swap_horiz Cleopatra: A Life Alternatives

1

The Power Broker

The Power Broker details Robert Caro’s exhaustive investigation into Robert Moses, a pivotal figure in twentieth-century...

New York Political Urban Planning Caro

9.5 Brilliant

2

Master of the Senate

The third volume in Robert Caro's series on Lyndon B. Johnson, this 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography details his ti...

American Political Caro Lbj

9.4 Excellent

3

The Passage of Power

Published in 2012, this fourth volume of Robert Caro's biography covers Lyndon B. Johnson's transition to the presidency...

American Political Caro Lbj

9.3 Excellent

4

The Path to Power

Published in 1982, Robert Caro's book is the first volume in his acclaimed biographical series detailing the early life...

American Political Caro Lbj

9.2 Excellent

5

Means of Ascent

This 1990 book is the second volume in Robert Caro's acclaimed biographical series, focusing on Lyndon B. Johnson's cont...

American Political Caro Lbj

9.1 Excellent

6

Parallel Lives

Plutarch's classic first-century series of biographies comparing prominent Greek and Roman figures, foundational to West...

Classical Ancient Greek Roman Plutarch

9.1 Excellent

7

American Prometheus

This Pulitzer Prize-winning 2005 biography by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin details the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer and...

Science Political Bird Sherwin Atomic Age

8.9 Great

8

Truman

David McCullough's 1992 biography, which won the Pulitzer Prize, provides a comprehensive look at the life of the 33rd U...

American 20TH Century Political Mccullough

8.8 Great

9

The Best and the Brightest

David Halberstam's 1972 nonfiction work examines how elite policymakers in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations led t...

Cold War History Political Vietnam

8.8 Great

10

Dreams from My Father

Published in 1995, this memoir by Barack Obama explores his early life, his multicultural upbringing, and his family roo...

African American Identity Political Memoir

8.6 Great

11

Peter the Great: His Life and World

This Pulitzer Prize-winning 1980 biography by Robert K. Massie chronicles the life of Peter the Great and his modernizat...

Russian Political 17TH Century Massie

8.5 Great

12

My Early Life

Winston Churchill's 1930 autobiography details his early military campaigns and journalistic adventures prior to his pro...

British Political Victorian Memoir

8.5 Great

13

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman

Robert K. Massie's 2011 biography chronicles the life of Catherine the Great and her transformation from a German prince...

Russian 18TH Century Political Massie

8.3 Great

14

Theodore Rex

Published in 2001, Edmund Morris's biography chronicles the presidential years of Theodore Roosevelt, from 1901 to 1909.

American Political Morris Progressive Era

8.2 Great

15

A Promised Land

This 2020 presidential memoir by Barack Obama details his early political career and the first term of his historic pres...

American Presidency Political Memoir

8.2 Great

16

The Bully Pulpit

This 2013 biography by Doris Kearns Goodwin explores the lives and political rivalry of US Presidents Theodore Roosevelt...

American Political Goodwin Progressive Era

8.1 Great

17

Victoria: The Queen

A 2016 biography of Queen Victoria by Julia Baird that explores her complex life and long reign over the United Kingdom.

British Political Victorian Baird

8.0 Great

18

My Own Story

Emmeline Pankhurst's 1914 memoir details her role as a British suffragette leader and the militant fight for women's vot...

British Political Memoir Pankhurst

8.0 Great

19

In the Garden of Beasts

Erik Larson's 2011 book details the experiences of the US ambassador to Germany and his family in 1930s Berlin during th...

History Wwii Political Nazi Germany

7.9 Good

20

Cicero

A biography of the Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero, detailing his political career, speeches, and influence on th...

Political Ancient Roman Everitt

7.8 Good