Biography / Autobiography

Leo McCann

Chapter 17 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Historical Organisation Studies, 2026, pp 65-67 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Biography and autobiography are important and popular genres of historical writing. Accounts of specific lives can provide unique and valuable insights into individuals’ achievements and failures, their relationships to others, their personalities and how their lives have been influenced by – or have helped influence – historical trends and events. As historical sources, auto/biographies are fascinating but potentially problematic. Biographies can have a tendency to overplay their subject's roles in historical events. ‘Official’ biographies and autobiographies, in particular, run the risk of portraying the influence and conduct of the subject in unrealistically positive ways. But, when used with methodological attention to the complex ways in which history and memory are socially constructed, high-quality auto/biographies represent potentially very valuable sources for historical research in management and organisation studies.

Keywords: Autobiography; Biography; Representation; Source criticism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035332922
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