The history of the world in ten auto/biographies

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

World history is a subject that has always interested me, but which does not seem to stick in my brain very well, despite the reading I've done on the subject and the courses I took in college. Several attempts to read The History of the World by JM Roberts, and other such books have always ended in boredom and disallusionment. Recently however, I have found a renewed interest reading auto/biographies (currently reading Werner Herzog's interviews with Paul Cronin--A Guide for the Perplexed). I find it interesting to see how brilliant/creative, or at least ruthless people found their way in life. I thought it would be an interesting project to try to get the grand sweep of world history (or at least a very Eurocentric version of it due to my vast ignorance of Asian and African history) by reading ten auto/biographies. The list below I compiled is based on who I think may have been among the most interesting and/or influential people in history (at least in terms of political and intellectual leaders if not composers, artists, peacemakers, etc)--not necessarily the most brilliant or creative or morally upstanding:

Alexander the Great
Julius Caesar
St.Paul
Charlemagne
Columcille
Martin Luther
Charles Darwin
Otto von Bismarck
V.I. Lenin
Richard Nixon

What are your nominations, for people and specific auto/biographies on them?

[Ken B]

World history is a subject that has always interested me, but which does not seem to stick in my brain very well, despite the reading I've done on the subject and the courses I took in college. Several attempts to read The History of the World by JM Roberts, and other such books have always ended in boredom and disallusionment. Recently however, I have found a renewed interest reading auto/biographies (currently reading Werner Herzog's interviews with Paul Cronin--A Guide for the Perplexed). I find it interesting to see how brilliant/creative, or at least ruthless people found their way in life. I thought it would be an interesting project to try to get the grand sweep of world history (or at least a very Eurocentric version of it due to my vast ignorance of Asian and African history) by reading ten auto/biographies. The list below I compiled is based on who I think may have been among the most interesting and/or influential people in history (at least in terms of political and intellectual leaders if not composers, artists, peacemakers, etc)--not necessarily the most brilliant or creative or morally upstanding:

Alexander the Great
Julius Caesar
St.Paul
Charlemagne
Columcille
Martin Luther
Charles Darwin
Otto von Bismarck
V.I. Lenin
Richard Nixon

What are your nominations, for people and specific auto/biographies on them?

If you want someone from the ancient world the best choice is Cicero. We know more about him than we do anyone from that long ago. We have copious original source material from him and his contemporaries. Augustus is more influential of course.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Thanks. The list is not really intended to be synonymous with "most influential" or "most important". The question is more along the lines of: Which ten historical figures can give us the greatest insight on the events of world history? Clearly Jesus Christ was a more important figure than St. Paul, but Christ's life in and of itself does not tell us all that much about world history--not nearly as much as the life of Paul.

So in that regard, Cicero thus is exactly the type of suggestion I'm looking for.

[vandermolen]

Very interesting idea. I'm a History teacher but I found the Roberts book a bit dense:

Here are some random suggestions from me. The focus is more recent than you might want.

Copernicus or Galileo
Freud: I like Ernest Jones's biography
Hitler (as the personification of human destructiveness and in many ways responsible for the map of Europe in the 20th Century down to the end of the Cold War). I like Fest's biography and the one by Kershaw.
Lenin
Darwin
Marx
Alexander the Great
Churchill
Peter the Great
St Paul.

[mc ukrneal]

I'd want someone from the finance/company side of things like the House of Morgan or Titan (both excellent, and both by Ron Chernow). Or perhaps one of the books on the Rothschilds if one wants a more historical approach.

I think a book on the Medicis (or one of them) would be a good complement for Renaissance times.

[knight66]

Lots of names couldbe added, many areas of life are missing. But one traditional name is conspicuously missing, Napoleon. I have read that he has had more written about him than anyone other than Jesus. Not just his influence and thieving, his social policies and imperial inclinations, but he was a genuinely fascinating man.

I would also add Plato, his circle, and Freud, Picasso and Beethoven, all men......

Mike