Blinken’s doctrine is equally simple: Offer terrorists a handshake, hope they don’t punch you in the face, and when they do… apologize for being in the way. One leads to a safer world.

Richard Ellmann’s “James Joyce” is a classic of literary biography. In “Ellmann’s Joyce,” Zachary Leader delves into the biography and its distinguished creator.

In the midst of such minimalism, at least one form bucks the trend. Biography continues to cut a billowing 19th-century profile, trailing its footnotes and family trees, tipping the scales at ...