How To Do Biography: A Primer | 
 enlarge | Author: Nigel Hamilton
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 107335
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0674027965
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.06692
EAN: 9780674027961
ASIN: 0674027965
Publication Date: April 30, 2008
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Product Description
It is not surprising that biography is one of the most popular literary genres of our day. What is remarkable is that there is no accessible guide for how to write one. Now, following his recent Biography: A Brief History (from Harvard), award-winning biographer and teacher Nigel Hamilton tackles the practicalities of doing biography in this first succinct primer to elucidate the tools of the biographer’s craft. Hamilton invites the reader to join him on a fascinating journey through the art of biographical composition. Starting with personal motivation, he charts the making of a modern biography from the inside: from conception to fulfillment. He emphasizes the need to know one’s audience, rehearses the excitement and perils of modern research, delves into the secrets of good and great biography, and guides the reader through the essential components of life narrative. With examples taken from the finest modern biographies, Hamilton shows how to portray the ages of man?birth, childhood, love, life’s work, the evening of life, and death. In addition, he suggests effective ways to start and close a life story. He clarifies the difference between autobiography and memoir?and addresses the sometimes awkward ethical, legal, and personal consequences of truth-telling in modern life writing. He concludes with the publication and reception of biography?its afterlife, so to speak. Written with humor, insight, and compassion, How To Do Biography is the manual that would-be biographers have long been awaiting. (20080415)
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| Customer Reviews:
 A valuable primer May 30, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
It's true that there's no other book devoted specifically to the "how to" of biography. And this is indeed a "primer" to the subject. The first section, "Getting Started" (116 pages, about a third of the text), is excellent. It is well written, reliable, and concise, and I'd recommend it to anyone who studies or writes biography. The chapter on audience is especially good. Perhaps the greatest strength of the book is Hamilton's wide command of the field. He draws on examples of many recent biographies and assesses them astutely in relationship to one another. His remarks on Edmund Morris's Reagan biography are especially helpful.
I'd give this book 5 stars easily if it were all as good as the first section. Unfortunately, the last 2 sections are mostly collections of quotations; they lack the imagination and insight of the first section. In the middle section, called "Composing a Life-Story," Hamilton takes us through the "seven stages of man." He gives lots of examples but not much more than that. In the chapter on "Love," he lapses into personal defensiveness against his own critics. In the final section, "Variations on a Theme," he mostly talks about autobiography and memoir. Since there are so many books about writing those, one wonders why they deserve a place in a primer on biography. Perhaps it was the publisher's decision.
Though neither is devoted to the subject of biography per se, I'd recommend two other "how to" books for aspiring biographers: Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University and Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction--and Get It Published. Both provide approaches that are quite different from Hamilton's and are thus worthy of consideration alongside his.
 At last the book we needed May 2, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Nigel Hamilton, a gifted biographer, has created the kind of book biographers and lovers of biography have long sought. Intelligent, gracefully written, it will serve as both a guide and a companion to those who care about this craft for years to come.
--James McGrath Morris, editor of the monthly "Biographer's Craft"
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