Biographies are more than just books about people who did interesting things. A well-written biography can remind us that legendary figures really were just human beings like us who happened to face extraordinary circumstances. And if you have limited leisure hours to devote to reading, biographies are time well spent, providing valuable glimpses into how people felt about pressing problems and how they made decisions that may have changed history. And while none of us will shepherd the nation through the Civil War or campaign to give women the right to vote, we can still learn from their examples and apply them to our own lives.
* Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Doris Kearns Goodwin, 2005. This classic biography of America's 16th president focuses on his cabinet, which he intentionally filled with some of his greatest political rivals.
* The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Rebecca Skloot, 2001. Henrietta Lacks died more than 70 years ago, but the cells extracted from her terminal cancer powered some of our greatest medical breakthroughs — all without obtaining permission from her family or compensating them for their mother's priceless gift.
* Cleopatra: A Life. Stacy Schiff, 2011. This fast-paced account cuts through myths and ancient propaganda to tell the real story of Egypt's powerful and tragic last pharaoh.
* American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, 2005. The novel that inspired the film Oppenheimer lays out the life story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.
* The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Path to Power. Robert Caro, 1990. Robert Caro's classic biography of President Lyndon Johnson's early life is the first in his award-winning series, with four out of a planned five volumes now published. A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for his biographies, Caro is known as one of the best biographers of the past century.
