Biography is the oldest way of writing about historical events, and one of the most popular. Looking at the complex relationship between the discipline of history and the writing of lives, Biography and History:
* is the first work to explore the significant place of biography within historical writing at the present time
* combines a discussion of the history of biography with an extended analysis of contemporary approaches to biography
* links developments within history to the wider interest in auto/biography and life-writing, and to literary methods
* suggests that there are some distinctive features in the ways in which historians handle biography.

Original and insightful, this is an essential introduction to a growing, and increasingly important, field of study and research.