Mar 12th, 2010 · When Tammy Wynette died in 1998, she was known as the First Lady of Country Music. Her music expressed drama and, judging by Jimmy McDonough's new biography, there was no shortage of it in her own life. Read an excerpt from his book, Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen, here.
Mar 3rd, 2010 · Author Nadine Cohodas has written a new biography of singer Nina Simone. It's called Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone, and it tells the story of the singer's evolution from classical pianist to civil rights icon. Read about Simone's musical beginnings in an excerpt from the book here.
Feb 24th, 2010 · Over a 40-year career, the star of Splendor in the Grass, Bonnie and Clyde, Shampoo and Bugsy seduced audiences, not to mention many of his co-stars. Peter Biskind's new biography casts Beatty as a ladies' man whose ambitions and neuroses aided his meteoric rise and his eventual fade.
Feb 22nd, 2010 · William Halsted is credited with creating the United State's first surgical residency program and transforming the way operating rooms are sterilized. He was also a morphine addict. Plastic surgeon Gerald Imber details Halsted's dual lives in the new biography, Genius on the Edge.
Jan 24th, 2010 · The best-selling British historian has chronicled the lives of great ladies including Eleanor of Aquitaine, Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I. Now she's written a new biography of Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn — and Weir says much of what you may think you know about the ill-fated queen is just plain wrong.
Jan 21st, 2010 · The tale of Charles Darwin's struggle to develop his Origin of Species — and to deal with his daughter's loss — makes for a graceful period biography, according to critic Bob Mondello — though not an especially bold account of the struggle between science and faith.
Jan 6th, 2010 · This week, Anne Tyler's new novel explores one man's rudderless existence, and Elizabeth Gilbert offers an older and wiser follow-up to Eat Pray Love. Also, a narrative of life in North Korea, and in Summertime, J.M. Coetzee offers a fictional biography of the author ... J.M. Coetzee.
Dec 29th, 2009 · Wil Haygood talks with Steve Inskeep about the life and career of Sugar Ray Robinson, including his many fights against rival boxer Jake LaMotta. Haygood is the author of a new biography of Robinson called Sweet Thunder.