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Biographies

A good biography invites you into someone else’s life. It takes you on fascinating journeys through the ups and downs of the life of legendary film stars, talented musicians, inspiring athletes, visionary politicians and many more. A good biography lets you get under the skin of your biggest idols, and you feel collected when reading their story - maybe even in the form of their own words. You will find both biographies and autobiographies in Tales’ selection, in addition to diaries and memoirs. So are you ready to be inspired by some of the world’'s most extraordinary individuals?
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  • Save 20%
    by Nightscape
    £11.99

    One of the UK's most exciting online creators wants to change your life by showing you the world from a different angle.

  • Save 24%
    - From the Battle of Rzhev to the Discovery of Hitler's Berlin Bunker
    by Elena Rzhevskaya
    £18.99

    Prizes including the Andrei Sakharov Prize i?1/2For Writer's Civic Couragei?1/2 (1996, Russia), Gold medal of Russian Writers Union (1987) i?1/2Venetsi?1/2 (i?1/2The Crowni?1/2) prize of Moscow Union of Writer and two-time i?1/2Moscow Newsi?1/2 newspaper prize winner

  • - An Analysis of the Netflix Series The Crown
    by Hugo Vickers
    £5.49

  • - The Life And Times Of Robert Capa
    by Alex Kershaw
    £19.49

    An evocative biography of the incomparable Robert Capa, the most famous photojournalist of the twentieth century

  • Save 23%
    - A Life In Dance
    by Jennifer Dunning
    £16.99

    Alvin Ailey (1931--1989) was a choreographic giant in the modern dance world and a champion of African-American talent and culture. His interracial Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater provided opportuni

  • - A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones
    by Robert Greenfield
    £17.49

    The shocking, decadent, true story behind the making of the Rolling Stones' beloved double album Exile on Main Street

  • by Janet Teal Daniel
    £11.99

  • by PH D Phyllis Chesler
    £13.99

  • Save 10%
    - A Memoir of the Secretary to Goebbels
    by Brunhilde Pomsel
    £8.99

    The stenographer to Goebbels reflects on how she perceived her work at the centre of the Nazi operation, achieving a powerful reflection on the banality of evil.

  • Save 13%
    - Living the Code On and Off the Battlefield
    by Kris Paronto
    £12.99

    Discover the USA Today bestselling self-help memoir from a former Army Ranger, a hero of the 2012 Benghazi siege, and the subject of the book and movie 13 Hours, as he shares life-changing lessons of discipline, motivation, success, and peace.

  • Save 28%
    - Immagini Di Una Vita/A Life in Pictures
    by Pino Allievi
    £31.49

    Michael Schumacher: the greatest of all time. A champion with a reputation founded on records, the man who has brought most glory to Ferrari in the modern era. With a dramatic coda to the story that we like to think of as a pit stop before a return to the race, to normality.

  • Save 15%
    - The Memoirs of Joseph Pilyushin
    by Joseph Pilyushin
    £10.99

    Graphic memoir of a Red Army sniper during the siege of Leningrad.

  • Save 20%
    - Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm and the Sinking of El Faro
    by Rachel Slade
    £11.99

    In the tradition of The Perfect Storm and Into Thin Air, Rachel Slade's Into the Raging Sea is a nail-biting account of the sinking of the container ship El Faro, the crew of thirty-three who perished onboard, and the destructive forces of globalisation that put the ship in harm's way.

  • - A Life
    by Clarissa Campbell Orr
    £33.99

    The first comprehensive biography of Mary Granville Delany-the artist and court insider whose wide-ranging legacy still reverberates today

  • Save 17%
    - A Situationist Detective Story
    by Fred Vermorel
    £14.99

    A crime and a six-decade cover-up: the death of a fashion designer in the cesspit of vice and violence that was 1950s London.In 1954, Jean Mary Townsend was strangled with her own scarf and stripped of her underwear but not sexually assaulted. The subsequent police investigation was bungled, leading to a six-decade cover-up, ensuring that this twenty-one-year-old fashion designer was effectively killed twice: first bodily, and then as her significance and her memory were erased. Fred Vermorel's forensic, troubling (and trouble-making) investigation digs deep into Jean Townsend's life and times, and her transgressive bohemian milieu. It disentangles the lies and bluffs that have obscured this puzzling case for over half a century and offers a compelling solution to her murder and the official secrecy surrounding it. More than just a true crime story, Vermorel's investigation deploys Townsend's death as a wild card methodology for probing the 1950s: a cesspit of vice and violence, from coprophiles to bombsite gangs and flick knives in the cinema. Densely illustrated with archival material, Dead Fashion Girl is a heavily researched, darkly curious exposé of London's 1950s society that touches on celebrity, royalty, the postwar establishment, and ultimately, tragedy.

  • Save 18%
    - Two Men, a Wonder Pig, and Their Life-Changing Mission to Give Animals a Home
    by Caprice Crane
    £17.99

    From the New York Times bestselling authors and loving owners of Esther the Wonder Pig, comes a new memoir about their new life on the Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary which is anything but boring.

  • Save 13%
    - Riding with the Ghost
    by Erin Osmon
    £12.99

    With a new foreword by Will Johnson, this book presents a detailed account of the Rust Belt-born prolific and at times cantankerous singer-songwriter Jason Molina. As the first authorized account of this self-mythologizer, the book provides unparalleled insight into Molina's tormented life and the Midwest musical underground that birthed him.

  • Save 23%
    - How One Ordinary Brit Went to War Against ISIS
    by Ed Nash
    £15.49

    A modern classic in the making, Desert Sniper will prove to be one of the most unforgettable accounts to emerge from the war against ISIS.

  • Save 16%
    - The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon
    by Maxine Gordon
    £20.99

    Sophisticated Giant presents the life and legacy of tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon (1923-1990), one of the major innovators of modern jazz. In a context of biography, history, and memoir, Maxine Gordon has completed the book that her late husband began, weaving his "solo" turns with her voice and a chorus of voices from past and present. Reading like a jazz composition, the blend of research, anecdote, and a selection of Dexter's personal letters reflects his colorful life and legendary times. It is clear why the celebrated trumpet genius Dizzy Gillespie said to Dexter, "Man, you ought to leave your karma to science." Dexter Gordon the icon is the Dexter beloved and celebrated on albums, on film, and in jazz lore--even in a street named for him in Copenhagen. But this image of the cool jazzman fails to come to terms with the multidimensional man full of humor and wisdom, a figure who struggled to reconcile being both a creative outsider who broke the rules and a comforting insider who was a son, father, husband, and world citizen. This essential book is an attempt to fill in the gaps created by our misperceptions as well as the gaps left by Dexter himself.

  • Save 15%
    by Joseph Farrell
    £10.99

    The story of the last years of the author of Treasure Island and Jekyll and Hyde, lived out in the earthly paradise of the Samoan Islands. Shortlised for the Saltire Society Non Fiction Book of the Year Award

  • Save 27%
    by Catherine Grenier
    £21.99

    This comprehensive biography of the sculptor Alberto Giacometti takes in the early influences, the turn from cubism to surrealism and beyond. Published in collaboration with exhibitions at the Fondation Beyeler, Guggenheim and Musee Maillol.

  • Save 23%
    by Sidney Luft
    £15.49

  • Save 15%
    - Inspiration and Insights from the World's Greatest Martial Artist
    by Bruce Lee
    £10.99

    Named one of TIME magazine's 100 Greatest Men of the Century, Bruce Lee's impact and influence has only grown since his untimely death in 1973

  • Save 11%
    - How the FBI took on Mexico's most violent drugs cartel
    by Melissa Del Bosque
    £7.99

    The downfall of Miguel Trevino of Mexico's Los Vetas drug cartel was orchestrated by the FBI after an unlikely lead at an Oklahoma horse auction, with the story of this sequence of events offering a gritty immersion in horse crime and the war on drugs from Emmy-winning investigative journalist Melissa del Bosque.

  • Save 13%
    - Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up
    by Naya (Naya Rivera) Rivera
    £19.99

  • by Beans on Toast
    £9.49

    Drunk Folk Stories is a collection of ten, short, true-life stories about songwriting, travelling and drinking from the Essex born songwriter and cult figure Beans on Toast. He's played every bar, club, venue, pub, festival, party and honkytonk you can think of and he's lived to tell the tale. A true one-of-a-kind storyteller and wordsmith.

  • by Adolf Hitler
    £31.49

  • - A Life In Supercross
    by Jeremy McGrath
    £12.99

    Jeremy McGrath has been called 'the Michael Jordan of Supercross' by the Los Angeles Times, and in this revealing autobiography fans not only get his personal story, but also a detailed guide on how everyone can become a Supercross racer. The No 1 Supercross racer in the world - who has over 20 sponsors, his own film company, a toy line, Nintendo and Playstation games, and a signature shoe by Vans - talks about his life and the sport. Supercross started out as a redneck '70s sideshow, but thanks largely to Jeremy McGrath it has become a massive extreme sport. Over the last three years, AMA Supercross attendance has mushroomed from 700,000 spectators a year to 1.5 million. This book will satisfy even the most hardcore fans, as it not only gives you the life and times of Jeremy McGrath, but acts as the calling card to the entire sport by including unique sections on how to become a Supercross racer, the workout regimes, fixing common bike problems, and more.

  • by Robin Lee Graham
    £12.99

    In 1965, 16-year-old Robin Lee Graham began a solo around-the-world voyage from San Pedro, California, in a 24-foot sloop. Five years and 33,000 miles later, he returned to home port with a wife and daughter and enough extraordinary experiences to fill this bestselling book, Dove.

Biographies
Biographies books are per definition a collection of someone’s life. That someone is mostly a celebrity and often comes from the world of entertainment for example a famous movie or television star. A good biography lets you under the skin of the subject. Biographies are mostly written by biography authors, who are specialized in capturing the life of another person through research and multiple interviews with both the individual and his or her relatives. The celebrity or icon can also choose to write his or her own story, which is what characterizes an autobiography. An autobiography can - if the writer is good - give you a more intimate picture of the subject. You can both find biographies and autobiographies in Tales’ wide selection of Biographies. 

Biographies best sellers
Tales’ selection contains most of the biographies best sellers. The biographies books are often about celebrities known from film, television or the music industry, but they can also be about inspiring trailblazers from the societal or political world like the biography best seller Becoming about Michelle Obama. The American first lady has inspired many Americans and people around the world. Her and her husband - the first black American first lady and President - made many extraordinary changes in the American society and advocated for more diversity and respect in the American people. Michelle Obama also fights for more equality, especially when it comes to girls and women. Read the inspiring story of how Michelle Obama became one of our times most popular, kind and obliging residents of the White House in her biography Becoming, and let it guide you to finding our own voice. 
Another best seller is Three Women by Lisa Taddeo. Taddeo has written an innovative biography that is a collection of three American women's lives. The biography is an investigation of the female lust in all its complexity. Many women have expressed that they can reflect their own life and feelings of desire in the book. 

Biographies about musicians
Take a look in our selection and find some of the best biographies about musicians. The selection has something for every taste, because you find accounts about musicians from every end of the spectre. Whether you like rock, jazz, classical music, pop or musicals you will find biographies about musicians representing every genre. 
Take for example the autobiography Me Elton John, who has gained extraordinary reviews and success all around the world making the Elton John biography an international best seller. The book is the only official biography made about the iconic musician and singer. Read the incredible and turbulent story about one of our biggest stars to date, and you might learn the secrets behind writing and performing hit after hit.
You can also dive into the fascinating story of the musical legend Julie Andrews. In the biography Home you can read about her journey from London to Broadway stardom. The triple threat is the woman behind legendary roles such as Mary Poppins and Maria from The Sound of Music, and you can follow her journey through Hollywood in the sequel Home Work. Julie Andrews is the writer of her own story and she writes in an intimate and heart-warming narrative. 

Biographies about artists
Are you an art lover, art student or an artist yourself? Then we would recommend you to find inspiration in our biographies about artists. Our collection of biographies contains among others the book Frida Kahlo - A Biography written by Claudia Schaefer. Schaefer gives an introduction to the beloved Latino artist. Frida Kahlo is one of modern times greatest female artists and her surrealist artworks are extraordinary. The biography introduces the reader to her unique form of art - Kahlo did not see herself as a surrealist - but it also gives a look into the artist behind the world famous works of art. If you want to dive into the lives of amazing artists, the story of Kahlo is just one of many wonderful biographies about artists. 

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