The autobiographies and the biographies are a very important source of information for the historians to be able to reconstruct the past. The autobiography is written by the person in question himself/herself. This gives the historians the personal view of the world by that person, the actions taken, the details about the private life, relations with other members of the society, how was the society functioning from that persons perspective etc. The biography, on the other hand, is written for someone, but by someone else, usually a close friend, hired to do so, or was interested in it and had the permission to do it. This gives the historians the perspective of another person for the person in question and all the characteristics and life events of that person. As both might by subjective, and usually are, the historians usually take both of the perspectives, and try to find the middle ground.
