The Liver bird
June Purvis celebrates Susan Pedersen's biography of the overlooked founder of 'new feminism', Eleanor Rathbone and the Politics of Conscience
America’s founding yuppie
Jay Parini enjoys Benjamin Franklin: An American Life - Walter Isaacson's new biography of the writer, inventor, diplomat, wit and all-round bon vivant Benjamin Franklin.
Do not adjust your pen
Ursula Owen admires Where We Have Hope, Andrew Meldrum's brave account of reporting in a much-troubled African state.
Against all odds
Virginia Rounding is captivated by Two Babushkas, Masha Gessen's account of two grandmothers' experiences of life under Stalin.
Dead reckoning
David Riggs' biography, The World of Christopher Marlowe, moves beyond the conspiracy theories to paint a realistic picture of his life and shows just how different he was from Shakespeare, says Colin Burrow
Railing against the train system
Nicholas Lezard on Ian Marchant's Parallel Lines, a book that breaks the mould of the blokey memoir.
Triumph, tragedy and Elvis
David Trimble emerges as a fascinating character in Dean Godson's biography of the Ulster Unionist leader, Himself Alone.
The perils of power
Anthony Seldon has produced the most comprehensive assessment of Tony Blair yet, says John Kampfner.
Surely, we’ve been here before
Andrew Morton revisits the story which made his name with Diana - In Pursuit of Love
What’s the buzz?
Steven Poole takes an ear-awakening trip through the world of electronic sound art in Haunted Weather by David Toop.
London calling
Raised in an Acton council house, Peter Ackroyd studied at Cambridge and Yale. He made his name as a writer of biographies, real and imagined, but the capital city is his chief inspiration
Hunter’s elusive prey
Paul Gascoigne's long-awaited autobiography, Gazza, is short on detail and lacking in revelations. Hunter Davis should have pressed him harder, says Ian Ridley.
Still pressing the flesh
There are many fascinating moments in Bill Clinton's story, but after My Life's 957-page campaign he remains a tragic figure, says Robert McCrum.
The soft nut with a hard centre
Peter Oborne and Simon Walters capture well the peculiarities of Alastair Campbell's psychology in their updated biography of Tony Blair's former enforcer, says Martin Bright.
Inside the crazed court of Robert Mugabe
Andrew Meldrum finds hope amongst the brutality, chaos and corruption of Zimbabwe in his memoir, Where We Have Hope, says Kate Kellaway.