All upcoming Biography & Autobiography programs

Women pilots were denied the chance to fly when the United States entered the Second World War. But in 1942, Great Britain welcomed 25 young aviators who became the first American women to command military aircraft. Author Becky Aikman highlights the stories of several of these “spitfires,” their exciting and often-terrifying work, and how they broke new ground off duty as well.

Author Lesley Poling-Kempes brings to life the adventures of two groups of lesser-known women whose legacies helped shape the American Southwest: the thousands of young women who became waitresses in Harvey House restaurants along the Santa Fe Railway from the 1880s to the 1950s and four women who journeyed to the Southwest in the early 20th century and found their lives transformed by its people, landscapes, and cultures—particularly Native American art and music.

Cleopatra would have been a social media star if she lived today. Known for charisma, she was more renowned for her intellect and her ruthless determination to rule. She embraced both Caesar and Mark Antony as protectors and lovers when the need arose and murdered siblings to gain power. Historian Barry Strauss highlights Cleopatra’s complex role as an absolute ruler at a crucial moment when Romans and Egyptians fought for domination.

When Elisabeth of Austria married Emperor Franz Joseph and Eugénie of France married Napoleon III, they became two of the most famous women of the 19th century. Young and beautiful, each represented a new kind of empress—one who rebelled against traditional expectations and restrictions. Historian Nancy Goldstone discusses the lives of these two glamorous women and how they played a pivotal role in ruling their realms.

Born enslaved on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Harriet Tubman seized her freedom in her mid-20s, and selflessly returned to rescue family members and others trapped in slavery. Kelly Hancock of the American Civil War Museum in Richmond explores Tubman’s early life, work as an abolitionist, and exploits during the Civil War, as well as her postwar humanitarian efforts and private life, creating a multifaceted portrait of a remarkable woman.

Galileo, Leonardo, Newton, and Tesla revered Archimedes of Syracuse—an engineer who defied the world’s most powerful army and a mathematician who knew more in 212 B.C.E. than all Europe would for the next 17 centuries. Novelist and science writer Nicholas Nicastro shines a new light on Archimedes’ life and work to reveal an ambitious, combative, and fiercely competitive man who is far from the aloof, physically inept figure of historical myth.

In the spring of 1791, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison journeyed together through Upstate New York and parts of New England. Some observers at the time wondered whether this excursion into Federalist New England by the two most prominent southern members of the Democratic-Republican Party, had an ulterior motive. Historian Louis Masur of Rutgers University reveals that their journey, described as one for "health, recreation, and curiosity," also provided these future presidents with the foundation of a longtime friendship.

Beginning in the 1950s, William F. Buckley Jr. emerged as a towering figure in American conservatism—founding National Review magazine, shaping political discourse on television, and mentoring a new generation of conservative leaders including Ronald Reagan. Buckley’s selected biographer, Sam Tanenhaus, unpacks his multifaceted legacy, exploring his influence on American politics and media, his ideological battles, and the complex, often-surprising life of a man who left an enduring mark on American public life.

During the last century, the world’s moviegoers were filled with delight as Charlie Chaplin ate his shoe, roller-skated blindfolded, was swallowed by an assembly line, and twirled his cane as the beloved Little Tramp. His remarkable 52-year career, however, was not without its share of personal and political traumas. Film historian Max Alvarez examines the laughter and heartbreak behind one of the geniuses of screen comedy.

A group of white, Black, Hispanic, and Native American soldier-mariners from Marblehead, Massachusetts, became one of the most indispensable forces of the American Revolution. A special-operations–like regiment, Marbleheads did everything from seizing British ships to ferrying George Washington’s troops across the ice-filled Delaware River on Christmas night of 1776. Military historian Patrick K. O’Donnell discusses the exploits and heroism of this unique group of soldiers.