Jean's Reviews > Biography: A Brief History

This book is the history of biography. Hamilton explains the evolution of the biography and autobiography or idiography its prior name. The author states the Greco-Roman era as the golden age of biography. Hamilton goes on to explore the dark ages and the rise of Christian hagiography (the biographies of saints). Hamilton discuses Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) and states he is the father of the modern literary biography. Hamilton also covers the research required for writing a biography, as well as the role of authorized and unauthorized biographies. Hamilton includes a section on the rise of film as a medium of use in a biography.

I learned a lot from the book. The book was easy to read and quite entertaining. The book is 345 pages and well indexed, also there are notes and a bibliography. The book is published by Harvard University Press in 2007.

Hamilton is a professor at the University of Massachusetts. He is an award-winning biographer of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and of John F. Kennedy.