Biography and Memoir

Discover the stories of their lives, in recent biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs.
Updated November 15, 2024
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder
Salman Rushdie
Paper Book
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * From Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie, a searing, deeply personal account of enduring--and surviving--an attempt on his life thirty years after the fatwa that was ordered against him   A TIME BEST BOOK...
On call : a doctor's journey in public service
Fauci, Anthony S.
Paper Book
Anthony Fauci is arguably the most famous - and most revered - doctor in the world today. His role guiding America sanely and calmly through Covid (and through the torrents of Trump) earned him the trust of millions during one of the most terrifying periods in modern American history, but this was...
The Art of Power: My Story as America's First Woman Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi
Paper Book
The most powerful woman in American political history tells the story of her transformation from housewife to House Speaker--how she became a master legislator, a key partner to presidents, and the most visible leader of the Trump resistance. When, at age forty-six, Nancy Pelosi,...
The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir
Griffin Dunne
Paper Book
The instant New York Times bestseller!  "Warm and perceptive." --New York Times "Griffin Dunne knows how to tell a story." --Washington Post "Dunne is a prospector for the incandescent detail."  --Los Angeles Times ...
A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy
Tia Levings
Paper Book
The instant New York Times bestseller: "Today it hit me when he hit me, blood shaking in my brain. Maybe there wasn't a savior coming. Maybe it was up to me to save me." Recruited into the fundamentalist Quiverfull movement as a young wife, Tia...
Sociopath: A Memoir
Patric Gagne
Paper Book
The acclaimed New York Times bestselling memoir of the author's struggle to understand her own sociopathy and shed light on the often maligned and misunderstood mental disorder. "A cross between a podcast by relationship therapist Esther Perel and a salacious tell-all."...
Elon Musk
Walter Isaacson
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestseller from the author of Steve Jobs--this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era--a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private...
Sonny Boy: A Memoir
Al Pacino
Paper Book
The Instant New York Times Bestseller "The book is a beautiful trip." (New York Times Magazine) * "Soulful . . .  Feels like hanging out within a history of American movies over the last 50 years." (Los Angeles Times) * "Startlingly...
The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science
Dava Sobel
Paper Book
The acclaimed Pulitzer Prize finalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Galileo's Daughter crafts a luminous chronicle of the life and work of the most famous woman in the history of science, and the untold story of the many young women trained in her laboratory who...
Men Have Called Her Crazy: A Memoir
Annamarie Tendler
Paper Book
*NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* "This book is so many things I didn't know I needed: a testament to the work of healing, a raw howl of anger, and an indictment of misogyny's insipid, predictable, infuriating reign." --Carmen Maria Machado, author of the National Book Award...
All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud, and Fine Art
Orlando Whitfield
Paper Book
A dazzling insider's account of the contemporary art world and the stunning rise and fall of the charismatic American art dealer Inigo Philbrick, as seen through the eyes of his friend and fellow dealer In development as a series for HBO Orlando Whitfield and Inigo...
True Gretch: What I've Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between
Gretchen Whitmer
Paper Book
From trailblazing Michigan governor and rising Democratic star Gretchen Whitmer comes an unconventionally honest, personal, and funny account of her remarkable life and career, full of insights that guided her through a global pandemic, showdowns with high-profile bullies, and even a kidnapping...
An unfinished love story : a personal history of the 1960s
Goodwin, Doris Kearns
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestseller from "America's historian-in-chief" (New York magazine). An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s by Doris Kearns Goodwin, one of America's most beloved historians, artfully weaves together biography,...
Group Living and Other Recipes: A Memoir
Lola Milholland
Paper Book
"An affirmation and celebration of our deep and radical connections with the world and each other . . . Reading this book is like finding a friend."--Ruth Ozeki A spirited and timely exploration of group living that encourages readers to reconsider the meaning of family and home....
My Name is Barbra
Barbra Streisand
Paper Book
The long-awaited memoir by the superstar of stage, screen, recordings, and television Barbra Streisand is by any account a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment. She is among the handful of EGOT winners (Emmy,...
Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue
Sonia Purnell
Paper Book
"A thorough account of Harriman's rise which also manages to be a brisk, twisty read ... riveting and revelatory." --The New Yorker "a must-read book of Fall 2024" --People Magazine "Rigorous but rollicking." --The New York Times<...
Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and the Marriage That Shook Europe
John Guy
Paper Book
"A fierce, scholarly tour-de-force. . . . Hunting the Falcon brilliantly shows how time, circumstance and politics combined to accelerate Anne's triumph and tragedy." --Tina Brown, New York Times Book Review "A sumptuous drama of lust, intrigue, and betrayal, underpinned by...
Brothers
Alex Van Halen
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In this intimate and open account--nothing like any rock-and-roll memoir you've ever read--Alex Van Halen shares his personal story of family, friendship, music and brotherly love in a remarkable tribute to his beloved brother and band mate. Told...
John Lewis: A Life
David Greenberg
Paper Book
A comprehensive, authoritative biography of Civil Rights icon John Lewis, "the conscience of the Congress," drawing on interviews with Lewis and approximately 275 others who knew him at various stages of his life, as well as never-before-used FBI files and documents. Born into...
Rebel girl : my life as a feminist punk
Hanna, Kathleen
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An electric, searing memoir by the original rebel girl and legendary front woman of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. Hey girlfriend I got a proposition goes something like this: Dare ya to do what you want Kathleen Hanna's band Bikini Kill...
The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards
Jessica Waite
Paper Book
After the sudden death of her husband, a woman unearths surprising revelations about the man she was married to for seventeen years. A compulsively readable, darkly funny, posthumous love story about loss, grief, and unresolved relationships. Jessica Waite's successful,...
Her Lotus Year: China, the Roaring Twenties, and the Making of Wallis Simpson
Paul French
Paper Book
New York Times bestselling author Paul French examines a controversial and revealing period in the early life of the legendary Wallis, Duchess of Windsor-her one year in China. Before she was the Duchess of Windsor, Bessie Wallis Warfield was Mrs. Wallis Spencer,...
Alexander at the end of the world : the forgotten final years of Alexander the Great
Kousser, Rachel Meredith
Paper Book
"A heart-pounding, mind-bending adventure." --Ilyon Woo A riveting biography of Alexander the Great's final years, when the leader's insatiable desire to conquer the world set him off on an exhilarating, harrowing journey that would define his legacy.   By 330 B.C.E., Alexander...
The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: The Life and Times of Washington’s Most Private First Lady
Heath Hardage Lee
Paper Book
A new, revolutionary look into the brilliant life of Pat Nixon. In America's collective consciousness, Pat Nixon has long been perceived as enigmatic. She was voted "Most Admired Woman in the World" in 1972 and made Gallup Poll's top ten list of most admired women fourteen...
Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery
Theodore H. Schwartz
Paper Book
We've all heard the phrase 'it's not brain surgery.' But what exactly is brain surgery? It's a profession that is barely a hundred years old and profoundly connects two human beings, but few know how it works, or its history. How did early neurosurgeons come to understand the human brain - an...
Tiger, Tiger: The Untold Story of the G.O.A.T.
James Patterson
Paper Book
Instant New York Times Bestseller! "Patterson's account is compelling" (Daily Mail). The only major author to have nine holes-in-one gets inside the mystery of Tiger Woods in a biography that reads like an unputdownable...
Ambition monster : a memoir
Romolini, Jennifer
Paper Book
An "intimate, intensely resonant memoir about workaholism, unresolved trauma, and the 'addictive nature of ambition'" (Harper's Bazaar), this is an anti-girlboss tale for our times for readers of Drinking: A Love Story and Uncanny Valley. ...
The Backyard Bird Chronicles
Amy Tan
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A gorgeous, witty account of birding, nature, and the beauty around us that hides in plain sight, written and illustrated by the best-selling author of The Joy Luck Club * With a foreword by David Allen Sibley "Unexpected...
Coming Home
Brittney Griner
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR * From the nine-time women's basketball icon and two-time Olympic gold medalist--a raw, revelatory account of her unfathomable detainment in Russia and her journey home. "Compelling . . . An intimate,...
The Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America
Sara B. Franklin
Paper Book
Legendary editor Judith Jones, the woman behind some of the most important authors of the 20th century--including Julia Child, Anne Frank, Edna Lewis, John Updike, and Sylvia Plath--finally gets her due in this "surprising, granular, luminous, and path-breaking biography" (Edward Hirsch,...
Sharks Don't Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist
Jasmin Graham
Paper Book
The uplifting story of a young Black scientist's challenging journey to flourish outside the traditional confines of academia, inspired by her innate connection to nature's most misunderstood animal-the shark. "Jasmin Graham has that winning combination of talent and grit needed to...
Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich
Richard J. Evans
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews "A fascinating and instructive book . . . elegantly written and perceptive." --Wall Street Journal "Kaleidoscopic . . . A fascinating exploration of individual agency that never loses sight of the larger...
Consent: A Memoir
Jill Ciment
Paper Book
A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR * From the acclaimed novelist ("A virtuoso"--Donna Seaman, Booklist), a deft, shocking memoir that asks whether we can judge past behavior by today's moral codes, as the author reevaluates her decades-long marriage to the forty-seven-year-old man...
Henry V: The Astonishing Triumph of England's Greatest Warrior King
Dan Jones
Paper Book
'A historian who writes as addictively as any page-turning novelist.' - Observer Henry V reigned over England for only nine years and four months, and died at the age of just 35, but he looms over the landscape of the late Middle Ages and beyond. The victor of Agincourt was...
Joyful Recollections of Trauma
Paul Scheer
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Paul Scheer delivers a deeply funny, personal and moving account of how joy and pain are the perfect ingredients for a happy and funny life."--Amy Poehler "It's a hilarious essay collection about trauma. Yes, really."--People Magazine From award...
The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within
Cory Richards
Paper Book
A renowned climber and National Geographic photographer shares his incredible adventures-and the early trauma that drove him to seek such heights. "An extraordinary memoirofmental illness that reads like a thriller."-Amy Ellis Nutt, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and...
Life's Too Short: A Memoir
Darius Rucker
Paper Book
"Darius has always been one of my favorite people to sing with and to call a friend in this industry and yet even knowing him well for as long as I have, there are so many incredible stories in Life's Too Short that I enjoyed learning for the first time."--Sheryl Crow ...
Do Something: Coming of Age Amid the Glitter and Doom of '70s New York
Guy Trebay
Paper Book
An evocative coming-of-age memoir--the story of the education of a wayward wild child and acidhead who, searching for meaning and purpose, found refuge in the demimonde of the ruined but magical metropolis that was New York City in the 1970s. "In his beautiful memoir, Do Something...
What a Fool Believes: A Memoir
Michael McDonald
Paper Book
* INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A sweeping and evocative memoir from the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Grammy Award-winning, platinum selling singer-songwriter Michael McDonald, written with his friend, Emmy Award-nominated actor, comedian, and #1 New York Times bestselling...
Unleashed: Memoirs from Former Prime Minister and Bestselling Author Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Paper Book
Shattering the mold of the traditional political memoir, Unleashed is a candid, unrestrained, and revealing book by Boris Johnson, the Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  In Unleashed, Johnson takes readers through all the big decisions during his time in...
Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King: Bill Gates and His Quest to Shape Our World
Anupretta Das
Paper Book
From the finance editor of The New York Times, an insightful and illuminating examination of Bill Gates--one of the most powerful and provocative figures of the past four decades--and an exploration of our national fixation on billionaires. Few billionaires have been in...
Midnight in Moscow: A Memoir from the Front Lines of Russia's War Against the West
John J. Sullivan
Paper Book
2025 Winner of The Fletcher School's Best Book on U.S.-Russian Relations A memoir of service by the American ambassador who was on the diplomatic front lines when Putin invaded Ukraine, Midnight in Moscow is the first behind-the-scenes account of how U.S.-Russia...
The Dragon From Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany
Pamela D. Toler
Paper Book
For fans of unheralded women's stories, a captivating look at Sigrid Schultz-one of the earliest reporters to warn Americans of the rising threat of the Nazi regime "No other American correspondent in Berlin knew so much of what was going on behind the scene as did Sigrid Schultz." -...
The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty
Valerie Bauerlein
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "The definitive account of the Murdaugh murders. Forget the podcasts, the TV specials, and the documentaries--this is the version of the story you'll want to read. And once you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down."--John Carreyrou, Pulitzer...
Under a Rock
Chris Stein
Paper Book
Foreword by Debbie Harry "A Downtown Memory" by Romy Ashby Debbie Harry defined iconic band Blondie's look. Chris Stein--her performing partner, lover, and lifelong friend--was its architect and defined its sound. "Parallel Lines", their third album, catapulted to #1,...
Chasing Hope: A Reporter's Life
Nicholas D. Kristof
Paper Book
From New York Times columnist, Pulitzer Prize winner, and best-selling author Nicholas D. Kristof, an intimate and gripping memoir about a life in journalism "Nick Kristof takes us behind the scenes as he risks his life to shine a light on the world's most pressing problems...
My Beloved Monster: Masha, the Half-Wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me
Caleb Carr
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "The most brilliant feline portrait in literary history." -People Magazine (Book of the Week) The #1 bestselling author of The Alienist tells the extraordinary story of Masha, a half...
The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an American Organized-Crime Boss
Margalit Fox
Paper Book
America's first great organized-crime lord was a lady--a nice Jewish mother named Mrs. Mandelbaum. "A tour de force . . . With a pickpocket's finesse, Margalit Fox lures us into the criminal underworld of Gilded Age New York."--Liza Mundy, author of The Sisterhood

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.