Historical Biography

This is a fascinating book that people have been talking about making into a movie for a decade. It’s the true story of General Alex Dumas, the mixed-race son of a French nobleman and an enslaved woman from Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), who rose to become one of the most celebrated military leaders of Revolutionary France. He was born into slavery but freed as a child, then ascended through the ranks of the Army on merit and charisma, commanding armies and earning the loyalty of thousands before being imprisoned without trial for political reasons. He was an exceptional leader and soldier who fought in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, but his achievements were nearly erased from history. Dumas’ story inspired his son, the novelist Alexandre Dumas, in works like The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.

A narrative of Captain James Cook’s third and final voyage, beginning in 1776, and the impacts it had on the world and the places he visited, ranging from modern-day New Zealand to Hawaii and Alaska. It follows Cook as he maps the Pacific’s unknown (to Europeans) coastlines while returning a Tahitian named Mai to his homeland. Cook is now often reviled, but Sides shows that he was also known for outstanding seamanship, curiosity, and humane command, and was aware at the time of the harm his visits could cause (his crew left an outbreak of untreatable syphilis in their wake, for instance) and that he often tried quite hard to mitigate that, though unsuccessfully. Things unraveled after his return to Hawaii, where mounting tension, shifting behavior, and imperial objectives climaxed in Cook’s fatal clash with islanders. Reading Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel alongside this one will provide an interesting perspective on the events that transpired in the wake of Cook’s travels.

If you’re in the military or work with the DOD, you should read this one. It’s the story of John Boyd, a brilliant but often abrasive U.S. Air Force colonel whose ideas reshaped aerial combat and modern military strategy. Boyd’s innovations included the Energy–Maneuverability Theory, which transformed fighter jet design, and the OODA Loop (Observe–Orient–Decide–Act), a decision-making framework now used far beyond the military. Coram frames Boyd’s life as one of relentless intellectual combat—against bureaucracy, conventional thinking, and his own limitations—highlighting how a single-minded pursuit of truth can change entire systems.

A biography of Senior Chief Shannon Kent, a Navy cryptologic linguist who supported special operations units hunting high-value targets across the Middle East. It follows her path through language and SIGINT work, her fight to keep serving after cancer treatment and a blocked commissioning attempt, her marriage to Green Beret Joe Kent, and her life as a mother of two. The story builds to her final deployment to Syria and her death in the 2019 Manbij bombing, and it captures the tempo, tradecraft, and costs of modern special operations. One thing that stuck with me was something that her husband said after her death: “I still have a hard time comprehending the finality of her death - never again is a long time for a mother not to see her boys, a long time for soul mates to not speak to each other. I can explain almost everything about how she died from the strategic to the nitty-gritty tactical reasons, but I can't wrap my head around its eternity.”

The true account of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914–1917 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, reconstructed from crew diaries, logs, and interviews. When their ship, Endurance, became trapped and crushed in the Weddell Sea ice, Shackleton led his 27-man crew through months of drifting floes, a perilous open-boat journey to Elephant Island, and an 800-mile crossing of the Southern Ocean in a small lifeboat to South Georgia. Lansing’s narrative shows how leadership, discipline, and collective resilience turned a doomed expedition into one of history’s greatest survival stories.

Ben Macintyre is another writer that you can’t go wrong with. This one is the story of Kim Philby, the high-ranking British intelligence officer who spied for the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Drawing on declassified files and first-hand accounts, Macintyre focuses on Philby’s friendships within MI6, especially with Nicholas Elliott, to show how trust, charm, and personal loyalty allowed him to operate undetected for decades. It’s a study of betrayal and the human factors that undermine even the most disciplined intelligence services.

The true story of Ursula Kuczynski, a German-born communist, Soviet spymaster, and one of the most successful female intelligence agents of the 20th century. Operating under the code name “Sonya,” she moved through war zones and political upheavals from China to Britain, all while raising a family and maintaining the façade of an ordinary life. Macintyre follows her role in passing atomic secrets to the Soviets and evading some of the best counterintelligence services in the world. Her skill, nerve, and discipline made her a master of her trade.

Another fascinating person and bit of history that had a surprisingly large impact on the globe. We can trace some of what’s happening in Central America today to what Sam Zemurray began in concert with the US government in the early 1900s, all to sell more bananas. This book is the story of Samuel Zemurray, a Russian immigrant who arrived in America with nothing and built a banana empire that reshaped the fruit industry and influenced U.S. foreign policy. Zemurray rose from selling overripe bananas off a New Orleans dock to running United Fruit. He became a key figure in government coups, corporate intrigue, and shaped the geopolitics of Central America.

An excellent study on leadership. This book examines how Abraham Lincoln built and led a cabinet made up of his political opponents, transforming them from rivals into a unified team during the nation’s most perilous years. Drawing on deep historical research, Doris Kearns Goodwin shows how Lincoln’s empathy, patience, and political skill enabled him to manage clashing personalities, navigate intense partisan divides, and preserve the Union through the Civil War.

The story of Pat Tillman, the NFL player who left a lucrative career to enlist in the U.S. Army after 9/11. Jon Krakauer traces Tillman’s journey from his unconventional upbringing to his service as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan, where he was killed by friendly fire. The book examines the circumstances of his death, the military’s handling of the incident, and the contrast between the public narrative and the complex reality of Tillman’s life and values.

The biography of Mithradates VI of Pontus, one of Rome’s most formidable enemies and a master of political intrigue. He was a brilliant strategist and a ruthless ruler. He was famous for his experiments with poisons and antidotes, and he defied the Roman Republic for decades.

Chief Joseph was the leader of the Nez Perce people during his 1877 effort to lead his people on a 1,400-mile journey to freedom rather than submit to life on a reservation. Nerburn uses historical records with a narrative style that brings out Joseph’s tactical brilliance, moral conviction, and the tragic inevitability of the U.S. Army’s pursuit. His "I shall fight no more forever" speech should be much more well-known than it is. 

This is one of the most influential military biographies of the twentieth century, written by British strategist B. H. Liddell Hart, whose ideas shaped modern operational theory. Hart portrays how William Tecumseh Sherman’s grasp of total war, maneuver, and the psychological dimensions of conflict placed him decades ahead of his peers. Sherman emerges as a soldier who understood war’s brutality and its political consequences, and as a realist who believed in swift, decisive campaigns to shorten suffering. The book has been praised for reframing Sherman as more than the destroyer of the South, showing him as a thinker who anticipated modern doctrines of mobility, logistics, and combined operations. Critics, however, point out that Liddell Hart occasionally projects his own strategic ideas onto Sherman, making the biography as much about Hart’s interpretation of warfare as Sherman himself. It’s especially valuable if you’re reading it alongside works like Boyd or Team of Teams, where individual leaders reshape the art of war.

The true story of Louis Zamperini, a rebellious kid turned Olympic runner whose life was upended by World War II. After his bomber went down over the Pacific, Zamperini drifted for 47 days on a life raft, fighting off sharks, starvation, and enemy aircraft. Captured by the Japanese, he then endured brutal years in prisoner-of-war camps, surviving a campaign of cruelty that sought to break him physically and mentally. Hillenbrand tells this tale with the pacing of a novel, but what sets it apart is the unflinching look at the depths of human endurance and the strength of will to overcome suffering.