Biography: A Brief History
This zesty romp through millennia of biographical portraits comes from  the pen of a master biographer (JFK: Reckless  Youth). Hamilton's a friendly spectator to his own art, undaunted by  its age, variety or the number and skill of the practitioners who've gone  before him. Starting with the ancient Gilgamesh epic, he speeds us through the  forms—writing, theater, painting and film—in which biographers have  portrayed and interpreted individual lives. No shrinking violet, he wrestles  with every major figure who's tried a hand at biography or criticized  biographers' work. While his own strong convictions are clear, he's fair in his  assessment of others and the ideal referee. Not surprisingly, Hamilton uses the  most ink on recent decades, when the protections to privacy have fallen away  and every dimension of a subject's life has become fair game. That doesn't much  bother him, although it deeply troubles others. He also leans to the risky view  that our age has brought biographical art to its maturity. Perhaps it has. But  even if time proves Hamilton wrong, no one will fail to find his brief,  interpretive history of life stories compelling. It's hard to think of a better  introduction to one of the most popular genres of literature and art today.  B&w illus.(Mar.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.