Quiz: Pick Your Favorite Biopics & Get a Biography Recommendation

Bruce Lee was a legendary martial artist and actor who popularized Hong Kong action films in America through movies like The Way of the Dragon and The Orphan. This book weaves together a biography of Bruce Lee’s life with a deep look into the cultural impact he had on the world as the first Asian American star. It also ties what was happening in Lee’s life to larger historical contexts of Asia and America’s many connections with each other.

Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley shared a first name, a brilliant talent for writing, a nontraditional approach to life and love, and even their DNA as mother and daughter. But given that Mary Wollstonecraft died of an infection shortly after giving birth, they two never had a relationship. However, the parallels between their lives and works are fascinating to read about in this dual biography. Pirates! Revolutions! Sexy graveyard scenes! This is a long book, but the drama of both women’s lives keeps the pages turning.

This book tells the story of Ricardo Flores Magón and the radical Magonistas who agitated the 1910 Mexican Revolution. Magón and his comrades were determined to end the rule of Porfirio Díaz, a dictator who controlled Mexico for decades with support and protection from the United States. The story delves into labor, feminist, and Indigenous perspectives on this time, while also emphasizing the effects of the revolution on both sides of the border.

Shackleton is a legendary Antarctic explorer known for surviving three failed expeditions. He is most famous for his 1915 attempt to be the first to make a land crossing of Antarctica, where his ship the Endurance became trapped in ice. This biography is particularly interesting because it is written by one of the greatest living explorers of today who has literally walked in Shackleton’s footsteps. This gives him the opportunity to weigh in on Shackleton’s motivations and choices during a time when there were no good choices to make.

In 1860, Elizabeth Packard was put away in an insane asylum by her husband of 21 years. He wanted to get rid of her after she refused to stop publicly sharing her belief in women’s rights and the abolition of slavery. With no official diagnosis or evaluation, she was declared insane and locked in an asylum, where she found many other women in the same situation. She was determined to be declared sane and use the legal system to gain her freedom. In doing so, she became both a media sensation and an advocate for better treatment of people with mental illness.

You might think there’s nothing new for you to learn about George Washington, but I dare you to read this book without getting a new perspective. From examining the lies and myths that have developed around George Washington, to extensively researched information about the enslaved people and indentured servants at Mount Vernon, Coe presents a very different picture of the United States’ first president.