Nigel Hamilton is the author of prize-winning biographies of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and of John F. Kennedy. He is currently a Senior Fellow of the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

This marvelous work--basically, a how-to book--is comprehensive in its treatment of everything necessary to creating a published biography. Hamilton, who has authored biographies of Field Marshall Montgomery, John F. Kennedy, and Bill Clinton, here leaves nothing unsaid on the subject. He thoroughly details biography's agenda and motivation and describes its target audience, who will expect something of a revelation concerning the human condition...He additionally scrutinizes autobiography and memoir writing, the consequence of telling the truth, and biography's afterlife. The exceptional excerpts Hamilton selects from published biographies to illustrate his points are both edifying and entertaining.

• * Introduction I. Getting Started * The Task of Biography * What Is Your Agenda? * Defining Your Audience * Researching Your Subject * The Shape of a Life II. Composing a Life-Story * The Starting Point * Birthing Your Subject * Childhood and Youth * Love Stories * Life's Work * The Twilight Years * Ending Your Story III. Variations on a Theme * Autobiography and Memoirs * Memoir * Truth--and Its Consequences * The Afterlife * Notes * Selected Bibliography * Acknowledgments * Index

Nigel Hamilton is the author of prize-winning biographies of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and of John F. Kennedy. He is currently a Senior Fellow of the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

This marvelous work--basically, a how-to book--is comprehensive in its treatment of everything necessary to creating a published biography. Hamilton, who has authored biographies of Field Marshall Montgomery, John F. Kennedy, and Bill Clinton, here leaves nothing unsaid on the subject. He thoroughly details biography's agenda and motivation and describes its target audience, who will expect something of a revelation concerning the human condition...He additionally scrutinizes autobiography and memoir writing, the consequence of telling the truth, and biography's afterlife. The exceptional excerpts Hamilton selects from published biographies to illustrate his points are both edifying and entertaining.

• * Introduction I. Getting Started * The Task of Biography * What Is Your Agenda? * Defining Your Audience * Researching Your Subject * The Shape of a Life II. Composing a Life-Story * The Starting Point * Birthing Your Subject * Childhood and Youth * Love Stories * Life's Work * The Twilight Years * Ending Your Story III. Variations on a Theme * Autobiography and Memoirs * Memoir * Truth--and Its Consequences * The Afterlife * Notes * Selected Bibliography * Acknowledgments * Index

Nigel Hamilton is the author of prize-winning biographies of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and of John F. Kennedy. He is currently a Senior Fellow of the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

This marvelous work--basically, a how-to book--is comprehensive in its treatment of everything necessary to creating a published biography. Hamilton, who has authored biographies of Field Marshall Montgomery, John F. Kennedy, and Bill Clinton, here leaves nothing unsaid on the subject. He thoroughly details biography's agenda and motivation and describes its target audience, who will expect something of a revelation concerning the human condition...He additionally scrutinizes autobiography and memoir writing, the consequence of telling the truth, and biography's afterlife. The exceptional excerpts Hamilton selects from published biographies to illustrate his points are both edifying and entertaining.

• * Introduction I. Getting Started * The Task of Biography * What Is Your Agenda? * Defining Your Audience * Researching Your Subject * The Shape of a Life II. Composing a Life-Story * The Starting Point * Birthing Your Subject * Childhood and Youth * Love Stories * Life's Work * The Twilight Years * Ending Your Story III. Variations on a Theme * Autobiography and Memoirs * Memoir * Truth--and Its Consequences * The Afterlife * Notes * Selected Bibliography * Acknowledgments * Index