Here are some biographies that I have rated. There are other biographies of Joseph Priestley and they can be found on the Massive Bibliography. If you have read a biography that you think is excellent, please contact me through my personal website with the title, the author, and why you think it is excellent. I would be happy to add additional rated biographies.
- Schofield, Robert E. The Enlightenment of Joseph Priestley: A Study of His Life and Work from 1733 to 1773. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997. The best biographical book that I have found.
- Schofield, Robert E. The Enlightened Joseph Priestley: A Study of His Life and Work from 1773 to 1804 University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004.
- Graham, Jenny. Revolutionary in Exile: the Emigration of Joseph Priestley to America, 1794-1804. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1995. While not exactly a biography, the book does give the reader a good idea of what life was like for Joseph Priestley in his American years. The primary focus of the book is how politically active Joseph Priestley was during his last ten years.
- Holt, Anne. A Life of Joseph Priestley. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1970. An ok biography of Joseph Priestley. It does not have the depth or insight found in Schofield's two part biography.
- Clark, John Ruskin. Joseph Priestley: A Comet in the System. Coopersburg: Chernay Printing, 1994. This book can be rather hard to read at times. Clark makes some interesting observations and he tries to quote Priestley often.