Reddit mentions of Schopenhauer: A Biography

He's my favorite, too. As for your first question, it depends on what you mean by "society and politics." Schopenhauer read the Times of London every evening at dinner, so he was pretty well informed about the social and political events of his day. However, he preferred to "mind not the times but the eternities" (pun intended), which shouldn't be too surprising, given that pessimism naturally entails a degree of detachment from politics. Consequently, you'll only find a handful of non-philosophical remarks about contemporary political issues peppered throughout his oeuvre. If you're interested in his formal political philosophy, you can find it presented in the fourth book of the WWP and in the essay "On Jurisprudence and Politics" in the second volume of the PP.

Because you're planning on reading his major works, you'll become familiar with his political philosophy. He was heavily influenced by Hobbes and, in general, can best be described as a classical liberal or conservative. He viewed the state as necessary to curb baser human instincts and to protect the rights of individuals and their property. Though he preferred monarchism to republican forms of government, he viewed the separation of powers and freedom of thought as important. If you're interested in what some of his specific opinions on political and social issues were, I would recommend reading this fine biography by David Cartwright: https://www.amazon.com/Schopenhauer-Biography-David-Cartwright/dp/1107626951

A simple, quick google search of the phrase finds you the result: https://www.amazon.com/Schopenhauer-Biography-David-Cartwright/dp/1107626951

Yeah, sure. It's "Schopenhauer : A Biography" by David E. Cartwright. It's a Cambridge University Press publication.
Here's an Amazon link :


https://www.amazon.com/Schopenhauer-Biography-David-Cartwright/dp/1107626951