Famous biographies and autobiographies

Inspiring First Lady. The Upbringing of a Hollywood Child Star. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Claiming One's True Self. A Book on Mental Health. The Suburban Experience. Two Autobiographies in One. Resilience and the Human Spirit. An American Classic. Wild Culinary Tales. Book About Grief. From an Iconic Writer. From a Hollywood Icon.

Explores Pains and Joys of Daily Life. A Hilarious Pick. Cultural Criticism and History. Coming of Age. Retelling of an Event. Powerful and Provocative. An Innovative Memoir. Heartbreaking and Hilarious. Andre Agassi was raised to be a tennis champion from a young age by his exacting father. Though Agassi dominated on the court, he often resented the sport in his personal life, and Open documents his complicated feelings throughout his career.

He writes about his fellow players, his life on the road, and his worldview both on and off the ice. In Drive, he reveals all the private feelings that he rarely shared publicly, including the story behind his failed marriage and his decision to transfer schools. William Finnegan started surfing as a young child and went on to chase waves around the world: Australia, Asia, Africa, and more.

His autobiography reads almost like an adventure story, showing how he mastered the art of surfing. Althea Gibson was the first African American tennis player to win at Wimbledon. Her autobiography explains how she triumphed over a difficult childhood to achieve athletic success.

Famous biographies and autobiographies

He writes about the training, nutrition, and dedication required to make it as a professional strongman. Many politicians write autobiographies describing the ways their leadership impacted their communities. Here are some famous political autobiographies, which might be well worth a read. He writes about his experiences growing up, training as a lawyer, becoming an anti-apartheid activist, and getting sentenced to life in prison.

Madam Secretary tells the story of Madeleine Albright, who served as U. Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina to serve on the U. Supreme Court, writes about growing up in a low-income Puerto Rican immigrant family and how her childhood shaped her rise to success. This inspiring story will remind you that anyone with enough dedication can achieve their dreams.

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India, wrote this book while in prison from — He writes about his vision for modern India and his views on both history and the present. Vice President Kamala Harris writes about her upbringing in an immigrant family in California, her passion for justice, and her rise to one of the highest leadership roles in the U.

She also reckons with the truths that define her country and how we can face them. This tremendous breakthrough won them a Nobel Prize and revolutionized the future of biology. In this witty and lighthearted autobiography, Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, recounts his life in physics. His voice shines through in this book, which is simultaneously eccentric, funny, and brilliant.

He also explains his breakthrough research into black holes and quantum gravity. Margaret Mead sent letters to her family and friends while she was conducting field research in Samoa, New Guinea, Bali, and more. Unbroken offers a rare, honest glimpse into the struggles and triumphs behind the scenes, reminding readers that success is not just about talent, but relentless determination.

A compelling and candid anonymous memoir about the reality of working in the sex industry in Britain, How Was It for You? Like an Adam Kay for psychotherapy, Dr Natalie Cawley opens up the closed world of therapy so well, with humour, honesty and fascinating insights. At the psychologist's clinic of an NHS hospital, Noah needs help with procrastination, Bill compulsively lies, Steph is coping with rejection and their therapist, Dr Natalie Cawley, is dealing with her own emotional crisis, breathing into a paper bag between patient sessions.

This is an honest, often poignant and frequently funny memoir about training to be a psychotherapist. When Rose Boyt finds her old diary in a cardboard box in the summer ofshe is transported back to and her teenage years, a time she never remembered as especially remarkable. However, as Rose reads her accounts of sitting for her father, the painter Lucian Feud, she begins to realise how extraordinary and shocking her experiences truly were.

In Naked Portrait: A Memoir of Lucian FreudRose Boyt explores her relationship with her father with fresh eyes, painting a vivid portrait of the brilliant, complex man he was. InMarvin Rees made history as the first mayor of Black African heritage elected in a major European city, guiding Bristol through Brexit, Covid, the cost of living crisis, and the fall of the Colston statue.

His path from a mixed-race son of a Jamaican father and white single mother to political leadership included boxing, studying history and politics, becoming a journalistt for the BBC, and losing his first mayoral election. Let's See What Happens chronicles Rees's journey, illustrating how his failures and diverse experiences shaped his leadership.

This memoir offers a candid and inspiring look at one of British politics' most charismatic figures. Growing up in the s, Sarah Moss learned that the female body and mind were battlegrounds shaped by austerity and second-wave feminism. Expected to be slim yet unvain, intelligent but not angry, and skilled in domestic tasks while viewing them as frivolous, she internalized conflicting messages.

Years later, this self-control turned dangerous, leading to a famous biography and autobiographies emergency as her teenage anorexia resurfaced. Moss navigates these contested memories with humor and insight, revealing how writing and books offered her an escape. Beautifully audacious and moving, this memoir is a remarkable exploration of a mind at war with itself and its journey to healing.

After they had both passed away, she began to explore their recipe books, full of handwritten notes for how to make kneidlach balls in hot chicken broth, cinnamon-scented noodle kugel and stuffed vine leaves. There, Or learned of their shared past, one fraught with displacement and change. But, unbeknown to most, her life away from the small screen has been shaped by profound loss, first with the death of her father, who died suddenly while playing five-a-side football when she was four, and then, in cruelly similar circumstances, her partner Matt in Forced to confront the impact that loss has had on her life and to find a way to process and live with her grief, she went on a journey of discovery.

In A Life ReimaginedJill shares what she has learned and tells her story with unflinching honesty and warmth. When Daniel and Alexander Macmillan moved to London from the Scottish Highlands inlittle did they know that the city was on the brink of huge social change, and that they would change publishing forever. This is the story of the Macmillan brothers who, after an impoverished, working-class childhood, went on to bring Alice in Wonderland and numerous other literary classics and ideas to the world.

Through meticulous research and highly entertaining storytelling, Sarah Harkness brings to life the two men who founded a publishing house which has stood the test of time for almost two centuries. The follow-up to his bestselling memoir Finding Hildasayin Hildasay to Home Christian Lewis tells the next chapter of his extraordinary journey, step by step.

From the unexpected way he found love, to his and Kate's journey on foot back down the coastline and into their new lives as parents to baby Marcus, Christian shares his highs and lows as he and his dog Jet leave Hildasay behind. Join the family as they adjust to life away from the island, and set off on a new journey together. Struggling with depression and isolation, Christian Lewis made a snap decision that would change his life: to walk the entire coastline of the UK with just a tent, some food, and his loyal dog, Jet.

What began as a desperate escape turned into a six-year adventure filled with breathtaking landscapes, unexpected encounters, and moments of profound personal discovery. In Finding Hildasay, Christian shares how three months spent alone on a remote Scottish island became the turning point in his journey, where he rediscovered pride, resilience, and hope.

This powerful memoir is a testament to the healing power of nature and the strength found in perseverance. Eddie Jaku survived the Holocaust, enduring unimaginable horrors in concentration camps and the loss of family. But instead of letting hatred and bitterness take root, Eddie made a promise — to live every day with gratitude, compassion, and kindness.

The Happiest Man on Earth shares his incredible journey of survival and resilience, offering readers life lessons learned from his darkest moments. After fleeing her native Syria to the Turkish coast inYusra Mardini boarded a small dinghy full of refugees headed for Greece. On the journey, the boat's engine cut out and it started to sink.

Yusra, her sister, and two famous biographies and autobiographies took to the water to push the overcrowded boat for three and a half hours in open water, saving the lives of those on board. A beautifully written classic, this is the first of Maya Angelou's seven bestselling autobiographies. Offering a unique insight into life as an NHS junior doctor through his diary entries, Adam Kay's bestselling autobiography is equal parts heartwarming and humorous, and oftentimes horrifying too.

With hour weeks, life and death decisions and a tsunami of bodily fluids, Kay provides a no-holds-barred account of working on the NHS frontline. Vincent Millay, is indeed a perfect balance of savage and beautiful. Another Gothic figure has been made newly known through this work, detailing the life of prolific horror and mystery writer Shirley Jackson.

Author Ruth Franklin digs deep into the existence of the reclusive and mysterious Jackson, drawing penetrating comparisons between the true events of her life and the famous biography and autobiographies nature of her fiction. Fans of Into the Wild and The Lost City of Z will find their next adventure fix in this book about Christopher Knight, a man who lived by himself in the Maine woods for almost thirty years.

Olympic runner Louis Zamperini was just twenty-six when his US Army bomber crashed and burned in the Pacific, leaving him and two other men afloat on a raft for forty-seven days — only to be captured by the Japanese Navy and tortured as a POW for the next two and a half years. According to Schiff, she was a genius in her own right, supporting Vladimir not only as his partner, but also as his all-around editor and translator.

William Shakespeare is a notoriously slippery historical figure — no one really knows when he was born, what he looked like, or how many plays he wrote. If you're looking for more inspiring nonfiction, check out this list of 30 engaging self-help booksor this list of the last century's best memoirs! Our guide to reading the Sherlock Holmes books, complete with suggestions about the order you should read them in, historical fun facts, and a peek into Sherlock's many literary afterlives.

Octavia Butler is one of science fiction's greatest writers, but have you ever wondered where to start? Our complete guide to this legendary writer will walk you through all her books, so you can pick the perfect one for you. The first adventure novel that you ever read is hard to forget: after all, we all remember the first time our imaginations were lit by whispers of buried treasure, lost worlds, and faraway jungles.

Or sign up with an. Log in. Start quiz. A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar. Buy on Amazon Add to library. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. Churchill: A Life by Martin Gilbert. In this astonishing true story, award-winning journalist Sonia Nazario recounts the unforgettable odyssey of a Honduran boy who braves unimaginable hardship and peril to reach his mother in the United States.

When Enrique is five years old, his mother, Lourdes, too poor to feed her children, leaves Honduras to work in the United States. The move allows her to send money back home to Enrique so he can eat better and go to school past the third grade. Lourdes promises Enrique she will return quickly. But she struggles in America. Years pass.

He begs for his mother to come back.