Stacy Schiff won the Pulitzer Prize for her 2000 biography of Vera Nabokov and her 2005 biography of Benjamin Franklin was described as “most insightful” in BookPage. Now, she tackles a subject that has fascinated everybody from Plutarch to Shakespeare to fans of Elizabeth Taylor: Cleopatra.
I started reading Cleopatra: A Life over lunch the other day, and I was immediately hooked. See for yourself:
Catastrophe reliably cements a reputation, and Cleopatra’s end was sudden and sensational. She has lodged herself in our imaginations ever since. Many people have spoken for her, including the greatest playwrights and poets; we have been putting words in her mouth for two thousand years. In one of the businest afterlives in history she has gone on to become an asteroid, a video game, a cliché, a cigarette, a slot machine, a strip club, a synoonym for Elizbaeth Taylor. Shakeapeare attested to Cleopatra’s infinite variety. He had no idea.
Schiff aims to separate fact from fiction in the famous Queen’s life. For a chance to win Cleopatra, leave a note in the comments with the name of your favorite biography OR the person you believe to be the most intriguing historical figure.
For another preview of Cleopatra, read Anne Bartlett’s review of the book (which includes some interesting details about Cleopatra’s relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony). Also, watch the book trailer in a Trailer Tuesday post.
Cleopatra is one of my favorite historical figures and oh how I would love to win this book!!
While not an individual, I enjoy reading about the Templar Knights.
I think for me Anne Frank is the most intriguing, as she was my early introduction into Holocaust literature that I have continued to read as an adult.
Nelson Mandela – what a life he is living!
My favorite biography was about Elvis Presley. Last Train to Memphis. It explored the psychological rationale for Elvis’ behavior and showed what a fragile tragic character he was. Sounds as Schiff may have done some of this in Cleoatra.
Catherine the great……the true story….
Of all the books written about her, which one comes closest to the “Real” character?????
I cannot say any particular person but I love to read about people who surprise us with what they really achieve as opposed to those who only do what everybody expects.
Anne Boleyn – I love reading about her and the others from the Tudor Period.
A Beautiful Mind, about mathematician John Nash.
Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay is perhaps my favorite biography. I also enjoy anything about the Tudors.
The Diary of Anne Frank is one of my all time favorites.
Anastasia, without a doubt. Anna Anderson was Anastasia, just read Peter Kurth’s book. Proof: just read about the same physical characteristics Anna had with Anastasia – same ears and of all things bunions. You will love Peter’s book.
I love to read anything I can get my hands on about the Kennedy family. Tragically mesmerizing.
JFK was an amazing bio., also John Q. Adams, can’t wait to read Cleopatra.
The most intriguing historical figure to me is Henry the VI. He alone is fascinating and then add all his wives. The period of time in history is so iteresting to read about. So many changes in history. Thank you.
makeupgirl21@comcast.net
Julie Andrews’ autobiography Home is wonderful and I hope she provides us with a sequel to pick up where the first left off. The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir is fascinating, as is Savage Beauty by Nancy Milford about the life of Edna St. Vincent Millay.
I have always been intrigued by anything about Henry VIII and all his wives and his daughters.
There are so many intriguing figures to read about…Eleanor Roosevelt in one such person.
I enjoy biographies of people from long ago. This book seems very interesting and I would love to read about Cleopatra
I just finished reading “Life” by Keith Richards. I don’t know if he is the most intriguing historical figure, but I found his book to be quite intriguing.
I will read Cleopatra even if I do not win the book.
I wonder if Keith Richards and Cleopatra would have been friends if they lived in the same time period. I suspect they would have hit it off.
I have always thought Cleopatra was very interesting and from what I have heard about this book, I definitely will be picking it up even if I don’t win a copy!
I think the most intriguing historical person is Wangari Maathai. I developed a great admiration for her after reading her memoir “Unbowed.” I would love to read about Cleopatra!
I heard an interview with the author on NPR. This book sounds fascinating.
Mgt. Thatcher is my pick.
There are so many it is very difficult to name just one. I don’t know if he is yet considered an “historical figure” but my personal hero is Jonas Salk. As a child I along with the rest of the world feared polio.When Salk developed a vaccine just 30 miles from my home town we were whisked immediately to the doctors office to be vaccinated.Todays children know little about polio or how wonderful it was to have that vaccine
John F. Kennedy Jr. I am so fasinted by his much to short life.
one of the best biographies
i’ve read is the biography of Mary Wollstonecraft
I enjoyed reading the novel “John Adams” by David McCullough. His journey and contribution to our nation was truly amazing.
An excellent and interesting post today. Theodore Roosevelt would be the biography that I find fascinating.
Oh, Man! I would LOVE to win this book! I read a lot of biographies and one I really enjoyed was SITTING BULL by Bill Yenne. Intriguing historical figures for me would be Native Americans. I really like Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce.
Chief Joseph is a favorite of mine, too! Have you read Kent Nerburn’s “Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce”? Best treatment of this story I’ve ever read!
I enjoyed the “Search for Omm Sety” by Johnathan Cott. It’s a little off beat and new age but Fascinating story about an eccentric woman who was an Egyptologist.
OH I’m dying to read this book! I’m currently listing to Condoleezza Rice’s memoir Extraordiniary, Ordinary People and am really enjoying it. I never really followed her politicly but really am getting alot out of finding out how she grew up.
There are several biographies of Mark Twain that I have enjoyed.
For personal reading, I tend to veer toward our founding fathers and the British royal family. Right now, I am reading Plutarch’s Lives with my daughter for school. I would love to read an unbiased biography of Cleopatra! Thank you for the opportunity!
I loved David McCullough’s biography John Adams. Not a quick or easy read, but fascinating.
An Hour Before Daylight by Jimmy Carter is my personal favorite.
I think Abigail Adams was a very fascinating woman, as was Dolley Madison.
Abigail Adams, an inspiration for women of all ages, through all ages.
I like reading about women in history. The first I ever read about, Betsy Ross, got me hooked.
I’ve always like biographies about Abraham Lincoln.
my favorite biography probably is mccullough’s john adams. i’ve always been fascinated by egyptian history so king tut, ramesses, nefertiti and nefertari are interesting. i would love to win the book, but i have already committed to buying it if i don’t. i’ve been waiting for this one . . .
My favorite biography: A Chance to Die by Elisabeth Elliot about Amy Carmichael.
Next to the bio of Abigail Adams I am looking forward to reading about Cleopatra and her talent for self promotion and her place in Egyptian history
This sounds like a wonderful story of Cleopatra. I’m also intrigued about the author’s other books and want to look them up. My favorite biography is Truman by David Halberstam. I read it many years ago but really enjoyed it.
~ Amy
Aimala127@gmail.com
Alexander the Great – for all that he accomplished in his short life.
I love bio’s and my favorite is Edward Rice’s ‘Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: The Secret Agent Who Made the Pilgrimage to Mecca, Discovered the Kama Sutra, and Brought the Arabian Nights to the West’.
What an astounding man he was – I don’t think anyone’s life has ever fascinated me to the degree that Burtons has and it all started with reading Rice’s book.
Although not a “true” biography, one of my favorite autobiography is Margaret Goeorge’s “The Autobiography of Henry VIII.”
I enjoyed Audrey Hepburn’s bio. Not for the acting part but for her work with UNICEF.
Best bio I’ve read recently is “Lightnin’ Hopkins: His Life and Blues”, by Alan Govenar. But then, I’m a longtime fan of Hopkins.
Catherine of Aragon really fascinates me. I love the Tutor period in England, but she really stands out as an intriguing woman.
I am looking forward to reading a biography of Mark Twain. Cleopatra is a fascinating subject for a biography. I am now looking forward to reading that, too.
I would love to read a historical novel about the Queen of Sheba
My favorite is ROBERT CAPA: A BIOGRAPHY by Richard Whelan. As one of the world’s best war photographers he covered the Spanish Civil War, WWII, Israeli Independent War + Vietnam when the French were in power. He died there in 1954. But he left an amazing legacy of photographs that to this day mesmerize me. As for intriguing historical figures one of my all time favorites is THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ST. THERESE OF LISEAUX. To read into the life of this beautiful saint by her own hand is beyond words.
I really enjoy biographies on interesting women. I am sure I will enjoy Cleopatra.
I can not pick just one woman in history that I find intriquing, as I think that there are too many to list. But I would say that Boudica, Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Elizabeth I are my favorites. Thank you for the contest of Cleopatra.
One of my favorite bio’s is “The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid” by Bill Bryson.
Not a specific biography, but my favorite types of biographies are those of women from other cultures and/or parts of the world. Biography is one of my favorite genre!
My all-time favorite is Scott Elledge’s “E. B. White: A Biography”. What a great story! Also love memoirs & historical fiction, particularly Frank Lloyd Wright. Going back further in history is what I need to do! Thanks for the contest.
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali was a fascinating, horrifying, and awakening memoir of her life in a traditional Muslim family in Somalia, Kenya and Saudi Arabia. It was very interesting to learn of the abuse she endured and how her renouncing of her religious heritage has caused her life to be lived under armed guard.
I really enjoyed the biography of Mary Todd Lincoln. This was fasinating reading, being the first lady, the death of her husband and how mental illness was treated back then.
Cleopatra has always seemed to be an intriguing character. I would like to read more about her.
Oh, so hard to choose just one favorite! I really love reading about Boadecia, though. She went up against the Roman army!
Thanks for the chance to win a copy of CLEOPATRA!
October 08, 2010
Good morning:
A wonderful read is THE LIFE OF LADY RANDOLPH CHURCHILL, VOL. I & II. Her life was so interesting. These books were published in the 70′s.
i would love to win this book because i have been told that i am “in denial”.
I love “denial” – Egypt was such a trip….
PT 109
When I was in my younger years in the 1950′s – we had to read a biography or two for the book reports that we wrote. One of my favorite ones back then was Helen Keller. She was such an amazing “brilliant” lady with all her handicaps, she inspired millions to keep going forward. I also loved the stories of Pearl Buck and her life in the Orient. I remember visiting her house and it was quite a trip through her historical life. (but forgot what state…think Buck’s County PA) Rashi’s Daughters, although not a biography persay, it is an interesting read for it shows how in the Jewish tradition, the male centered religion, is interpretated and treated by this wonderful Torah Commentator, Rabbi Shlomo Avraham Izchakee.
Cleopatra is my perfect choice. Apparently she was not what we think–can’t wait.
My favorite biography has been on Marie Antoinette. She was a fascinating complex person and most likely misunderstood.
I have not read a lot of biography’s but after I watched Gone with the Wind I did read the biography of Vivien Leigh. Loved her at the time. Now I am into King Henry the vii because of the Tudors on Showtime!
Oooh, i love reading about Cleopatra!! She’s one of my favorite historical figures to read about b/c she was such a strong woman before her time. I also like reading bios of Marilyn Monroe b/c her real side was such a mystery and there were so few people close to her that all the bios are different. Thank you!
My favorite biography is Margaret Bourke-White: A Biography by Vicki Goldberg. Bourke-White inspired my photography style.
There was an amazing review of this book in the New York Times last week and I’m dying to read it now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/books/review/Harrison-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=cleopatra&st=cse
ooh. I really want to win this book!! it sounds FASCINATING.
i am fascinated by emily dickenson because we have the same birthday…
My favorite biography would have to be “Marie Antoinette: the Journey” by Antonia Fraser. I loved “John Adams” by David G. McCullough too. Seems I just have a soft spot for historical figures.
Cleopatria has always fascinated people by her extradinary life, just look at the movies made about her! I would love to read a historical fiction account of her.
CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com
I remember reading through two sets of biographies in my elementary school library. I enjoyed learning the background of “famous” people.As an adult , I enjoyed Hoagey Carmichael’s life story, as much as I have enjoyed his music.
Thomas Jefferson is my favorite historical figure. Visiting Monticello really bought him to life for me.
My favorite Historical Figure is Abraham Lincoln. Second figure is Pearl Buck. Both biographies are amazing reads.
I would love to win Cleopatra.
I am looking forward to reading about Cleopatra. I enjoy biographies but one of my favorites has to be “The Duchess”.
I liked Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes” and his following books. I also found Jeanette Walls (Glass Castle) memoir fascinating. I admire alot of famous people, two that come to mind are Pearl S. Buck and Anne Frank. Thank you for the entry. I’m a huge biography reader and would love to read Stacy’s book.
Sandy
Some of the historical figures I have admired and read about are the Buddha, Gandhi and Helen Keller (her spiritual life). I would love to win this book.
My favorite biography is Mary – the mother of Jesus – what could be more interesting?
Don’t read too many biographies but this one sounds fascinating. I did read and enjoy Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt.
I am planning to read a biography on Ghandi!
Catherine the Great, by Virginia Rounding
Autobiography of Walt Disney is fascinating.
The man failed so many times,and never gave up
I still really loved Carol Burnett’s “One More Time.” Her newest, “This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection,” is on my To Read list.
Loved Ruth Reichl’s Tender at the Bone – food, Gourmet magazine recipes and autobiography what fun.
I have read about Cleopatra in years past, but I am anxious to see how she is handled in this new book
I REALLY WOULD LOVE TO WIN THIS BOOK. CLEOPATRA IS SOO INTERESTING. THAT WHOLE TIME PERIOD IS FASCINATING. CLEOPATRA WAS SUCH A STRONG AND CUNNING WOMAN.
Some say it’s a myth, but recently I read POPE JOAN by Donna Cross. It’s the story of a 9th century woman pretending to be a man and ascending to the highest station in the church. The story was fascinating. It’s my favorite book yet!
Honestly, I don’t read a lot of biographies. I’ve read several about ordinary people who lived during spectacular times. The stories were generally put together through their correspondence with others. Examples include “The Sea Captain’s Wife” by Martha Hodes, and “The Irish Bridget” by Margaret Lynch-Brennan. Otherwise I prefer autobiographies and memoirs.
One of the most interesting historical figures is Abraham Lincoln. I found Candace Fleming’s presentation of the lives of President Lincoln and his wife quite fascinating in the joint biography entitled The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary.
I really enjoyed Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran and I am looking forward to her next book about Madame Tussaud, which comes out in April. I would love to read about Cleopatra since Michelle’s book starts with her death.
I like historical fiction more than biographies including Margaret George’s book on Cleopatra. However, I have enjoyed some biographies and am reading one on Rembrandt right now.
I think Katherine Hepburn and Amelia Erhardt are fastinating.
This book sounds fascinating. There is no way Cleopatra was just a pretty face.
I love figures in history such as this – so admired and also such a mystery.
I’m looking forward to reading Stacy Schiff’s biography of Cleopatra, having just visited the Cleopatra exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. I’m also in the middle of a class on Ancient Egyptian history at Camden County (NJ) College, and one of the guest speakers was David Silverman, curator of the Cleopatra exhibit, who specifically recommended Schiff’s book.
My favorite recent biography (actually more of a non-fiction history title, since it focused as much on an event as on an individual person) was Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation by John Carlin.
my favorite biography is it’s only a movie Alfred Hitchcock a personal biography by Charlotte Chandler, hitchcock is one of my favorite movie directors
I love reading about Helen Keller and Princess Diana.
I am fascinated by reading about Princess Diana and the Kennedy family. I don’t believe they are necessarily great historical figures, but it certainly is enthralling to read about them.
I think I have read everything by or about Eleanor Roosevelt! I enjoy reading about her evolution from someone in the background to the leader she became. Yes, and reading about Helen Keller is very interesting – how did she ever do it?
My favorite biography that I have read in recent years is Free for All by Kenneth Turan, the life of theater producer Joe Papp
Anything about Abe Lincoln. He seems so mysterious in the way he conducted himself during the presidency.
My favorite biography has to be that of Lord Byron, Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame by Benita Eisler. Of all the biographies that I’ve read that one sticks in my mind so vividly. He’s not my favorite historical figure, but that book was great!
I have a passion for Tudor biographies. My favorite so far, is Six Wives by David Starkey. It provides full biographies of all of Henry VIII’s wives. While you would expect quite of bit of information about Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, he also gives plenty of space the the less popular four. A nice surprise is the detail about Katherine Parr. Few people realize she was an author a rebel and quite the romantic, despite having to marry three old men, she still held out hope for true love. After you read this, you’ll know quite a bit more than “Divorced, beheaded, died; Divorced, beheaded, survived.”
I am intrigued by Abraham Lincoln as well as his wife Mary Todd.
I recently read a very interesting biography of the writer Edith Wharton.
I have so many, but one of my favorites is Katharine Graham’s A Personal History — I read it while she was still alive, and while I lived in DC. She lived a fascinating life!
C.S. Lewis and his life story is inspiring!
I don’t believe I can pick just one person!
so many interesting ones..
One of my fav bios is the series on Martin Luther King…3 part series, very well done.
would love to win this one
I am fascinated by Roald Dahl and Princess Diana!
My favourite biography is an autobiography – My Family and Other Animals, Gerald Durrell’s hilarious story of his family’s escape from ‘Pudding Island’ – the England of the 1930s – to the glorious heat and sunlight and poetry and zoology of Corfu.
Another is fictional – Mary Renault’s version of the Theseus story, The King Must Die.
And if a century can have a biography, Barbara W Tuchman’s story of the 14th century in France, A Distant Mirror.
Current favorite is “deep in a dream” tragic life of the great chet baker. The contrast of the photos on the front and back dustjacket are indicative of the story within.
Cleopatra: A life will definitely be on our “reading requirements” for our month of January 2011 selection. Our club: “Women of the Silk Veil” Middle Eastern Dance Arts & Culture Club will be discussing “Girls of Rhyad” by Rajaa Alsanea, at our November meeting, and “Something in the Way She Moves”by Wendy Bonaventura for December 2010. I am very excited after listening to the author, Tracy Schiff on the Diane Rhem show, yesterday, and can’t wait to get my own copy! Nefertiti will be another Pharaoh we will be discussing in future meetings. There are other intriguing ladies that I have great interest in, such as Jehan Sadat, Indira Ghandi, Benazir Bhutto, Queen Zenobia of Syria, and many more! Thanks for the opportunity to comment!
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
I think Winston Churchill is a fascinating character and enjoy reading about him. “Franklin and Winston: an intimate portrait of an epic friendship” by Jon Meacham, is particularly good.
My favorite biographies might technically be memoirs but I think they still qualify – The year of magical thinking by Joan Didion and Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett.
Yes!! Loved them both!
My favorite biography about a historical figure was definitely “Rasputin: The Saint Who Sinned”. What a fascinating person during a compelling time period!
I love to read anything about our founding fathers, especially Ben Franklin
How does one enter the contest?
I figured it out
My favorite biography would have to be The Bible. The story of Jesus is one of the most fascinating biography’s ever printed. So much is left untold and yet so much is told. Everytime I read it The Bible leaves me wishing for more. Jesus would also be the historical figure that I find the most most intriguing. I wish The Bible had told us so much more of his day to day life. I can’t wait to meet him.
Having read the journals of Lewis and Clark, I found a biography of Merriwether Lewis to learn more about him. Tragic genius. A driven man. I went on to read Undaunted Courage. What a story. If it were fiction, no one would belive it.
I think John Brown was an interesting historical figure. We have a large bio of him, but I haven’t taken the time to read it yet. I love reading about people who bucked convention.
Cleopatra is my most intriguing historical figure.I would love to read this book. Thanks for the chance.
Audrey Hepburn, what a classy lady.
I’ll read anything about Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Elizabth I and most of the other English Royalty.
Presidential biographies and their families are my choice.
I have loved biographies since I was in grade school where I checked them out of our school library every week! My fav as an adult is Personal History by Katherine Graham…excellant!
To be honest, I don’t read alot of biographies. However, I have always love history and been very intrigued with Cleopatra and the history and myths surrounding her! So this book has piqued my interest and I am really looking forward to reading it!
I enjoy autobiographies and memoirs, I loved Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett and Night by Elie Wiesel.
Like many readers, I’ve always been fascinated by the Brontes. One Christmas I was given the very fat classic biography of the family, THE BRONTES by Juliet Barker. The next month we had a huge snowstorm and, as a teacher, I had two weeks off work – which I happily filled by reading this wonderful book. I would love to get to know Cleopatra as well.
Thanks for sharing
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