swap_horiz Samuel Johnson Alternatives

1

Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson

James Boswell's 1791 biography is considered a masterpiece of English literature, offering a vividly detailed portrait o...

18TH Century Literature British Boswell

9.0 Excellent

2

Washington: A Life

This Pulitzer Prize-winning 2010 biography by Ron Chernow provides a comprehensive look at the life of the first Preside...

18TH Century American Founding Father Chernow

8.7 Great

3

The Wager

Published in 2023, David Grann's historical account details the 1741 shipwreck of the HMS Wager and the subsequent mutin...

18TH Century History Survival Naval

8.6 Great

4

John Keats

Walter Jackson Bate's 1963 Pulitzer-winning biography provides a deeply researched account of the brief life and brillia...

Literature British Romantic Era Bate

8.5 Great

5

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

6

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

7

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Written between 1771 and 1790, this classic American autobiography details the life and virtues of Founding Father Benja...

18TH Century American Autobiography Founding Father

8.3 Great

8

Virginia Woolf: A Biography

Quentin Bell's 1972 biography offers an intimate portrait of English modernist writer Virginia Woolf, blending literary...

Literature British Modernism Bell

8.3 Great

9

Surprised by Joy

C.S. Lewis's 1955 autobiography chronicles his early life, his intellectual development, and his conversion from atheism...

Conversion British Spiritual Memoir

8.3 Great

10

Down and Out in Paris and London

George Orwell's 1933 autobiographical work recounting his experiences living in poverty in two major European cities and...

British 1930S Memoir Poverty

8.2 Great

11

The Road to Wigan Pier

George Orwell's 1937 sociological book documenting the harsh living conditions of working-class people in Northern Engla...

British Memoir Working Class Poverty

8.2 Great

12

Zelda

Nancy Milford's 1970 biography examines the life of Zelda Fitzgerald, exploring her fame as a 1920s icon and her complex...

American Literature 1920S Milford

8.1 Great

13

Will in the World

Stephen Greenblatt's 2004 biographical work explores how William Shakespeare's life and Elizabethan society shaped the l...

Literature British Shakespeare Greenblatt

8.0 Great

14

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

15

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

16

Churchill: A Life

Written by British historian Martin Gilbert in 1991, this book provides a comprehensive one-volume account of British Pr...

Wwii British Political Gilbert

7.8 Good

17

The Feather Thief

Kirk Wallace Johnson's 2018 true-crime book investigates the bizarre 2009 theft of rare bird skins from a British museum...

Narrative True Crime British Museum

7.8 Good

18

Elizabeth the Queen

A 2012 biography by Sally Bedell Smith that chronicles the life and historic reign of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and h...

20TH Century British Smith Royalty

7.8 Good

19

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

Written by Walter Isaacson, this 2003 biography details the life, political career, and scientific achievements of Found...

18TH Century American Founding Father Isaacson

7.5 Good

20

The Iron Lady: A Biography of Margaret Thatcher

Published in 1989, Hugo Young's biography examines the political career of Margaret Thatcher and her profoundly polarizi...

British Political Conservative Campbell

7.5 Good