Charles Higham dies at 81

Charles Higham, a  celebrity biographer, died on April 21 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 81. Mr. Higham wrote about two dozen biographies, on Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Cary Grant, Orson Welles and others. Charles Higham was born in London on Feb. 18, 1931.

Mr. Higham's biographies in the Hamden Library Collection 

New York Times obituary by Margalit Fox, published May 3, 2012

Top Ten Biographies

Booklist recently published a listing of the TOP TEN BIOGRAPHIES
which were reviewed during the past year.

Alice Neel: The Art of Not Sitting Pretty. By Phoebe Hoban. St. Martin’s

"Judicious and ardent, Hoban has created a galvanizing portrait of a “rebel artist” who remained true to her humanist convictions."

Colonel Roosevelt. By Edmund Morris. Random

"Morris completes his fully detailed, dynamic triptych of the restless, energetic, on-the-move first President Roosevelt."

A Complicated Man: The Life of Bill Clinton as Told by Those Who Know Him. By Michael Takiff. Yale

"What Takiff delivers is an astonishing collection of 171 interviews, collectively offering an intimate portrait of former president Bill Clinton."

Edward Kennedy: An Intimate Biography. By Burton Hersh. Counterpoint

"For readers exhausted at the thought of another Ted Kennedy book, this one is beautifully written and exquisitely detailed with plenty of new material."

Fab: The Life of Paul McCartney. By Howard Sounes. Da Capo

"This is the first comprehensive, candid, and up-to-date portrait of Sir Paul McCartney."

Galileo. By John Heilbron. Oxford

"A complete portrait illuminating how a bold pioneer forged surprising links between science and the humanities."

How to Live; or, A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at anAnswer. By Sarah Bakewell. Other

"By casting her biography of Michel de Montaigne as 20 chapters, each focused on a different answer to the question “How to live?” Bakewell limns Montaigne’s ceaseless pursuit of this most elusive knowledge."

Joan Mitchell: Lady Painter. By Patricia Albers. Knopf

"Painter Joan Mitchell is no mere “second-generation abstract expressionist,” Albers avers in the first comprehensive biography of this ruthlessly independent, flagrantly blunt, highly educated artist."

Washington. By Ron Chernow. Penguin

"This magisterial biography is a vastly enlightening, overwhelmingly engaging treatment of a great man."

Will Eisner: A Dreamer’s Life in Comics. By Michael Schumacher. Bloomsbury

"In addressing the life of Will Eisner, now known as the father of the graphic novel, seasoned biographer Schumacher zeroes in on the essence of Eisner’s success."