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Historical & Political Biographies

If you are interested in following a politician's remarkable life and their quest for the top of politics or getting really close to well-known or ordinary people and their lives back in history, then you will be able to find it here. Tales.as has compiled a large selection of over 10,000 exciting books on historical and political biographies. Find inspiration on everything from our international, best and new as well as older political biographies to the best and most exciting historical biographies of famous people from World War II. We are convinced that there is certainly a book that you will like, and thus a high probability of finding your next reading experience about exciting life stories here.
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  • Save 24%
    by Solomon Schmidt
    £18.99

    The only biography of America’s most controversial lawyer.Legal Gladiator is the story of perhaps the greatest lawyer in American history. It is the story of a poor, failing high schooler from Brooklyn who became the youngest professor in the history of Harvard Law School, where Elena Kagan, Mike Pompeo, Natalie Portman, Ted Cruz, and others sat under his tutelage. It is the story of a passionate Zionist who advocated for Israel on the world stage and became a confidant of Israeli prime ministers, including Benjamin Netanyahu. And it is the story of a zealous young liberal who, as an old man, stood in front of the Senate to declare that they would be violating the Constitution by removing a Republican president he himself opposed. As a lawyer, Alan Dershowitz has had a major impact on the most notorious legal cases in modern U.S. history. From Claus von Bulow to Mike Tyson to O.J. Simpson to Jeffrey Epstein to Donald Trump, he has devoted his life to championing the bedrock principle of the American justice system: that every person—no matter how despised—has the right to a rigorous legal defense. Legal Gladiator explores Dershowitz’s rise to prominence, gives the inside story of his most high-profile cases and controversies, and provides a shockingly intimate look into his personal life. Dershowitz gave author Solomon Schmidt unprecedented access to his personal and professional life, including his private archives at Brooklyn College and dozens of interviews with him virtually and in New York City, Miami, Martha’s Vineyard, and Israel. This book includes exclusive interview content from Bob Shapiro, Jeffrey Toobin, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Glenn Greenwald, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Eliot Spitzer, Justice Stephen Breyer, Mike Huckabee, Woody Allen, Noam Chomsky, Geraldo Rivera, Mike Pompeo, Megyn Kelly, Mike Tyson, Ted Cruz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Donald Trump, among others.

  • Save 13%
  • Save 15%
    by Gemma Morgan
    £10.99

    This is a fascinating insight into a macho, male-dominated world where reality is so grotesquely distorted from the public perception. Read it, believe it, because sometimes the truth is far more incredible than fiction.TERRY BUTCHER, Captain of England Football Team Her husband found her by the roadside, delirious and choking on her own vomit. Gemma Morgan was 33, happily married with two young children, an outstanding army service record and a first-class international sporting career. But underneath she was a wreck, surviving on a cocktail of vodka, Valium and sleeping pills. Misogyny, sexual abuse and toxic masculinity had been the daily realities of her Army career long before being deployed unarmed and unsupported to the blood and mayhem of a war zone. When Gemma gave birth to a baby girl, motherhood left her lost and alienated, a soldier who had deliberately suppressed her femininity with no idea how to cope. Together, these experiences triggered a mental health crisis that led her to become suicidal, battling PTSD, betrayed and abandoned by the institution to which she had devoted seven years of her life. With the support of her family Gemma has been on a long, hard and bumpy road to recovery. This is her story in her own words. She has told it to inspire a fierce and urgent call for change.  Gemma speaks with powerful vulnerability - you could hear a pin drop. JODIE KIDD Model, Racing Driver and TV Personality

  • Save 23%
    by Kate Fullagar
    £15.49

    The first joint biography of Bennelong and Governor Arthur Phillip, two pivotal figures in Australian history – the colonised and coloniser – and a bold and innovative new portrait of both.   Bennelong and Phillip were leaders of their two sides in the first encounters between Britain and Indigenous Australians, Phillip the colony’s first governor, and Bennelong the Yiyura leader. The pair have come to represent the conflict that flared and has never settled.   Fullagar’s account is also the first full biography of Bennelong of any kind and it challenges many misconceptions, among them that he became alienated from his people and that Phillip was a paragon of Enlightenment benevolence. It tells the story of the men’s marriages, including Bennelong’s best-known wife, Barangaroo, and Phillip’s unusual domestic arrangements, and places the period in the context of the Aboriginal world and the demands of empire.   To present this history afresh, Bennelong & Phillip relates events in reverse, moving beyond the limitations of typical Western ways of writing about the past, which have long privileged the coloniser over the colonised. Bennelong’s world was hardly linear at all, and in Fullagar’s approach his and Phillip’s histories now share an equally unfamiliar framing.

  • Save 14%
    by Matt Chorley
    £9.49 - 18.99

  • by Chitralekha Zutshi
    £24.99

    A compelling biography of Sheikh Abdullah, the charismatic, combative, and controversial Kashmiri politician

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    £66.99

    Interesting facets of his life in India are revealed through these letters, which also bring out his remarkable power of writing. There is an interesting correspondence about his meeting with Dwarkanath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore's father, and other well-known luminaries of Cal-cutta.

  • by Terry Breverton
    £10.49

    An entertaining and well-researched volume tracing the highly exciting life of Bartholomew Roberts or Black Bart (1682-1722), the Pembrokeshire-born last great pirate whose travels from Britain to America and from the West Indies islands to the African coast caused much fear and gained him much notoriety. 13 black-and-white illustrations and 3...

  • by Vartan Tachdjian
    £14.99 - 25.99

  • by John Robinson
    £25.49 - 32.99

  • by Boris Frankel
    £20.99

    This book is a dramatic account of the making of a family of 'subversives' in Australia and the USSR during the Cold War. It also captures the texture of everyday life in Australia and Russia, with humour and insight. Importantly, it is much more than a tale of dreams and deceptions. It is an unflinching chronicle of love and courage in the face of concerted opposition by both the Menzies' authoritarian government of 'illiberal democracy' and the Soviet dictatorship. Above all, it is a story of idealism, illusions, resistance, and radicalisation. No other Australian family went through the extraordinary experiences detailed in this unconventional historical memoir.No Country for Idealists deals with how Abraham and Tania Frankel came to Australia from Russia and Poland, their active political and social life in Melbourne, being targeted by ASIO as subversives. They were interrogated by ASIO because of their association with Vladimir Petrov and other Soviet diplomats.The family's departure from Australia for the Soviet Union in 1956 was front-page news, but their arrival in the USSR shattered their ideals.Isolated in Kerch, Crimea, interrogated and arrested by Soviet authorities, the book is a vivid account of their experiences in Khrushchev's Russia and their seven-year-long struggle to reunite in Melbourne.It concludes with an account of how their lives unfold in Australia after their return.

  • by David Biser
    £22.49

    Pioneer, patriot, politician... John Harris Jr. was a true visionary in eighteenth-century Pennsylvania-during a time in history when taking a risk meant putting your life on the line. He proudly took bold steps in supporting monumental changes that now define history. His legacy is strong in Pennsylvania, but his story has never been told, until now. Visionary Road to the Capital sheds light on Harris' journey-filled with both tragedies and triumphs-during life on the frontier. While his name doesn't stand out amongst other influencers during that era, like Washington or Jefferson, Harris' life is woven into the fabric of America's birth. He funded and supported the cause for freedom and took brave measures to secure the land that would eventually become Pennsylvania's capital city, Harrisburg.

  • by Michael Whalen
    £17.49 - 23.49

  • by Jim Morris
    £18.99 - 33.99

  • by Prakash Pawar
    £26.49

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  • by Mutabaruka
    £27.49

    In this book, Mutabaruka teams up with two anthropologists to reflect and summarize some of the most important perspectives aired weekly on his two live radio shows on Irie FM, Jamaica's Reggae radio channel.

  • by Gerald Neufeld
    £26.99

    A Memoir, by John NeufeldFrom Russia to Canada...with commentary and annotations by Gerald Neufeld

  • Save 10%
    by Peter Nyarang'o
    £8.99

    At the heart of a nation's identity lies the moment it breaks free from its chains. For Kenya, this pivotal moment came in 1963, setting a course that would be both celebrated and challenged. Amidst this backdrop, we follow Salimo, a man whose life is intertwined with Kenya's political and professional evolution. His interactions with international allies and the Kenyan people he serves deeply influence his path. 'Hakuna Matata' isn't just a phrase; it embodies the resilience of Kenya's youth and the spirit of a nation that refuses to be subdued. Yet, the shadow of the ruling elite looms large, marked by violence, political games, and rampant corruption. From the era of Jomo Kenyatta to the tumultuous reign of President Moi, the narrative captures the highs and lows of a country in flux. But through it all, the Kenyan spirit remains unbroken. The people, especially the youth, remain hopeful, forging ahead, shaping and being shaped by their nation's journey. Dive into a tale of resilience, politics, and the indomitable spirit of a nation and its people.

  • by Katharine Prescott Wormeley
    £27.99

    Memoirs of Monsieur Claude Chief of Police Under the Second Empire is an essential source for anyone interested in 19th century French history and culture. Written by the legendary chief of the Parisian police force during the reign of Napoleon III, it provides a unique insight into the workings of the French criminal justice system and the social and political climate of the time. The book is full of fascinating characters, including prostitutes, anarchists, and aristocrats, and is a gripping tale of adventure and intrigue.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

  • by Charles Grenfill Washburn
    £26.99

  • by James Michael John Fletcher
    £20.49 - 27.99

  • by Louise Meille
    £14.49 - 24.49

  • by William Coningham
    £12.49 - 23.49

  • by Silvio Pellico
    £20.49 - 27.99

Historical biographies

At tales.as you will find exciting historical biographies about, among other things, great historical personalities, which provide a completely unique insight into their then or past lives. The reader gets even closer to the main character than ever before, by gaining greater knowledge of the person's past challenges and what has often been the basis for the drastic actions and decisions that have been made. Getting closer to Captain Sir Tom Moore, for example, in "Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day", born at the tail end of the Spanish flu epidemic, Tom Moore was raised in the Yorkshire Dales by a loving family that had not escaped tragedy. Whether fighting for his life in Burma or helming a firm back home, racing motorbikes or raising a family, he always sought to do his very best. However, our selection is far larger than celebrities and their success stories, as the range also largely caters to those readers who instead want to gain an insight into more ordinary people and their upsetting stories, which can cover the challenges that many others in these times have also faced. Captivating examples of these historical biographies can be anything from "Happiest Man on Earth" by Eddie Jaku, which is a heartbreaking and inspiring story about an Auschwitz survivor who shares what he learned about gratitude, tolerance and kindness. Or the story of Anne Frank in the biography "Diary of a Young Girl", where Anne kept a diary in which she confided her innermost thoughts and feelings, movingly revealing how the eight people living under these extraordinary conditions coped with the daily threat of discovery and death , these petty misunderstandings and the unbearable strain of living like prisoners.These historical biographies are just to name a few of many, but there are far more great biographies to be found above. Find the best historical biographies at tales.as, and be inspired, identify yourself or follow the ups and downs of an admired individual from their past dramatic lives.


Political biographies

If historical biographies are not to be your next book on the bookshelf, then our political biographies may instead fill the void and become your next amazing reading experience. The best political biographies can be found in our beautiful selection, and if it is especially books about politics that interest you, then you have not gone completely wrong. We offer, among other things, the latest political biographies from 2018, 2019 onwards as well as older exciting books. A popular bid for your next political biography may be the tale of Barack Obama about his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency — a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil. Our selection consists of a wide range of different political biographies, where there are also other older political biographies about everything from past politicians to life stories about current leaders or other people with a political influence who have chosen to share their captivating stories. Therefore, if you have a special interest in politics and love to get an even deeper insight into episodes, events or just a greater knowledge of a specific individual and of course their ups and downs, which have marked their eye-catching life story, then tales.as offers a lot of inspiration to pick up.

Political and especially historical biographies contain a lot of different and fantastic stories, hence the large selection of books that can be interesting for anyone to read. We have therefore put together a large selection of these biographies, so there are several alternatives to choose from that will hopefully capture your interest and cover your needs.

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