Product Description

Biography is well recognised as a peculiarly British vice. This new anthology is a collection of essays by some of the best biographers now writing in Britain. They tell of the ups and downs of life writing: of problems with families and friends of their subjects, of shocking new discoveries, and of bitter professional rivalries. Essays in favour of biography, others that describe disenchantment with an attempt to capture another human being in the pages of a book. First published in the autumn of 2004 - to coincide with the appearance of the most important British publishing enterprise of the new century to date, the new Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - this new in paperback edition of Lives For Sale is full of amusing anecdotes and fascinating experiences retold by some of the masters of the form, including Michael Holroyd, Claire Tomalin, Fiona MacCarthy, Graham Robb, Andrew Roberts, Hermione Lee, Margaret Forster, Jenny Uglow, Antonia Fraser, as well as contributions from the rising generation, and an essay by Beryl Bainbridge on 'Waiting for the Biographer'.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #112160 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 220 pages

Review
"An impressive group of writers" Sunday Telegraph; "A valuable compendium of the biographer's art by some of the leading practitioners" Catholic Herald; "Gently amusing and occasionally perceptive collection of biographers' confessions" Guardian"

About the Author
Mark Bostridge's books include Vera Brittain: A Life, shortlisted for the Whitbread Biography Award, the NCR Prize for Non-Fiction, and the Fawcett Prize, and the bestselling Letters From a Lost Generation. He is currently writing a biography of Florence Nightingale.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant......
Mark Bostridge has compiled a dream come true for any lover of Biography and I will treasure these essays that I know I will read again and again.
I love reading Biographies and when I first heard of this book I could not wait to get my hands on it.

It is joy to read all these Tales of the Lives, by all my favourite biographers, and I enjoyed every single essay..
There seems to have been a fair amount of books in this vein, like Richard Holmes SIDETRACKS and Holroyds MOSAIC and I am hoping for even more.
A true joy that I can only recommend very highly.
And I look forward to Bostridge's book about Siblings and forthcoming Florence Nightingale biography.
Bravo for this collection and its collector.

Terrific range of experiences and opinions
What a wonderful way to celebrate the new Oxford DNB. Thirty two-essays and interviews with some of the best biographers writing today in Britain. My stand-outs for humour, poignancy, and for telling us how biographers cope with their jobs are: Lyndall Gordon on James's Death Mask, Fiona MacCarthy on controversy surrounding her book on Gill, Claire Harman on Sylvia Townsend-Warner, and the editor's own essay on his Vera Brittain revelations. Fascinating!

5 stars and many ++++
Mark Bostridge have compiled a dream come true for any lover of Biography and I will treasure these essays that I know I will read again and again.
I love reading Biographies and when I first heard of this book I could not wait to get my hands on it.

It is joy to read all these Tales of the Lives, by all my favourite biographers, and I enjoyed every single essay..
There seems to have been a fair amount of books in this vein ,like Richard Holmes SIDETRACKS and Holroyds MOSAIC and I am hoping for even more.
A true joy that I can only recommend very highly.
And I look forward to Bostridge's book about Siblings and forthcoming Florence Nightingale biography.
Bravo for this collection and its collector.