hagiography
Uncritical hero worship
Hagiography is biography that treats its subject with excessive reverence—presenting them as saintly or heroic while glossing over flaws.
The term comes from writings about Christian saints, which emphasized miracles and virtue.
Now mostly pejorative: The book reads more like hagiography than honest biography.
A hagiographer writes such accounts.
Official declaration of sainthood
- beatificationDeclaring someone among blessed
- martyrdomSuffering for conviction
- saintCanonized holy person
- miraclesSupernatural extraordinary events
relics · pilgrimage · piety · sanctity · holiness · intercession · devotion · patron
Elevating praise or worship
- whitewashedConcealed with false appearance
- sanitizedCleansed of contaminants
- embellishedDecorated or exaggerated
- uncriticalLacking discerning judgment
romanticized · flattering · laudatory · eulogistic · panegyric · adulatory · hero-worship · lionization
Biased information for influence
- revisionismReexamining established doctrine
- cult of personalityExcessive veneration of leader
- state-sponsoredBacked by national authorities
- regimeSystem of governance
dictator · founder · revolutionary · nationalist · official history · ideology · party · leader
canonization
Official declaration of sainthood
- beatificationDeclaring someone among blessed
- martyrdomSuffering for conviction
- saintCanonized holy person
miracles · relics · pilgrimage · piety · sanctity · holiness · intercession · devotion · patron · apostle
glorification
Elevating praise or worship
- whitewashedConcealed with false appearance
- sanitizedCleansed of contaminants
- embellishedDecorated or exaggerated
uncritical · romanticized · flattering · laudatory · eulogistic · panegyric · adulatory · hero-worship · lionization · mythologizing
propaganda
Biased information for influence
- revisionismReexamining established doctrine
- cult of personalityExcessive veneration of leader
- state-sponsoredBacked by national authorities
regime · dictator · founder · revolutionary · nationalist · official history · ideology · party · leader · commemorative
life
Animate state
chronicle · memoir · biographer · portrayal · depiction · legacy · testament · profile · documentary · anecdote
founder
One who begins something
- CEOTop corporate officer
- entrepreneurOne who starts businesses
- Silicon ValleyBay Area tech corridor
startup · visionary · innovator · disruptor · tech · business · executive · mogul · tycoon · brand
- biographiesbiography, biographies, autobiography, autobiographies, memoir
- Catholic ChurchVatican, papacy, cardinals, popes, papal
- historieschronicle, annals, historical record, historical account, historical narrative
- praiselauding, compliments, laudation, accolades, great job
- story typesmyth, fable, fables, legend, drama
- Anglo-SaxonsBeowulf, Mercia, Wessex, Northumbria, East Anglia
hagiographyhatchet job
Deliberately damaging criticism
character assassination · hit piece · smear · vilification · takedown
hagiographydebunking
Proving claims false
iconoclasm · investigative journalism · skeptical inquiry · revisionist history · critical analysis