Great biographies which we have read

[storeynicholas]

My request here is for recommendations of members' favourite biographies. I own scores: from Sir Richard Burton to Vivien Leigh and from Gloria Swanson to Sir Winston Churchill; Thomas de Quincey's Confessions of an Opium Eater is one of my great favourites - the pages of the manuscript were stained with the pink rings from his glasses of laudanum - and the house where he wrote it is now the delightful Sofra Turkish restaurant in Covent Garden.
NJS.

[storeynicholas]

Here are some to start off:
A L Rowse's Sir Richard Grenville of the Revenge
Jasper Ridley's Palmerston
Martin Gilbert's The Last Lion (WSC)
NJS

[marcelo]

My favaourit quotation from Palmerston is:

“... it is to the interest of the community of nations that no nation should acquire such a preponderance as to endanger the security of the rest; and it is for the advantage of all that the smaller Powers should be respected in their independence and not swallowed up by their more powerful neighbours. That is the doctrine of the balance of power, and it is a doctrine worthy of being acted upon.” (Lord Palmerston, “The balance of power defended”, 1864)

The doctrine of balance has been declared dead many a time. But Palmerston’s point is still worth of consideration. Does Jasper Ridley's biography discuss this point?

The best biography I have read over the last few months is Nicola Lacey’s A Life of H.L.A. Hart: The Nightmare and the Noble Dream. Hart’s father, by the way, was a well-known tailor. It is incredible how much we learn from other persons’ lives.

[Concordia]

Richard Osborne's full-length bio of Herbert von Karajan is a model of its kind.

Jan Swafford's book on Johannes Brahms is also very fine.

[storeynicholas]

Marcelo - my lasting impression was that Palmerston meant that no one should share any balance of power (especially by sea) with Britain and that no one should disturb it - Don Pacifico - send a Naval squadron - the Civis Romanus sum speech and so on!

Concordia - I haven't read any biographies of composers but shall set that straight.
NJS

[marcelo]

Balance of power is a polysemic expression. In one sense, it means the shared exercise of power. If power were not shared, there would hardly be any reasons to speak of a balance, in this one sense. I think the idea underlying the Concert of Europe was this conception of shared exercise of power. But, indeed, the expression can also mean the opposite of shared exercise of power, when it is used to convey the idea that one specific actor in the international political system has the power to prevent other actors from becoming too powerful. One actor, in this sense, is said to hold the balance of power. This actor was, for some time, Britain. Yet, I am not sure if, at least for rhetorical purposes, Palmerstone would not have occasionally endorsed the first sense. - His biography might give us some clue in this regard.

Now, returning to the subject matter of the present thread, if one is willing to extend ‘biographies’ to documentaries, I should like to mention DIE MANNS, a co-production by Bavaria Film, WDR, et alia. The 3-DVD documentary presents the history of the Mann Family, from the Brazilian-born mother of Thomas and Heinrich Mann as far as the latter’s grandson, including, of course, Klaus Mann, Katja Mann, Golo Mann, among other members of the family. Thomas Mann himself was an elegant cigar smoker. Towards the end of his life, short of inspiration and too old to indulge himself in otherwise jolly activities, he declared he had no pleasures other than to smoke and sip over a cup of coffee. - This may possibly aduce some material to Nicholas’ latest speculations on an alleged conflict between the elegant and the healthy life. In one of the episodes, Thomas Mann’s private secretary during the exile in California recalls the day when she saw him for the first time; he was so impeccably well-dressed in a white suit that, she says, he looked like a God coming out of the Olympus.

[storeynicholas]

Gosh! Marcelo - I think that one could write a doctoral thesis on the foreign policy of Lord Palmerston! Just taking his attitudes towards the Ottoman Empire and the Austo-Hungarian and then the seizing of power by Louis Napoleon in France, one can see that he was concerned with stability arising from a balance of power, in one sense - but my (dilettante) impression is that the conflicts with Russia, the 2 Opium Wars (leading to the lease over Hong Kong) and his famed 'gunboat diplomacy' (exemplified by the Don Pacifico incident) all render him one of the most fervent exponents of British expansionism in the world at large - he even favoured a divided north America for the sake of diminishing the overall power of the undivided whole, in relation to British power. So, in short, I think that he had nationalistic objectives, typical of his time and breed. Very much a man of fashion and a roue - 'Pam' was, nevertheless, a man of considerable ability who (despite the fact that he disfavoured anything close to universal suffrage) earned the respect and affection of the British people, as evidenced by his two terms as Prime Minister.

On the Mann family - quite fascinating and I shall endeavour to view this.
NJS

[rjman]

I like memoirs... I suppose in preference to biographies... Those of Dirk Bogarde are quite compelling, as are those of Gore Vidal, Palimpsest. Baron Alexis de Rede wrote a short set of memoirs with pretty pictures which was privately published and is quite gorgeous.

For biographies, I very much liked Robin Lane Fox's biography of Alexander. On a glitzier note, Shawn Levy did a very entertaining one of Porfirio Rubirosa.

[Costi]

Apropos memoirs, I very much enjoyed the imaginary memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar - a subtle form of romanced biography actually: the recreation of an ancient empire as seen through the eyes of an emperor.

[marcelo]

Indeed, memoirs are also a source of inspiration in many respects. I am about to finish the Memoirs of the Duke of the Windsor. The text, it must be remembered, was polished off by a journalist and possibly one will never know how much of it was changed and how much of it flowed directly out of the Duke’s pen, unless of course the MS was kept. The book has many remarks on the Duke’s interest for cloths. His uncle Arthur is reported to have known everything about regimental ties and the likes of this.

This reading led me to acquire the 2-DVD BBC production Edward & Mrs. Simpson. Apart from the good interpretation by Edward Fox as Edward, the cloths shown are also fine examples of the good taste which prevailed in the thirties.

[whittaker]

Like others I share a distinct preference for autobiographies.

Having said that, I enjoyed Graham Robb's compelling "Rimbaud".

[dlloyd9999]

I would highly recommend a duet: "Reminiscences" by Douglas MacArthur followed immediately by "American Caesar" by William Manchester. The dichotomy of the two authors' recollections and interpretations is fascinating. Say what you will, MacArthur was an amazing individual.

D

[Cordovan]

Here are some to start off:
A L Rowse's Sir Richard Grenville of the Revenge
Jasper Ridley's Palmerston
Martin Gilbert's The Last Lion (WSC)
NJS

I agree with The Last Lion choice, but that was written by William Manchester. It was to have been 3 volumes, but the author passed on in the middle of completing the 3rd tome.

Another selection of mine would definitely be Benjamin Franklin's autobiography.

Cordovan

[storeynicholas]

Cordovan, you are quite right - I mixed up The Wilderness Years (which covers a similar period by Martin Gilbert) with The Last Lion, as you say, by William Manchester. I also enjoyed Long Sunset which was by Churchill's last private secretary Anthony Montague Browne.
NJS

[hgb3]

Here are some I have read recently:
The Last American Aristocrat (David Bruce)
Old Men Forget (Duff Cooper)
The Diaries of Chips Channon
The Diaries of Evelyn Waugh