During the period from 1912 to 1932, Gamaliel Bradford produced biographical sketches of no fewer than 114 individuals. His subjects were as varied as Daniel Webster and P. T. Barnum, Calvin Coolidge and Casanova. With a few notable exceptions, Bradford employed an essay format to examine his subjects and chose to ignore traditional chronological biography in favor of what he termed "psychography," the profiling of character by sketches comprised of a potpourri of anecdote and quotation he believed revealed a subject's essential personality. While his collections of biographies were initially quite popular with the general public, and although Bradford's books were usually well received by critics, his work has become increasingly less influential.

Gamaliel Bradford, a direct descendant of Governor Bradford of Plymouth, was born in Boston on 9 October 1863. He was the son of Gamaliel Bradford, a successful banker, publicist, and political reformer, and Clara Crowninshield Kinsman, daughter of a prominent...