Biographies, Recommended in 2011

Selections from the New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year, Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year, and starred reviews from Library Journal and Booklist.

Art | Current Events | History | Literature | Music | Religion | Science | Sports

Art

• Albers, Patricia. Joan Mitchell: Lady Painter: A Life. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.
• Bernier, Rosamond. Some of My Lives: A Scrapbook Memoir. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
• Bosworth, Patricia. Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Figure. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.
• Bray, Elizabeth Irvine. Paul Flato: Jeweler to the Stars. Antique Collectors' Club, 2010.
• Curtis, James. Spencer Tracy: A Biography. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.
• Ebert, Roger. Life Itself: A Memoir. Grand Central Pub., 2011.
• Fey, Tina. Bossypants. Little, Brown and Co., 2011.
• Graham-Dixon, Andrew. Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane. W.W. Norton & Co., 2011.
• Holbrook, Hal. Harold: The Boy Who Became Mark Twain. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
• Keaton, Diane. Then Again. Random House, 2011.
• Levin, Gail. Lee Krasner: A Biography. William Morrow, 2011.
• McGilligan, Patrick. Nicholas Ray: The Glorious Failure of an American Director. It Books, 2011.
• Meyers, Jeffrey. John Huston: Courage and Art. Crown Archetype, 2011.
• Mormando, Franco. Bernini: His Life and His Rome. University of Chicago Press, 2001.
• Naifeh, Steven. Van Gogh: The Life. Random House, 2011.
• Orlean, Susan. Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend. Simon & Schuster, 2011.
• Peacock, Molly. The Paper Garden: An Artist (Begins Her Life's Work) at 72. Bloomsbury, 2011.
• Secrest, Meryle. Modigliani: A Life. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.
• Starr, Michael Seth. Black and Blue: The Redd Foxx Story. Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, 2011.
• Washington, Isaiah. A Man from Another Land: How Finding My Roots Changed My Life. Center Street, 2011.

Current Events

• Adler, William M.. The Man Who Never Died: The Life, Times and Legacy of Joe Hill, American Labor Icon. Bloomsbury, 2011.
• Baker, Deborah. The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism. Graywolf Press, 2011.
• Baker, Jean H.. Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion. Hill and Wang, 2011.
• Bogus, Carl T.. Buckley: William F. Buckley Jr. and the Rise of the American Conservatism. Bloomsbury, 2011.
• Brown, Ian. The Boy in the Moon: A Father's Journey to Understand His Extraordinary Son. St. Martin's Press, 2011.
• Frank, President. Obama on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Free Press, 2011.
• Fuller, Alexandra. Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness. Penguin Press, 2011.
• Holroyd, Michael. A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
• Isaacson, Walter. Steve Jobs. Simon & Schuster, 2011.
• Marlantes, Karl. What It Is Like To Go to War. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2011.

History

• Farrell, John A.. Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned. Doubleday, 2011.
• Fletcher, Joann. Cleopatra the Great: The Woman Behind the Legend. Harper, 2011.
• Gabriel, Mary. Love and Capital: Karl Marx and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution. Little, Brown and Company, 2011.
• Gaddis, John Lewis. George F. Kennan: An American Life. Penguin Press, 2011.
• Hartshorn, Peter. I Have Seen the Future: A Life of Lincoln Steffens. Counterpoint, 2011.
• Harvey, Robert. Bolivar: The Liberator of Latin America. Skyhorse, 2011.
• Hendrickson, Paul. Hemingway's Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934-1961. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.
• Lelyveld, Joseph. Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.
• Marable, Manning. Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention. Viking, 2011.
• Margolick, David. Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock. Yale University Press, 2011.
• Massie, Robert K.. Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman. Random House, 2011.
• Means, Howard. Johnny Appleseed: The Man, the Myth, and the American Story. Simon & Schuster, 2011.
• Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy. Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy. Hyperion, 2011.
• Stokes, David R.. The Shooting Salvationist: J. Frank Norris and the Murder Trial That Captivated America. Steerforth Press, 2011.
• Thomas, Louisa. Conscience: Two Soldiers, Two Pacifists, One Family—a Test of Will and Faith in World War I. Penguin Press, 2011.
• Wake, Jehanne. Sisters of Fortune: America's Caton Sisters at Home and Abroad. Touchstone Books, 2011.

Literature

• Ackerman, Diane. One Hundred Names for Love: A Stroke, a Marriage, and the Language of Healing. W. W. Norton, 2011.
• Bartlett, Rosamund. Tolstoy: A Russian Life. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.
• Cooper, Suzanne Fagence. Effie: The Passionate Lives of Effie Gray, John Ruskin and John Everett Millais. St. Martin's Press, 2011.
• Daugherty, Tracy. Just One Catch: A Biography of Joseph Heller. St. Martin's Press, 2011.
• Douglas-Fairhurst, Robert. Becoming Dickens: The Invention of a Novelist. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011.
• Fradkin, Philip L.. Everett Ruess: His Short Life, Mysterious Death, and Astonishing Afterlife. University of California Press, 2011.
• Gigante, Denise. The Keats Brothers: The Life of John and George. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011.
• Kay, Jackie. Red Dust Road: An Autobiographical Journey. Atlas & Co., 2010.
• Kellow, Brian. Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark. Viking, 2011.
• Loseff, Lev. Joseph Brodsky: A Literary Life. Yale University Press, 2011.
• Reynolds, David S.. Mightier Than the Sword : Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America. W.W. Norton & Co.,, 2011.
• Salamon, Julie. Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein. Penguin Press, 2011.
• Sherborne, Michael. H. G. Wells: Another Kind of Life. Peter Owen, 2010.
• Shields, Charles J.. And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life. Henry Holt and Co., 2011.
• Tomalin, Claire. Charles Dickens: A Life. Penguin Press, 2012.

Music

• Beaumont, Daniel. Preachin' the Blues: The Life and Times of Son House. Oxford University Press, 2011.
• Bogle, Donald. Heat Wave: The Life and Career of Ethel Waters. HarperCollins, 2011.
• Cann, Kevin. David Bowie: Any Day Now: The London Years, 1947-1974. Adelita, 2011.
• Greenfield, Robert. The Last Sultan: The Life and Times of Ahmet Ertegun. Simon & Schuster, 2011.
• Inaba, Mitsutoshi. Willie Dixon: Preacher of the Blues. Scarecrow, 2011.
• Kastin, David. Nica’s Dream: The Life and Legend of the Jazz Baroness. W. W. Norton, 2011.
• Malone, Bill C.. Music from the True Vine: Mike Seeger’s Life and Musical Journey. University of North Carolina Press, 2011.
• Riley, Tim. Lennon. Hyperion, 2011.
• Szwed, John. Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World. Viking, 2011.
• Trynka, Paul. David Bowie: Starman. Little, Brown and Company, 2011.
• Wall, Mick. Enter Night: A Biography of Metallica. St. Martin's Press, 2011.

Religion

• Cryer, Dan. Being Alive and Having to Die: The Spiritual Odyssey of Forrest Church. St. Martin's Press, 2011.
• Weiner, Eric. Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine. Twelve, 2011.

Science

• Science Quiñones-Hinojosa, Alfredo. Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon. University of California Press, 2011.

Sports

• Brady, Frank. Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness. Crown, 2011.
• Breslin, Jimmy. Branch Rickey. Viking, 2011.
• Burgos, Jr., Sadrian. Cuban Star: How One Negro-League Owner Changed the Face of Baseball. Hill and Wang, 2011.
• Dent, Jim. Courage Beyond the Game: the Freddie Steinmark Story. Thomas Dunne Books, 2011.
• Ribowsky, Mark. Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports. W.W. Norton & Co.,, 2012.
• Wakefield, Tim. Knuckler: My Life with Baseball's Most Confounding Pitch. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.
• Yang, Jerry. All In. Medallion Press, 2011.