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I'm going to be teaching a biography/autobiography course next term. This genre has never really been my thing, so I'm not really sure what I need to flesh out the course. I know I want to cover "Into the Wild", but I need more.
Keep in mind that these particular students have approximately one quarter the attention span of a gnat
I really like the biography of Tecumseh by James Thom - "Panther in the Sky."
It isn't a traditional chapter-per-decade chronology of a person's life, but rather the STORY of their life.
I don't know if it would suit your purpose, but it might illustrate a non-traditional way of writing a biography, and/or writing one about someone whose life details are somewhat sketchy.
It's 2025 - "Cutesy Time is OVER....!" [Dan Bongino]
I'm Frank Hamer by Gordon Frost. Great reading! Also "We headed them north" by Teddy Blue, I think that's the cowboys name. It is hilarious and informing.
Let me strongly recommend Robert Utley's biographies of George Custer, Sitting Bull and Billy the Kid. In addition to the Billy the Kid bio, Utley wrote an outstanding book on the Lincoln County War.
Utley gets his facts straight, and presents them in an interesting form. I consider him to be one of the leading Old West Historians.
In addition to his biographies, Utley has written books on the Texas Rangers, life of Frontier Cavalrymen, and on the soldiers, settlers and explorers.
Doc Hudson, OOF, IOFA, CSA, F&AM, SCV, NRA LIFE MEMBER, IDJRS #002, IDCT, King of Typoists
Allow me to commend you for taking on the task of actually teaching......
Any of the many works about Theodore Roosevelt might qualify as into the
wild.
Regards,
Troy
I didn't fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.
"Captain Eddie" tells his own story. From dropping out of school (to support his family) at age 8, to WWI, to owning and operating his own company, Indianapolis Speedway, and Eastern Airways, Eddie Rickenbacker led his own life on his own terms.
Lost at sea during WWII (a story told in the book "Nine Came Home"), and left for dead after an Eastern Airlines crash, he proved to have more lives than a cat.
Eddie Rickenbacker is a true American success story.
(Sorry for gushing, but the man is one of a half-dozen in my personal pantheon of heroes.)
"Mister, you ever seen what a Henry rifle can do in the hands of a man who knows how to use it?"
I read a book on Rickenbacker back the late 60's when I was in high school I bought it as a paperback to take on a school trip. It was a good read.
There is another book in the Tampa Public library system about David Crockett that is very good.
TR would be good but I would think most of the books about him would be written at a time when books were written on a higher grade level than what you students could stay with.
Stay away from those evil slave owner guys and you'll be OK.
If you're gonna be stupid ya gotta be tough-
Isiah 55:8&9
It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled.
I have to second the recommendation for To Hell and Back. I am also currently reading one on Charles Goodnight (a Texas ranger from pre-Civil War then a cattleman all through the cattle drive era).
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