Boswell's Life of Johnson
 Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood

by James Boswell

"Boswell's Life of Johnson" by James Boswell is a biography published in 1791 about English writer Samuel Johnson. Often called the greatest biography in English, this landmark work recreates Johnson's life through detailed conversations and scenes drawn from Boswell's extensive journals. Though the two men spent only about 250 days together over twenty-two years, Boswell crafted an enduring portrait that blends myth with complexity, capturing Johnson's moral wisdom, personal eccentricities, and struggle with despair in vivid detail.