Biographies

About Biographies

Book TV regularly covers author talks on biographies of prominent and historical figures. These can be searched by author name or subject and viewed here. IN this category, you will also find autobiographies.

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Coming Up on Book TV

James McGrath Morris, "Pulitzer: A Life in Politics. Print, and Power" and Michael Wolff, "The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch"
James McGrath Morris; Michael Wolff
Next air time: Saturday, March 20th at 10am (ET)

Archived Programs

Programs shown in this archive cover the past year. To search for programs in earlier years, please use the search functionality above.

All Things at Once Mika Brzezinski Last aired: March 7, 2010	Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women Harriet Reisen Last aired: March 6, 2010
James McGrath Morris, "Pulitzer: A Life in Politics. Print, and Power" and Michael Wolff, "The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch" James McGrath Morris; Michael Wolff Last aired: February 28, 2010	Tribute to Howard Zinn Multiple Panelists Last aired: February 27, 2010
John Adams by David McCullough David McCullough Last aired: February 16, 2010	Going Rogue: An American Life Sarah Palin Last aired: February 14, 2010
Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits Linda Gordon Last aired: February 13, 2010	The Last Empress: Madame Chiang Kai-Shek and the Birth of Modern China Hannah Pakula Last aired: February 7, 2010
Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life's Challenges Byron Pitts Last aired: February 7, 2010	Herblock: The Life and Work of the Great Political Cartoonist Haynes Johnson Last aired: January 30, 2010
The Word of the Lord Is Upon Me: The Righteous Performance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Jonathan Rieder Last aired: January 18, 2010	Abigail Adams Woody Holton Last aired: January 11, 2010
Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life Bill Minutaglio; W. Michael Smith Last aired: January 4, 2010	The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther Jeffrey Haas Last aired: January 3, 2010
Anne Heller, "Ayn Rand and the World She Made" and Jennifer Burns, "Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right" Jennifer Burns; Anne Heller Last aired: January 1, 2010	Rehnquist: A Personal Portrait of the Distinguished Chief Justice of the United States Herman Obermayer Last aired: December 20, 2009
Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life Lori Ginzberg Last aired: November 29, 2009	Call-in with Judy Shepard, author of "The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed" Judy Shepard Last aired: November 27, 2009
2009 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NONFICTION WINNER - The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt T.J. Stiles Last aired: November 21, 2009	Brother West: Living and Loving Outloud, A Memoir Cornel West Last aired: November 8, 2009
Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife Francine Prose Last aired: November 1, 2009	Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival Clara Kramer Last aired: October 18, 2009
The Emperor's New Clothes: Exposing the Truth from Watergate to 9/11 Richard Ben-Veniste Last aired: October 5, 2009	The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed Judy Shepard Last aired: October 4, 2009
True Compass: A Memoir Edward Kennedy Last aired: September 21, 2009	American Radical: The Life and Times of I.F. Stone D.D. Guttenplan Last aired: September 13, 2009
Kill Khalid: The Failed Mossad Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas Paul McGeough Last aired: September 7, 2009	The King of Vodka: The Story of Pyotr Smirnov and the Upheaval of an Empire Linda Himelstein Last aired: September 7, 2009
The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama Pico Iyer Last aired: September 6, 2009	Peter Canellos and Team at the Boston Globe, "Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy" Team at The Boston Globe Last aired: August 30, 2009
War on the Run: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America's First Frontier John Ross Last aired: August 29, 2009	Robert Novak author of "The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington" Robert Novak Last aired: August 23, 2009
Illustrator & Political Cartoonist David Levine David Levine Last aired: August 23, 2009	Charles Darwin, Geologist Sandra Herbert Last aired: August 23, 2009
The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and The Age of Revolution Alex Storozynski Last aired: August 23, 2009	American Conversation with E.L. Doctorow and Allen Weinstein E.L. Doctorow Last aired: August 22, 2009
Master of War: The Life of General George H. Thomas Benson Bobrick Last aired: August 15, 2009	A Different Life: Growing Up Learning Disabled and Other Adventures Quinn Bradlee Last aired: August 10, 2009
Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin Norah Vincent Last aired: August 9, 2009	Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Life Gerald Martin Last aired: August 8, 2009
This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Last aired: August 1, 2009	Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang Zhao Ziyang Last aired: July 20, 2009
The Nixons: A Family Portrait Ed Nixon Last aired: July 19, 2009	First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong James Hansen Last aired: July 18, 2009
Femme Fatale: Love, Lies, and the Unknown Life of Mata Hari Pat Shipman Last aired: July 4, 2009	Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln John Stauffer Last aired: July 4, 2009
Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918 Jeffrey Perry Last aired: July 4, 2009	Loon: A Marine Story Jack McLean Last aired: July 4, 2009
Right Time, Right Place: Coming of Age with William F. Buckley Jr. and the Conservative Movement Richard Brookhiser Last aired: July 4, 2009	Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America Geoffrey Canada; Paul Tough Last aired: July 3, 2009
The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One David Kilcullen Last aired: June 28, 2009	Eyes on the Horizon: Serving on the Front Lines of National Security Gen. Richard Myers Last aired: June 28, 2009
By His Own Rules: The Ambitions, Successes, and Ultimate Failures of Donald Rumsfeld Bradley Graham Last aired: June 28, 2009	The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience Kirstin Downey Last aired: June 14, 2009
Last Rites John Lukacs Last aired: June 13, 2009	Gringo: A Coming of Age in Latin America Chesa Boudin Last aired: June 1, 2009
Practicing Catholic James Carroll Last aired: May 31, 2009	Donald Worster, "A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir" and Philip Fradkin, "Wallace Stegner and the American West" Philip Fradkin; Donald Worster Last aired: May 24, 2009
Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde Jeff Guinn Last aired: May 24, 2009	A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy Thomas Buergenthal Last aired: May 24, 2009
David Hackett Souter: Traditional Republican on the Rehnquist Court Tinsley Yarbrough Last aired: May 17, 2009	War By Other Means: An Insider's Account of the War on Terror John Yoo Last aired: May 9, 2009
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University Kevin Roose Last aired: May 9, 2009	Life of William Grimes, The Runaway Slave William Andrews; Regina Mason Last aired: May 2, 2009
Book TV Civics Bus - Michael Largo, Genius and Heroin Michael Largo Last aired: April 26, 2009	Walter Isaacson, "Einstein: His Life and Universe" Walter Isaacson Last aired: April 25, 2009
Stand for the Best: What I Learned After Leaving My Job as CEO of H&R Block to Become a Teacher and Founder of an Inner-City Charter School Thomas Bloch Last aired: April 19, 2009	Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People William Iggiagruk Hensley Last aired: April 5, 2009
2008 Miami Book Fair: Art of Biography Panel Nancy Milford; Stacy Schiff; Les Standiford; Edmund White Last aired: April 4, 2009	Angels and Ages: A Short Book about Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life Adam Gopnik Last aired: March 29, 2009
2006 National Book Festival: John Hope Franklin "Mirror to America" John Hope Franklin Last aired: March 28, 2009	Jay Allison, "This I Believe" Jay Allison Last aired: March 22, 2009
Nuclear Heuristics: Selected Writings of Albert and Roberta Wohlstetter Albert Wohlstetter; Roberta Wohlstetter Last aired: March 22, 2009	The Life and Times of the Shah Gholam Reza Afkhami Last aired: March 16, 2009

This Weekend's TV Schedule

Beginning Saturdays at 8am (ET)

Highlights

After Words: Diane Ravitch, "The Death and Life of the Great American School System," interviewed by Valerie Strauss, Washington Post
Next air time: Saturday, March 20th, at 10pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr.

My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer
Anousheh Ansari
Next air time: Saturday, March 20th, at 9:15am (ET)
Approx. 46 min.

The Shadows of Youth: The Remarkable Journey of the Civil Rights Generation
Andrew Lewis
Next air time: Saturday, March 20th, at 2:30pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 31 min.

A Day Late and a Dollar Short: High Hopes and Deferred Dreams in Obama's "Postracial" America
Jon Jeter; Robert Pierre
Next air time: Saturday, March 20th, at 7pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 11 min.

How Capitalism Will Save Us: Why Free People and Free Markets Are the Best Answer in Today's Economy
Steve Forbes
Next air time: Saturday, March 20th, at 9pm (ET)
Approx. 57 min.

The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism
Howard Bloom
Next air time: Sunday, March 21st, at 6:30am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 13 min.

The Idea of Justice
Amartya Sen
Next air time: Sunday, March 21st, at 2:15am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 23 min.

The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves - And Why It Matters
B.R. Myers
Next air time: Sunday, March 21st, at 7pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 8 min.

The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History
Gregory Zuckerman
Next air time: Sunday, March 21st, at 2:30pm (ET)
Approx. 55 min.

Also Airing...

Saturday, March 20th

8am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 6 min.
Working in the Shadows
Gabriel Thompson

9:15am (ET)
Approx. 46 min.
My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer
Anousheh Ansari

10am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 5 min.
James McGrath Morris, "Pulitzer: A Life in Politics. Print, and Power" and Michael Wolff, "The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch"
James McGrath Morris; Michael Wolff

11am (ET)
Approx. 42 min.
2009 Texas Book Festival: Howard Campbell, author of "Drug War Zone: Frontline Dispatches from the Streets of El Paso and Juárez"
Howard Campbell

11:45am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 9 min.
Discussion of Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations"
Samuel Fleischacker; Russell Roberts

1pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 35 min.
Freeing Charles: The Struggle to Free a Slave on the Eve of the Civil War
Scott Christianson

2:30pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 31 min.
The Shadows of Youth: The Remarkable Journey of the Civil Rights Generation
Andrew Lewis

4pm (ET)
Approx. 44 min.
Seeds of Terror: How Heroin Is Bankrolling the Taliban and Al Qaeda
Gretchen Peters

4:45pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 8 min.
Three Days Before the Shooting...
Adam Bradley; John Callahan

6pm (ET)
Approx. 58 min.
Encore Booknotes: Midge Decter "An Old Wife's Tale"
Midge Decter

7pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 11 min.
A Day Late and a Dollar Short: High Hopes and Deferred Dreams in Obama's "Postracial" America
Jon Jeter; Robert Pierre

8:15pm (ET)
Approx. 46 min.
My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer
Anousheh Ansari

9pm (ET)
Approx. 57 min.
How Capitalism Will Save Us: Why Free People and Free Markets Are the Best Answer in Today's Economy
Steve Forbes

10pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr.
After Words: Diane Ravitch, "The Death and Life of the Great American School System," interviewed by Valerie Strauss, Washington Post

11pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 31 min.
The Shadows of Youth: The Remarkable Journey of the Civil Rights Generation
Andrew Lewis

Sunday, March 21st

12:30am (ET)
Approx. 26 min.
Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic that Remains one of Medicine's Greatest Mysteries
Molly Caldwell Crosby

1am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 6 min.
Working in the Shadows
Gabriel Thompson

2:15am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 23 min.
The Idea of Justice
Amartya Sen

3:45am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 9 min.
Discussion of Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations"
Samuel Fleischacker; Russell Roberts

5am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 35 min.
Freeing Charles: The Struggle to Free a Slave on the Eve of the Civil War
Scott Christianson

6:30am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 13 min.
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism
Howard Bloom

8am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 31 min.
The Shadows of Youth: The Remarkable Journey of the Civil Rights Generation
Andrew Lewis

9:30am (ET)
Approx. 33 min.
2009 Miami Book Fair: Tracy Kidder, "Strength in What Remains"
Tracy Kidder

10am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 1 min.
The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger
Kate Pickett; Richard Wilkinson

11am (ET)
Approx. 57 min.
How Capitalism Will Save Us: Why Free People and Free Markets Are the Best Answer in Today's Economy
Steve Forbes

12pm (ET)
Approx. 56 min.
After Words: Bill & Janet Cohen, "Race & Reconciliation," interviewed by Rep. John Lewis

1pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 23 min.
The Idea of Justice
Amartya Sen

2:30pm (ET)
Approx. 55 min.
The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History
Gregory Zuckerman

3:30pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 13 min.
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism
Howard Bloom

5pm (ET)
Approx. 56 min.
The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State
Shane Harris

6pm (ET)
Approx. 59 min.
2010 Tucson Festival of the Book - Timothy Egan
Timothy Egan

7pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 8 min.
The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves - And Why It Matters
B.R. Myers

8:15pm (ET)
Approx. 42 min.
Root and Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle to End Segregation
Rawn James

9pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr.
After Words: Diane Ravitch, "The Death and Life of the Great American School System," interviewed by Valerie Strauss, Washington Post

10pm (ET)
Approx. 55 min.
The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History
Gregory Zuckerman

11pm (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 3 min.
Shaping Foreign Policy in Times of Crisis: The Role of International Law and the State Department Legal Adviser
Michael Scharf; Paul Williams

Monday, March 22nd

12am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr.
After Words: Diane Ravitch, "The Death and Life of the Great American School System," interviewed by Valerie Strauss, Washington Post

1am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 42 min.
The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations
Lee Smith

3am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr.
After Words: Diane Ravitch, "The Death and Life of the Great American School System," interviewed by Valerie Strauss, Washington Post

4am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 8 min.
The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves - And Why It Matters
B.R. Myers

5:15am (ET)
Approx. 1 hr. 4 min.
Discussion on the Afghanistan War
Seth Jones; Mark Moyar

6:15am (ET)
Approx. 46 min.
My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer
Anousheh Ansari

7am (ET)
Approx. 55 min.
The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History
Gregory Zuckerman

Print Schedule

View Schedule

Upcoming Programs

IN DEPTH

In Depth is Book TV's long form LIVE interview call-in program with one author discussing his or her body of work. It airs on the first Sunday of every month, beginning at Noon ET. You can watch previous episodes of In Depth online. In 2010 so far, Michelle Malkin, Paul Johnson, and T.R. Reid have been our guests. You can watch those online.

April--John Dean

Book Festivals

Book TV will be covering several book festivals this spring, including LIVE coverage of the Tucson Book Festival March 13-14, and the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville later in March. In April, plans for coverage include the Annapolis Book Festival as well as the Los Angeles Times Book Fair.