Best 2015 Books About Significant Figures in the Arts and Humanities

by Emily Bingham

Deeply researched, Bingham’s engrossing biography brings her glamorous, tormented ancestor vividly to life. Full review >

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by Jay Parini

A superbly personal biography that pulsates with intelligence, scholarship, and heart. Full review >

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by Mark Twain ; edited by Benjamin Griffin Harriet E. Smith

Of considerable interest to all readers of Twain but especially to working writers following Twain’s habit of tracking his... Full review >

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by Tracy Daugherty

A dogged biographer elicits from Didion’s life much more than tidy observations of “morality and culture.” Full review >

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by David Gessner

Stegner and Abbey “are two who have lighted my way,” nature writer Wendell Berry admitted. They have lighted the way for... Full review >

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by Peter Guralnick

A wonderful story that brings us deep into that moment when America made race music its own and gave rise to the rock sound... Full review >

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by Blair Jackson & David Gans

Worthy of Studs Terkel and an essential addition to the books of the Dead. Full review >

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by Zachary Leader

Will now stand as the definitive Bellow biography. Full review >

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by Harold Bloom

As always, Bloom conveys the intimate, urgent, compelling sense of why it matters that we read these canonical authors. Full review >

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by Matthew Spender

A pointed family memoir from a writer keenly attuned to and reverent of genius. Full review >

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by Leo Damrosch

General readers looking for a challenge will love this book and will dive into Blake’s work. Many will find him just too far... Full review >

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