WAn unauthorized biography is a biography written without the subject's permission or input. The term is usually restricted to biographies written within the subject's lifetime or shortly after their death; as such, it is not applied to biographies of historical figures written long after their deaths.
WBarack and Michelle: Portrait of An American Marriage is an unauthorized "tell-all" biography about Barack and Michelle Obama, focusing on their marriage, written by No. 1 New York Times best-selling author Christopher Andersen and published in 2009.
WA Beautiful Mind (1998) is a biography of Nobel Prize-winning economist and mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr. by Sylvia Nasar, professor of journalism at Columbia University. An unauthorized work, it won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1998 and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in biography. It inspired the 2001 film by the same name.
WBecoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by journalists Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, is an unauthorized biography of Steve Jobs. Rick Tetzeli is Executive Editor of Fast Company and Brent Schlender is a writer, editor, and author, best known for his award-winning magazine profiles of prominent entrepreneurs and business leaders of the Digital Revolution. The book was released on 24 March 2015 by Crown Business in the US.
WCall Me Dave: The Unauthorised Biography of David Cameron is a 2015 book by Michael Ashcroft, a businessman and Conservative peer, and Isabel Oakeshott, a political journalist, about the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron. The book, excerpts from which were published in the Daily Mail prior to publication, received significant media attention, particularly relating to allegations made about Cameron. It is published by Biteback, a company in which Ashcroft has a majority share, run by political blogger Iain Dale.
WComrade Corbyn: A Very Unlikely Coup is a 2016 book by British journalist Rosa Prince, published by Biteback Publishing. It is an unauthorised biography of the Leader of the British Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn.
WCourtney Love: The Real Story (ISBN 0-684-84800-7) is a biography of rock musician Courtney Love, written by Poppy Z. Brite. The book, Brite's first full-length work of nonfiction, was published by Simon & Schuster in 1997. Though technically unauthorized, Love actually asked Brite to write the book, according to the biographer.
WElvis: What Happened? is a book about the personal life of singer Elvis Presley. The book, which is based on the personal accounts of three of Elvis' former bodyguards, went into detail on the singer's dangerous drug-dependence. His death, only two weeks after the book's publication in July 1977, made it highly topical and helped boost its sales to over 3 million.
WThe Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty is an unauthorized biography of the Bush family by the American investigative journalist Kitty Kelley. It was published on September 14, 2004, less than two months before the 2004 US Presidential election. Reviews of the book were mixed, with some of the "accusations," according to The New York Times, "[standing] up better than others."
WFire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House is a 2018 book by journalist Michael Wolff which according to Wolff, details the behavior of U.S. President Donald Trump, the staff of his 2016 presidential campaign, and the White House staff. The title refers to a quote by Trump about the conflict with North Korea. The book became a New York Times number one bestseller. Reviewers generally accepted Wolff's portrait of a dysfunctional Trump administration, but were skeptical of many of Wolff's particular claims.
WHammer of the Gods is a book written by music journalist Stephen Davis, published in 1985. It is an unauthorized biography of the English rock band Led Zeppelin. After its release it became a New York Times bestseller paperback, and is hyped by its publisher as being the best-known Led Zeppelin biography. It has been reprinted three times since its first publication and has been released under the alternative title Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga. The title is derived from a line in "Immigrant Song", a track from the band's third album.
WiCon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business is an unauthorized biography by Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon about the return of Steve Jobs to Apple Inc. in 1997. It was published in 2005.
WKatharine the Great: Katharine Graham and The Washington Post is an unauthorized biography of Katharine Graham, owner of The Washington Post newspaper, authored by Deborah Davis, and initially published in 1979.
WThe King Never Smiles is an unauthorized biography of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej by Paul M. Handley, a freelance journalist who lived and worked as a foreign correspondent in Thailand. It is published by Yale University Press and was released in 2006. The book was banned in Thailand before publication, and the Thai authorities have blocked local access to websites advertising the book.
WLife with My Sister Madonna is an autobiography by American dancer, choreographer and tour director Christopher Ciccone and author Wendy Leigh. The book is a memoir about Ciccone's relationship with his sister, American singer Madonna, and was released on July 14, 2008 by Simon Spotlight Entertainment. A tell-all book, it details Ciccone's life spent with Madonna, and unknown aspects of the singer's life. The relationship between Ciccone and Madonna had deteriorated over the years, following the singer's refusal to employ him as her tour director. Writing the book was a catharsis for him and he contacted Leigh. Together they developed the project secretly and offered it to Simon Spotlight Entertainment for publication.
WMitt Romney: An Inside Look at the Man and His Politics is a 2011 biography of the then US presidential candidate Mitt Romney, written by the American author and journalist Ronald B. Scott. The book was conceived as an authorised biography, and was built from numerous first hand interviews on that basis. However, after drafts were shared with senior members of the 2012 Romney Presidential campaign, namely with Eric Fehrnstrom and Beth Myers, Scott believed Romney's people were trying to exercise too much editorial control and decided to publish his book as unauthorised.
WMommie Dearest is a memoir and exposé written by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of actress Joan Crawford. Published in 1978, it described the author's upbringing by an unbalanced alcoholic mother, whom she judged unfit to raise children. The book attracted much controversy regarding child abuse and child trafficking, with many family friends denouncing it as fiction. It was turned into a 1981 film of the same name starring Faye Dunaway.
WMy Son Marshall, My Son Eminem is a 2008 autobiography by Debbie Nelson, the mother of American rapper Marshall Mathers a.k.a. Eminem. The British author Annette Witheridge helped her with the book. It was reported in September 2008 that the book sold over 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.
WThe Passion of Ayn Rand is a biography of Ayn Rand by writer and lecturer Barbara Branden, a former friend and business associate. Published by Doubleday in 1986, it was the first full-length biography of Rand and the basis for the 1999 film of the same name starring Helen Mirren as Rand.
WThe Polyester Prince The Rise of Dhirubhai Ambani is an unauthorized biography of Indian business tycoon and Reliance Industries founder Dhirubhai Ambani. The book was written by Australian journalist Hamish McDonald and first published by Allen & Unwin, an Australian publisher, in 1998. The book was never published in India and was banned there.
WThe Second Coming of Steve Jobs is an unauthorized biography chronicling the life of Steve Jobs, a co-founder of Apple Inc by Vanity Fair magazine writer Alan Deutschman. It covers his period at NeXT, success at Pixar and his comeback to Apple followed by the introduction of iMac.
WThrough the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World is a memoir by Lynne Spears that she co-wrote with Lorilee Craker. The memoir is about Lynne's daughters: Britney and Jamie Lynn. The book was announced in 2007 and published on September 16, 2008, by Thomas Nelson, a Christian publisher.
WTom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography is an unauthorized biography of actor Tom Cruise, written by Andrew Morton. The book was published in the United States in hardcover format on January 15, 2008 by St. Martin's Press, with a first printing of 400,000 copies, and an audio format on five CDs by Macmillan Audio.
WTom Cruise: Unauthorized is an unauthorized non-fiction biographical book about Tom Cruise, written by Wensley Clarkson. The book was published by Hastings House in 1998. The book discusses Tom Cruise's early life, his rise as an actor, involvement with Scientology, and past relationships with Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman. The book ended during the filming of Eyes Wide Shut.
WWalt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince is a biography by Marc Eliot, presenting a darker picture of entertainer Walt Disney than his popular perception. Eliot alleges lifelong anti-Semitism and he also documents Disney's covert activities on behalf of the House Un-American Activities Committee as a spy against Communists in Hollywood. The book also discusses Disney's alleged right-wing politics, including an incident in which Disney allegedly wore a Barry Goldwater badge while receiving the Medal of Freedom from Goldwater's political opponent, President Lyndon B. Johnson just before the 1964 election. Eliot also discusses an allegation that Disney refused to lower the American flag at Disneyland after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
WWired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi is a 1984 non-fiction book by American journalist Bob Woodward about the American actor and comedian John Belushi. The hardcover edition includes 16 pages of black-and-white photos, front and back.