Learning history through biographies is a lost discipline. I hope to regain it during this 50 in 2014 effort.

Three years ago I read Paul Johnson's review of his favorite five short biographies. They were all out of print, several by fifty years. Paul Johnson used his review to show us how his library beats everyone else's. Point made, but I have incredi-Dad.

He delivered several of these books by following the overseas print lists for several years. British re-prints here we come!

  Macaulay by Arthur Bryant
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a great way to see life in pre-Victorian England. Here's a man born into a family that was quickly falling out of the middle class. He came of age and became his family's provider, but during a brilliant career became a royal peer.

Want to see 19 century upward mobility in Britain? Read this. Incredible.