Here is a list of some biographies and autobiographies that I have read, what I thought of them, and some memories I associate with reading them. It may not interest you; I post it here for my own benefit and simple posterity's sake. If you have read any of these or want to discuss them, feel free to comment. Some of these you might be able to borrow from my library if you ask real nicely. This is not a list of recommended reading, however, just some things I happened to have read and still remember. I am writing them down now because my memory is fading fast!
Yeager: An Autobiography by Chuck Yeager. I read it during break time at work the summer after my freshman year of college. I was working 12-hour graveyard shifts as a warehouse-man, driving forklifts and pallet jacks, loading and unloading trucks, stacking and sorting packages and other mind numbing work. I needed something to take my numbed brain off of all that. I needed to SOAR. I flew with Chuck Yeager all summer, trying to drown out the talk in the lunch room from co-workers about Ross Perot as the next great President. This book is only lightly sprinkled with the kind of language you might expect from a combat veteran. He was an American hero and his story deserves to be read.
The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. We read it during part of our family devotional time a couple of years ago. I saw the movie on TV as a tiny tot and didn't remember much from it. The book is rightfully a Christian classic, though I can see the need for a condensed version (which I usually disdain).
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. PLEASE SKIP THE MOVIE AND READ THE BOOK. PLEASE. 'Nuff said. (If you've already seen the movie, I've been told you only know half the story and missed the BEST part. Read the book).
About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior by Colonel David H. Hackworth & Julie Sherman. I think my dad picked this up at the library and started it; not sure if he finished it. I finished it on the couch of my apartment during the summer between my sophomore and junior years of college. I should have been studying more while I took summer classes and worked at the beef packing plant. I remember this as a BIG book - the most decorated soldier in US history has a lot to say. Only some of which is worth hearing.
Iacocca: An Autobiography by Lee Iacocca. In this 1984 volume, he pushed for government bailouts of the automotive industry. I remembered that detail when the bailouts actually took place 20 years after I read the book. I wonder how much of his socialism subtly (and negatively) affected my formative freshman year in college when I was reading his book instead of working on my Computer Science final project, like I should have been.
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. This is part of a trilogy of books by the author on TR. I haven't read the other two but intend to based on the strength of this one. I read this entirely from my bed in the early 2000s while laid up with a horrible stomach virus. As a teenager, I read another excellent TR biography (usually during slow moments in Government class) which impressed me in many ways and which I remember very vividly, but one thing I cannot remember is its title or author. Meanwhile, I finally laid my hands on a copy of The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard, after coveting it since reading its first review over ten years ago. It is on my short list of books to read next.
God's Rascal: J. Frank Norris and the Beginnings of Southern Fundamentalism by Barry Hankins. This is an even-handed treatment of the controversial firebrand preacher and his half-century impact which still reverberates today. Of the three Norris biographies I am aware of, this is the most scholarly and trustworthy.
J. Frank Norris: The Fascinating, Controversial Life of a Forgotten Figure of the Twentieth Century by Michael E. Schepis. I read the Kindle edition of this one. If I remember right, the author is the son of a Norris assistant, so there is some inside information available here that is not in God's Rascal, but I still prefer God's Rascal for clarity and scholarship. There is also The J. Frank Norris I Have Known for 34 Years by Louis Entzminger, which I have not yet read.
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer. Not a biography, per se, of Adolf Hitler, but close enough, and the most classic work on the subject of Nazi Germany in general. I read about half of it during slow class times in the eighth and ninth grade and finally finished it in eleventh grade. I picked it up again a couple years ago and started it with renewed interest and more perspective.
Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") by Adolf Hitler. My math teacher in the eighth grade loaned it to me when he noticed me reading Third Reich. He told me it was drivel but worth a look if I wanted to understand fascism from a first-hand perspective. It was not worth the time to take it off his shelf and I couldn't bring myself to finish it. Meanwhile, I borrowed and devoured quite a few nonfiction books from his library, right there in the classroom. He was a real book lover and loved to share, like me. Witchcraft at Salem was a good documentary book I read from his shelf. I can't even remember the teacher's name now, but he made an impact on me not only with math but also with his generous personal library. If I remember right, he even had lending cards like a regular library.
The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. Skip the movie and read the book. I don't read or like sports biographies or sports books in general, but the author made this one very interesting. The first few chapters are the "evolution of a game" part where he explains the rise in importance of a certain football field position and the history behind it. In my mind, those chapters are the appeal of this book, and they were somewhat glossed over too quickly in the movie.
The First Baptist Church of Dallas: Centennial History (1868-1968) by Leon McBeth. I have previously reviewed this book here. It can be considered more of a biography of a church than of a person, but it has good biographies of several men, most notably George W. Truett and W. A. Criswell, the two long-term pastors of this church. I have almost finished this book now, after putting it down for just a while. I may raise my review from 4 stars to 4.5 as I move further along.
Joni by Joni Eareckson Tada. We read this together in our family devotions last year. This is one of those books that everybody had a copy of when I was growing up, but I never got around to reading. I was only somewhat familiar with the story. It definitely presents a "mainstream" view of the evangelical Christian faith, not at all conservative even by the standards of the time, but still acceptably orthodox and without heresy. We had to read it with discernment and it raised a few worthy discussions. It is an inspiring story and a godly challenge to anyone who thinks they have it rough.
In Memory Yet Green: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920-1954 and In Joy Still Felt: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1954-1978. This is a two volume set, each volume being massive by itself. That didn't stop me from reading it twice - once in high school, and again in college after the good doctor's death. At some point it was condensed into a single smaller volume that still managed to cover the rest of his life after 1978. Obviously the larger set will be the one preferred by Asimov fans such as I used to be. The details of the man's memory and his diary entries are quite amazing. It seemed like he could spend a full chapter describing his baby nursery and the next chapter his toddler playmates, all recorded faithfully in his diary. I exaggerate, but you get the idea. Only for the true fanatic, not for the casual fan. However, I was not exactly a fanatic, just a bored teenager who should have been doing something more constructive. I wonder now how many times I could have read through the Bible or Matthew Henry in the time I spent reading these massive tomes.
Just a Country Preacher: B. R. Lakin by Angela Elwell Hunt. This book is boring in parts, but small enough that you feel like you ought to go ahead and finish it. Lakin was just that, "just a country preacher." Nothing flashy, nothing dazzling; and so it shouldn't surprise you that his life story is fairly plain. Any preacher ought to read it for some encouragement and some funny anecdotes and pulpit quips. I read it on a plane to and from New Jersey and in the hotel room in the summer of 2013 while travelling for IBM.
Hit and Run: The Jimi Hendrix Story by Jerry Hopkins. I don't remember why I spent so much time on my grandparents' couch, but I think I read this entire book while lying on it over several weeks in the mid-1980s. And probably a book about Eric Clapton as well, that title escaping me now. There's so much more better reading I should have been doing if I was in fact marooned on that couch for some reason. I would like to look back more fondly on memories of lying there reading Pilgrim's Progress or a missionary biography, but alas, all I remember is Jimi.
David Livingstone (A Guessing Book) by Fern Neal Stocker. This is an EXCELLENT book to read with children, as we did about seven or eight years ago. It is almost like a "choose your own adventure" but there is only one right answer to each guess. You will be amazed how well your kids can choose the right answer that best glorifies God. It is an exercise in righteous judgment as well as a true adventure.
Give Me That Prime-Time Religion by Jerry Sholes. This man was on the inside of the Oral Roberts ministry and saw all the dishonesty and hypocrisy first hand - as a part of it! Some of this was probably shocking when the book was first published in 1979, but we're used to it by now in the Pentacostal / Charismatic movement. I read most of this in some spare time during a family vacation and finished it in disgust at home.
I Was Wrong by Jim Bakker. In this 647 page monster of a book, Bakker never once admits to doing anything that deserved his prison time. But he does confess to being a false religious teacher. That's kind of refreshing. It would be more refreshing if he would get off TV for good, even if he isn't teaching the same old word-faith heresies as before. I was reminded of this when I read these words about Bakker just last week: "Through Christ’s blood, God forgives sin that is confessed and repented of by true and sincere believers, but preachers who have brought this level of public reproach upon the cause of Jesus Christ should be content to keep their mouths shut and to stay out of the ministry, even if they are sound in doctrine, which Bakker certainly isn’t." (David W. Cloud).
The Jim Thorpe Story: America's Greatest Athlete by Gene Schoor. It is probably age appropriate for middle-schoolers to early high-schoolers. I read it mainly in the restroom about five years ago. The movie starring Burt Lancaster is much more memorable - a real classic ("Jim Thorpe, All American").
Fanny Crosby (Heroes of the Faith) by Ruffin Bernard. The Heroes of the Faith series is great for any age group. We read this during our devotional time a long, long time ago. Any good biography of "Aunt Fanny" and how she overcame her blindness by ministering to others in music will be a wonderful read. She was an American treasure.
Jerry Falwell : Aflame for God by Gerald S. Strober. This was published in 1979 before Falwell took his final turn away from biblical separatism. The book is generally an encouragement for a preacher to read, and in some ways a cautionary tale as well, when read with the discernment of knowing where this ministry has ended up.
Stories I Couldn't Tell While I Was a Pastor by Bruce McIver. Some of this is kind of funny, some kind of sad. I did find myself wishing it was full of more stories and less biography. It is still a worthwhile read for a pastor in the trenches.
Treason (The American Story) by David Nevin. This is actually not a biography, but historical fiction. Nevin sticks to the facts, but has to invent dialog, all in-line though with what is known about the historical figures. This book is part of Nevin's larger series of the Jefferson / Madison presidencies and deals specifically with Aaron Burr and his attempt to start his own country after he shot down Hamilton in the famous duel. This is probably as close to a full biography of Burr that any author cares to approach. The other David Nevin books around the same period are also fascinating: Dream West, 1812, The Eagle's Cry and Meriwether. I read them all from the library about 15 years ago and really ought to get around to buying them.
That's all for tonight. I might remember some more later and post them here as well. What biographies have you read?
VM
