For biographies I’ve read, ratings are on a scale of 0 to 5 stars with equal weight given to my subjective assessment of: (1) how entertaining the biography proved to be and (2) the biography’s historical value.
Links to third-party reviews may be provided for biographies I’ve not yet read. If I’m missing a great biography in the category of Arts, Sports or Entertainment that you’ve read, please let me know! Last updated October 11, 2016.
| Armstrong, Louis | Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong by Terry Teachout | 2009 | |
| Bach | Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven by John Gardiner | 2013 | |
| Bach | Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician by Christoph Wolff | 2001 | |
| Beethoven | Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph by Jan Swafford | 2014 | |
| Beethoven | Beethoven: The Music and the Life by Lewis Lockwood | 2002 | |
| Chaplin, Charlie | Chaplin: His Life and Art by David Robinson | 1985 | |
| Cobb, Ty | Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty by Charles Leerhsen | 2015 | |
| Cobb, Ty | Cobb: A Biography by Al Stump | 1994 | |
| Dickens, Charles | Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin | 2011 | |
| Dickens, Charles | Charles Dickens: His Tragedy and Triumph by Edgar Johnson | 1952 | |
| Emerson, Ralph Waldo | Emerson: The Mind on Fire by Robert Richardson | 1995 | |
| Gehrig, Lou | Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig by Jonathan Eig | 2005 | |
| Goldwyn, Sam | Goldwyn: A Biography by A. Scott Berg | 1989 | |
| Hemingway, Ernest | Hemingway by Kenneth S. Lynn | 1987 | |
| Jordan, Micahel | Michael Jordon: The Life by Roland Lazenby | 2014 | |
| Lippmann, Walter | Walter Lippmann and the American Century by Ronald Steel | 1980 | |
| Mantle, Mickey | The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood by Jane Leavy | 2010 | |
| Melville, Herman | Melville: A Biography by Laurie Robertson-Lorent | 1996 | |
| Michelangelo | The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo by Irving Stone | 1958 | |
| Michelangelo | Michelangelo: A Life in Six Masterpieces by Miles J. Unger | 2014 | |
| Michelangelo | Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King | 2003 | |
| Mozart | Mozart: A Life by Maynard Solomon | 1995 | |
| Paine, Thomas | Thomas Paine and the Promise of America by Harvey Kaye | 2000 | |
| Presley, Elvis | Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley (Vol 1) by Peter Guralnick | 1994 | |
| Presley, Elvis | Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley (Vol 2) by Peter Guralnick | 1999 | |
| Robinson, Jackie | Jackie Robinson: A Biography by Arnold Rampersad | 1997 | |
| Rogers, Will | Will Rogers: A Biography by Ben Yagoda | 1993 | |
| Rose, Pete | Pete Rose: An American Dilemma by Kostya Kennedy | 2014 | |
| Ruth, Babe | The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth by Leigh Montville | 2006 | |
| Shakespeare | Shakespeare: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd | 2005 | |
| Shakespeare | Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt | 2004 | |
| Sinatra, Frank | Sinatra: The Chairman by James Kaplan | 2015 | |
| Steinbeck, John | John Steinbeck, Writer by Jackson Benson | 1990 | |
| Tolstoy, Leo | Tolstoy by Henri Troyat | 1965 | |
| Twain, Mark | Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain by Justin Kaplan | 1966 | |
| Twain, Mark | Mark Twain: A Life by Ron Powers | 2005 | |
| Wayne, John | John Wayne: American by Randy Roberts | 1995 | |
| Wayne, John | John Wayne: The Life and Legend by Scott Eyman | 2014 | |
| Wilde, Oscar | Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann | 1987 | |
| Williams, Ted | Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero by Leigh Montville | 2004 | |
| Williams, Ted | The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams by Ben Bradlee Jr. | 2013 | |
| Woolf, Virginia | Virginia Woolf: A Biography by Quentin Bell | 1971 |
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Reading the Best Biographies of All Time 