As a genre, biography is limitless.
A direct insight into the life story of a person, biography allows readers a privileged look inside the world according to someone else. Anyone can be the subject of a biography, which is what makes it so versatile. From historical figures to celebrities, from politicians or scientists, no walk of life is off-limits from this wide-reaching genre.
One of the strongholds of non-fiction, biography as a literary genre plots fun and noteworthy life events in a compelling overarching narrative, allowing readers to track the lives of individuals through time.
Usually in a chronological format, biographical narratives progress steadily through history, offering a unique perspective on reality. Biographies often lend unique psychological reflections and tap into broader cultural, social, and economic contexts.
Biography book reviews
Here at Victoria Freudenheim, we’re passionate about all genres and review everything from new releases to crime and thrillers. When it comes to biography, we like to trace the genre back to its roots and keep things true to form.
The actual word ‘biography’ means ‘life-writing’ from the Greek ‘bios’, meaning ‘life’, and ‘graphia’ meaning ‘writing’— and we review these two separate components together. We like to reflect on the quality of the prose alongside the historical contexts, reviewing them as an intertwined reality.
The different types of biography
Biography is by no means two dimensional. It doesn’t have to be exclusively fictional either. Let’s run through some of the core types of biography below:
- Contemporary biography: This is the typical type of modern biography and is usually about someone who is still alive or has only just recently passed. Often, this gets mixed up with autobiography, where someone writes about themselves.
- Autobiography: Lots of people get confused between autobiography and biography. And, while there are many overlaps, generally speaking, the core difference is authorship as, as we’ve just said, autobiography is usually written by a person about their own life.
- Memoir: Not to be confused with autobiographies, memoirs are again written by someone about their own experience. However, while autobiographies are quite broad and sequential, structured in chronological order, memoirs focus on a specific time period of someone’s life. This is usually a period of self-reflection or turbulence.
- Historical biography: This type of biography has risen in popularity in recent years, especially in the form of musicals like Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton. Historical biographies are about historical figures of importance and their relation and contribution to historical events such as wars or political happenings.
- Fictional biography: This sub-genre is arguably the most interesting. Compellingly, this type of narrative tells a story about someone and their life but is completely fictional. Many contemporary novelists rely on fictional biography to offer more inward-looking or psychological narratives to readers.
There can also be biographies about certain groups like bands or families.
Best biography books
Below you can find a list of the biography books Victoria Freudenheim has reviewed so far. Click on whichever takes your fantasy to hear our thoughts.
