From Computer Celebrities to Historical Biography

In the wake of the recent passing of the legendary personal computer pioneer and Apple CEO Steve Jobs, journalists and bloggers around the world rushed to publish their reflections on his life and legacy. The focus of some of this coverage was speculation about the future of the company that Jobs has been intimately associated with since its creation, but much of it was also historical, or at least biographical, in nature. Even before his untimely death, the biography of Steve Jobs has long been a subject of sustained popular interest, and for very good reasons. Not only was Jobs a seminal figure in the development of several revolutionary new industries but he was an attractive and charismatic figure. Stories about his personal idiosyncrasies, perfectionist tendencies, and confrontational leadership style are legion, and he has been the subject of hundreds of journalistic profiles and several full-length biographies. With the possible exception of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs is the computer industry's most visible representative, and its paradigmatic exemplar: the brash young kid turned computer revolutionary turned accidental billionaire turned industry visionary.