The Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle is credited with writing "the history of the world is but the biography of great men". To tell history is to tell the stories of those involved and in this issue we present the autobiographical narratives of four major figures in the history of marketing and consumer research. Each has made substantive contributions to their respective topical areas. We are naturally interested in the lives, peculiarities, and successes of other people. The autobiographical sketches in this issue of JHRM help satisfy those needs and curiosities. In addition to being thought-provoking in their own right, such self-portraits.are also useful because they help us to understand their authors' contributions to marketing thought. They enable us to appreciate the origins and development of significant ideas as well as the context and influences on those ideas.