Steinberg, J., Bismarck: A Life. Oxford University Press, 2011; Pflanze, O., Bismarck and the Development of Germany, Princeton University Press, 1971.

Not a bad biography but it is essentially an abridged and popularized version of Pflanze's three-volume study of the same persona, available in English. Steinberg emphasizes immense contradictions in his character: a militarist who never served the colors, etc. While many facts of the Bismarck's personal life are new, the analysis of his foreign policy is rather mundane and adds little to a conventional narrative.

I took this book to learn something about Bismarck's domestic policies, in particular, a contemporary debate on his "White Revolution": workers' legislation and the like. Bismarck writes very little about that in his memoirs and is generally sparse and evasive on his motives. Furthermore, he is usually dismissive and combative as far as arguments of his opponents are concerned.

My verdict: it is a good present for a history buff friend but not a particularly good source to study his life. Pflanze is slightly better and is significantly better illustrated--one of the most telling sources of sentiment are contemporary magazine caricatures--but my knowledge of German is too limited to recommend anything definitive at this point.