Biography and Memoir

Discover the stories of their lives, in recent biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs.
Updated February 19, 2026
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Neptune's Fortune: The Billion-Dollar Shipwreck and the Ghosts of the Spanish Empire
Julian Sancton
A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction
Elizabeth McCracken
From bestselling and award-winning author and professor Elizabeth McCracken comes an irresistible look at the art of writing. Writing can feel like an endless series of decisions. How does one face the blank page? Move a character around a room? Deal with time? Undertake revision?...
Junglekeeper: What It Takes to Change the World
Paul Rosolie
Art Work: On the Creative Life
Sally Mann
Paper Book
"A big and beautiful gift-worthy holiday art book" (New York Times), this new bookby artist Sally Mann about the challenges and transcendent pleasures of the creative process, is now a New York Times bestseller. "Erudite, frank,...
The Look
Michelle Obama
100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist's Guide to a Happy Life
Dick Van Dyke
On the eve of his 100th birthday, national treasure Dick Van Dyke brings us this autobiographical collection of stories, reflections, and life advice on how he's maintained a zest for life. Dick Van Dyke danced his way into our hearts with iconic roles in ...
Notes on Being a Man
Scott Galloway
Bestselling author, NYU professor, and cohost of the Pivot podcast Scott Galloway offers a path forward for men and parents of boys. Boys and men are in crisis. Rarely has a cohort fallen further and faster than young men living in Western democracies. Boys are less likely...
The Last Kings of Hollywood: Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg―and the Battle for the Soul of American Cinema
Paul Fischer
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Riveting, grade A smack for cinema junkies...Fischer's writing pulsates." --Steven Soderbergh, filmmaker The untold, intimate story of how three young visionaries--Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg...
Grit, Spit, and Never Quit: A Marine's Guide to Comedy and Life
Rob Riggle
Comedian Rob Riggle's frank, funny, and inspirational memoir about how the lessons he learned while serving in the US Marines prepared him for life, especially when it came to pursuing his comedy dreams. Before he graced movie screens in films like The...
Care and Feeding: A Memoir
Laurie Woolever
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times Bestseller! A candid, funny, and occasionally devastating culinary memoir of a woman making her way through the food world, navigating addiction, a cultural reckoning, and an unexpected tragedy In this moving, hilarious, and insightful...
The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex
Melissa Febos
Paper Book
From Melissa Febos, the national bestselling author of Girlhood, comes an examination of the solitude, freedoms, and feminist heroes she discovered during a year of celibacy and a wise and transformative look at relationships and self-knowledge. "Only Melissa Febos could...
Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put
Annie B. Jones
In her first book, a heartfelt memoir on finding purpose, the popular From the Front Porch podcast host and independent bookstore owner challenges the idea that loud lives are the ones that matter most, reminding us that we don't have to leave the lives we have in order to have the lives of...
Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer
Dylan Mulvaney
Lucky Loser: Adventures in Tennis and Comedy
Michael Kosta
Paper Book
From a host of The Daily Show and stand-up comic, Michael Kosta, comes a wildly funny and insightful comedian memoir about his unlikely journey from professional tennis player (#864 in the world) to professional comedian (there's no ranking system in comedy but he's probably . . . top 50?).<...
Spellbound: My Life as a Dyslexic Wordsmith
Phil Hanley
Paper Book
National Bestseller An Amazon Best of Biography/Memoir Comedian and severe dyslexic Phil Hanley reveals his unlikely path to success in a story that is equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking. When Phil Hanley...
Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly
Hannah Selinger
Paper Book
Town & Country's Best Books of Spring 2025 | Kirkus Reviews's Most Anticipated Nonfiction of Spring 2025 | Amazon's Best Books of the Month | American Writers Museum's Staff Picks What happens when a career you love doesn't love you back? ...
Making the Best of What's Left: When We're Too Old to Get the Chairs Reupholstered
Judith Viorst
Paper Book
From the bestselling author Judith Viorst comes a witty and poignant exploration of the joys and sorrows of life's twilight years--one that leaves us laughing, pondering, and grateful for the moments we have left. In a career that has spanned more than fifty years, Judith Viorst...
Looking at Women Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary
Victoria Amelina
Paper Book
WINNER, THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING SHORT LIST, THE 2025 MOORE PRIZE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS WRITING WITH A FOREWORD BY MARGARET ATWOOD A NATIONAL BESTSELLERNPR BOOKS WE LOVE, 2025 "Remarkable...powerful, eloquently testifying to the...
This Dog Will Change Your Life
Elias Weiss Friedman
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER . A uniquely insightful, uplifting, emotional, and informative book that shows us how dogs make our lives better by making us better people, from the Dogist The stunning hardcover of This Dog Will Change Your Life features a custom...
Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson
Claire Hoffman
Paper Book
A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year A Must-Read: The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, The Millions, Alta Long-listed for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography "Magnificent."<...
Daughter of Daring: The Trick-Riding, Train-Leaping, Road-Racing Life of Helen Gibson, Hollywood’s First Stuntwoman
Mallory O'Meara
Paper Book
From LA Times bestselling author Mallory O'Meara, the story of America's first professional stuntwoman, Helen Gibson, who rose to fame during a time when women ruled Hollywood. Helen Gibson was a woman willing to do anything to give audiences a thrill. Advertised as "The...
Sucker Punch: Essays
Scaachi Koul
Paper Book
The long-awaited follow-up from one of the most original and hilarious voices writing today. Scaachi Koul's first book was a collection of raw, perceptive, and hilarious essays reckoning with the issues of race, body image, love, friendship, and growing up the daughter of...
Love, Queenie: Merle Oberon, Hollywood's First South Asian Star
Mayukh Sen
Paper Book
Merle Oberon made history when she was announced as a nominee for the Best Actress Oscar in 1936. Hers was a face that "launched a thousand ships," a so-called exotic beauty who the camera loved and fans adored. Her nomination for The Dark Angel marked the first time the Academy recognized a...
Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy
Julia Ioffe
Paper Book
NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD WINNER FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NAMED ONE OF THE 10 BEST BOOKS OF 2025 BY THE WASHINGTON POST NAMED ONE OF THE 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2025 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES A GUARDIAN BEST BOOK OF 2025 ...
Do Not Cry When I Die: A Holocaust Memoir of a Mother and Daughter's Survival in Jewish Ghettos, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen
Renee Salt
One of the oldest living Holocaust survivors recounts her family's imprisonment at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen in this moving memoir of love, loss, courage, and hope. "A deeply moving memoir, beautifully written and researched." --Lucy Adlington, New York Times bestselling...

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