Nigel Hamilton is the author of Whitbread Prize winning biography of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. His biography of John F. Kennedy was on the New York Times best seller list. The second volume of his three-volume biography of Clinton is due to be published later this year. He is currently a Fellow of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies, University of Massachusetts, Boston.
[An] inviting book. In uncomplicated language, Hamilton uses
well-chosen examples to whisk the reader through biographical
expression in the ancient world, medieval hagiography and the
development of life-writing from the subversive texts of the
Renaissance to the whitewashed "pseudobiographies" of the
nineteenth century...This engaging book indisputably demonstrates
the intricate history of his field, and will prompt its readers to
read "life-writing" both with more understanding and with greater
pleasure.--Lucy Carlyle"Times Literary Supplement" (08/17/2007)
[A] continually fascinating history...Hamilton's learned,
passionate approach is sufficient to grant biography all the
respect it needs...His book is a celebration of the quite
respectable status of the genre.--William T. Hamilton"Bloomsbury
Review" (01/01/2008)
[Hamilton's] witty, readable account embraces the scholarly and the
salacious, integrating them into a seamlessly coherent account,
beginning with tales recorded in cuneiform on clay tablets in
Ancient Sumer, and culminating in today's film and television
'biopics.'--Lisa Jardine"The Times" (04/28/2007)
[Hamilton] has produced a rich and provocative meditation on the
history of biography.--Scott Stossel"New York Times Book Review"
(03/18/2007)
As artful as it is provocative, [Hamilton's] book is itself a
revealing exercise in life writing.--Amanda Heller"Boston Globe"
(04/08/2007)
Entertaining history...There is much to glean from this brisk
examination of our love affair with individuality.--Craig
Taylor"Financial Times" (03/31/2007)
From the stick figures of cave paintings to contemporary comic
strips, Nigel Hamilton traces the history of biography, briskly and
with insight...Brief but admirably readable and thoughtful.--Brenda
Niall"The Age" (06/12/2007)
Hamilton, biographer of JFK and Bill Clinton, is a knowledgeable
and personable guide to a craft that is thousands of years old. His
expansive definition of biography encompasses cave paintings, oil
paintings, television documentaries, and Internet content in
addition to books, a perspective that leads to numerous surprises
while supporting his contention that biography should be granted
the status of a scholarly discipline...[A] fascinating
history.--Steve Weinberg"Booklist" (03/15/2007)
In this intelligent exploration of his own literary field (he is
the biographer of Field-Marshall Montgomery and Bill Clinton),
Nigel Hamilton demonstrates that the modern understanding of
biography as a worthy, reasonably well-secured, if sometimes
contentious 'life' has never been absolute...[A] fascinating and
timely account.--Elizabeth Speller"The Independent"
(05/04/2007)
In this precise, massively informative and scrupulously researched
new book, Hamilton turns his gaze from the lives of others to that
of his own art, life-writing itself...[A] lovingly crafted life of
life-writing from its birth on the cave walls of prehistoric man
through to the postmodern electro-mayhem of blogging...Hamilton has
written a book that is insistently readable.--Tony Howe"Times
Higher Education Supplement" (06/01/2007)
Supported and explicated by lively studies like this one, biography
may finally get the respect it deserves.--C. Rollyson"Choice"
(10/01/2007)
The breadth of Hamilton's approach is evident also in one of the
most attractive features of the book: its inclusion of short
extracts from pivotal biographical works. There are passages here
from some of the authors one would expect, such as Benvenuto
Cellini and James Baldwin. But here, too, there are surprises, such
as The "Epic of Gilgamesh" an extract from a diary of the
"aide-de-camp" of General Patton, describing his arrival at a
concentration camp and several lines from Monty Python's "Life of
Brian". This book offers not just a history of biography, but also
a powerful defence of it.--Barbara Caine"Australian Book Review"
(09/01/2007)
This compact and informative book offers an insightful overview of
the history of biography...In time, public and private reputations
were challenged in biography, hypocrisy exposed, character and
motives analyzed, and sexuality in all of its manifestations
revealed. Biographers continued with inquiry and research, biopics
came into being, and the multiplicity of biographical outlets was
everywhere. Hamilton has given readers a thought-provoking look at
biography in its various forms; a fascinating and handy reference
book for anyone wishing to know more about the history and art of
biography.--Robert Kelly"Library Journal" (02/01/2007)
Throughout Hamilton is a safe pair of hands, choosing excellent
examples on the whole to make excellent points about the form, an
inspired advocate of biography and clearly right on top of his
brief...Hamilton is a superb guide...It is a book likely to appeal
to many different readers--from experts on life-writing and
literature and history to the general reader.--Stuart
Hannabuss"Library Review" (01/01/2007)
Who would imagine Nigel Hamilton's compact, erudite book about the
history and practice of biography--called "Biography: A Brief
History"--could be so wide-ranging and provocative? From
prehistoric cave drawings (the animals are fully drawn while the
hunters are stick figures) to today's films (the author himself won
an award for a documentary based on his biography of Field Marshal
Montgomery), Mr. Hamilton moves briskly through the centuries,
highlighting how the depiction and recording of individual lives
has changed from early oral sagas and cuneiform writing to Internet
blogs. In essence, the author provides a short course on past
societies viewed through their individuals, plus insights into the
nature of individuality at certain periods in human history...Mr.
Hamilton, a distinguished and prolific writer who has taught
biography on both sides of the Atlantic, has distilled enormous
wisdom into his remarkable little book. Read it and enjoy.--John M.
and Priscilla S. Taylor"Washin
This interesting overview would make a suitable text for a course
called "Biography 101: the History of the Genre.,."[" Biography: A
Brief History"] is a history of biographical writing from the cave
drawings of Palaeolithic men and women to "American Splendor," the
remarkable film about comic strip novelist Harvey Pekar...All the
important biographers and biographies are investigated including
Shakespeare's use of Holinshed's Chronicles, the relationship
between Boswell and Johnson and the writings of the great Lytton
Strachey.
This zesty romp through millennia of biographical portraits comes
from the pen of a master biographer. Hamilton's a friendly
spectator to his own art, undaunted by its age, variety or the
number and skill of the practitioners who've gone before him.
Starting with the ancient Gilgamesh epic, he speeds us through the
forms--writing, theater, painting and film--in which biographers
have portrayed and interpreted individual lives. No shrinking
violet, he wrestles with every major figure who's tried a hand at
biography or criticized biographers' work. While his own strong
convictions are clear, he's fair in his assessment of others and
the ideal referee. No one will fail to find his brief, interpretive
history of life stories compelling. It's hard to think of a better
introduction to one of the most popular genres of literature and
art today.
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