O’Connor and Frank O’Hara, was granted access to Keith Haring’s extensive archive. He has written a biography that will become the authoritative work on the artist. Published by Harper, the book is "Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring."

In "The Art Thief," Michael Finkel brings us into master thief Stéphane Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world.

Malcolm (Mal) Evans, the Beatles’ long-time roadie, personal assistant, and devoted friend, was an invaluable member of the band’s inner circle. Working with full access to Mal’s unpublished archives and having conducted hundreds of new interviews, Beatles’ scholar and author Kenneth Womack affords readers with a full telling of Mal’s unknown story in the biography "Living the Beatles’ Legend: The Untold Story of Mal Evans."

Since his death ten years ago, Lou Reed’s living presence has only grown. The great rock-poet presided over the marriage of Brill Building pop and the European avant-garde, and left American culture transfigured. In the new biography "Lou Reed: The King of New York," Will Hermes offers the definitive narrative of Reed’s life and legacy, dramatizing his long, brilliant, and contentious dialogue with fans, critics, and fellow artists.