Best of the Web

  • "Australia's pre-eminent dictionary of national biography. Here are over 10,000 scholarly biographies of persons who were significant in Australian history. Entries on individuals who died after 1980 will be added as successive volumes of the ADB are published."
  • Features audio clips from about 100 archived BBC interviews with cultural figues of the 20th century. Includes biographical profiles.
  • Brief biographical listings in this encyclopedic directory with over 25,000 listings. In Spanish.
  • A dictionary of "more than 28,000 notable men and women who have shaped our world from ancient times to the present day."
  • Multilingual biographical resource.
  • Features short biographies of about 25,000 people.
  • In addition to the basic details of its subjects' lives, this site provides personal analysis and the latest news.
  • Short biopgraphies in the fields of law, literature, economics, philosophy, history, and political science.
  • Filmed interviews with "the great thinkers and creators of our time". Registration required.
  • Time Magazine's profiles of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
  • "For each famous figure, Who2 gives you the hard facts you're most likely looking for: birth and death dates, famous works, notorious trivia. Then -- in case that's not enough -- we sift the Web and pick out the four best sites for additional detail. . . Classic authors, movie stars, famous frauds, kings and queens, mythical gods, cartoon dogs: anyone famous is fair game for Who2."