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Walk a mile in someone else's shoes. Immerse yourself in the lives of the famous and people whose stories you can relate to. Our biography titles come in book, eBook, eAudiobook or large print. This list updates when we add new titles to our collection.
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eBook
From London journalist to owner of the historic, ramshackle Nun's Cottage and two alpacas (named Jack and Kerouac) and providore of local produce, this is Hilary Burden's journey.
A hilarious, highly original collection of essays based on the Botswana truism: "only food runs!"In the tradition of Bill Bryson, a new writer brings us the lively adventures and biting wit of an African safari guide. Peter Allison gives us the guide...
"For decades, Grace Coddington's personal touch has steered wildly imaginative fashion spreads in Vogue magazine. Then came The September Issue, the behind-the-scenes documentary that turned the spotlight on a woman with a no-nonsense attitude and an...
Book
A sweeping history of the intertwined careers of Dick Cheney and Colin Powell, whose rivalry and conflicting views of U.S. national security color our political debate to this day. Dick Cheney and Colin Powell emerged on the national scene more than ...
R. Eric Thomas didn't know he was different until the world told him so. Everywhere he went--whether it was his rich, mostly white, suburban high school, his conservative black church, or his Ivy League college in a big city--he found himself on the ...
While working as an intern in the archives at the Harry Ransom Center, Jenn Shapland encounters the love letters of Carson McCullers and a woman named Annemarie-letters that are tender, intimate, and unabashed in their feelings. Shapland recognizes herself...
This book is a true account of the why’s, the how’s, and the life of an American family that left their comfortable life living in an extremely small Northern Nevada community to move aboard a 37 foot trimaran sailboat which became their home for five...
Hi! I’m HelloGreedo. I started a Star Wars YouTube channel in 2011, and now I wrote a book. Sorry About The Mess is a lot like my live streams; random and all over the place. I have a habit of ping-ponging from topic to topic. This book ended up being...
A journey which resonates with millions of aspiring actors and artists. Vijay Kumar meets and shares the screen with his childhood hero The Legend Of Indian Cinema Dev Anand. Taking you on an adventure from his humble beginnings in New Delhi, India, ...
Elizabeth Wurtzel writes with her finger on the faint pulse of an overdiagnosed generation whose ruling icons are Kurt Cobain, Xanax, and pierced tongues. Her famous memoir of her bouts with depression and skirmishes with drugs, Prozac Nation is a witty...
...tells the story of Dawn, a sweet and seemingly well-balanced girl whose outward appearance masks a traumatic childhood of suffering at the hands of the very people who should have cared for her. Dawn was the first girl Cathy Glass ever fostered. Sweet...
Gerald Stapleton was born in Durban, South Africa in 1920. In January 1939 he took up a short service commission in the RAF and eventually joined 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron in December 1939, prior to becoming one of the outstanding fighter pilots...
Queen of the Air brings the circus world to life through the story of trapeze artist and circus performer Leitzel, the most famous woman in the world at the turn of the 20th century. Like some of today's stars, she was known to her vast public by just...
"In this memoir-in-essays, New York Times bestselling author Erica Bauermeister renovates a trash-filled house in the eccentric town of Port Townsend, WA, and in the process takes readers on a journey into the ways our spaces subliminally affect us, ...
Suffering from bipolar disorder, and hungry for approval at any price, Rachel Cullen's life was defined by flunked relationships, an ill-fitting career and poor health to match. Stuck in an endless cycle of disappointment, and not knowing how to handle...
In 2017, the FBI revealed that it had reached the endgame of a sprawling investigation of large-scale corruption involving Adidas, Louisville and a host of other colleges, in which large payments were laundered from Adidas through a network of coaches...
In the first book to consider the hidden history of the Netherlands from a modern perspective, author Ben Coates explores the length and breadth of his adopted homeland and discovers why one of the world's smallest countries is so fascinating and sig...
Dear Reader, When I found myself experiencing a motherhood that I never expected, one that I was terrified of living, I didn't know how I would carry on being 'normal'. I didn't know how much I would long for people to say my son Teddy's name, to not...
Jessica reveals for the first time her inner monologue and most intimate struggles. Guided by the journals she's kept since age fifteen, and brimming with her unique humor and down-to-earth humanity, Open Book is as inspiring as it is entertaining. This...
On first publication, this book was ... acclaimed as a classic account of the lives of two autistic brothers. This new edition brings the story up to date by outlining the boys' experiences of adolescence and the challenges they and their mother face...
Collette Wolfe was on holidays in Lanzarote with her husband Anthony when they got the call that all parents most dread. Their beloved daughter Leanne had died, having taken her own life. On the morning of Leanne's funeral, her diaries were uncovered...
In 2016 Scottish writer Iain Maloney and his Japanese wife Minori moved to a village in rural Japan. This is the story of his attempt to fit in, be accepted and fulfil his duties as a member of the community, despite being the only foreigner in the v...
In this definitive biography, renowned Bible scholar, Anglican bishop, and bestselling author N. T. Wright offers a radical look at the apostle Paul, illuminating the humanity and remarkable achievements of this intellectual who invented Christian...
Tony Sanchez worked for Keith Richards for eight years buying drugs, running errands and orchestrating cheap thrills. He records unforgettable accounts of the Stones' perilous misadventures racing cars along the Cote d'Azur; murder at Altamont; nights...
As seen on ABC TV's Australian Story Sally Nielsen is a wedding planner, whose own wedding plans were turned upside down when her fiance suffered a catastrophic stroke, leaving him completely dependent on her and his family for all his needs. When others...
"Augusten Burroughs's most provocative collection of true stories yet. From nicotine gum addiction to lesbian personal ads to incontinent dogs, Possible Side Effects mines Burroughs's life in a series of uproariously funny essays. These are stories that...
From the number-one bestselling author of Running with Scissors and Dry comes Augusten Burroughs's most eagerly anticipated collection yet: true stories that give voice to the thoughts that we all have but dare not mention. It begins with a Tang...
"In 1996, 24-year-old Lance Armstrong was ranked the number one cyclist in the world. But that October the Golden Boy of American cycling was sidelined by advanced testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain. His chance for recovery was as...
An advertising executive remembers his childhood with his eccentric foster family and his early adulthood experiences of trying to establish an independent life for himself.
Many strong minded women have headstrong daughters. But this isn't supposed to extend to their cats ... Some say your previous cat chooses their successor. If so, what in cat heaven's name was Helen Brown's beloved Cleo thinking when she sent a crazy...
Legendary outdoorsman, conservationist and U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt first rose to national prominence as a leader of the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, the crack team of volunteers who represented the country in the Spanish-American War....
Kaiser William II was the last Emperor of Germany, and ruled that country and the kingdom of Prussia during the tumultuous period that marked the transition from the nineteenth century to the twentieth. Known as an impetuous and highly opinionated le...
For many millennia, the history of the world has been written by, for, and about men. This fascinating volume takes a different approach, offering brief biographies of dozens of women who have played a role in key world events. Learn more about the i...
In this autobiography, also titled The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Mohandas K. Gandhi recounts his life from childhood up until 1921, noting that "my life from this point onward has been so public that there is hardly anything about it that people...
Are you an entrepreneur who is losing faith and wondering whether it's worth it to stick it out through the lean times? Take inspiration from this remarkable collection of tales about American businesspeople who struck it rich and hit the big time. A...
One world's richest and best-known people in his day, Henry Ford was the founder of Ford Motor Company and a pioneering innovator of mass production. Ford's autobiography, My Life and Work, gives personal insight into the life of this prolific inventor...
Why is that some people's lives are filled with astounding accomplishments and achievements while others' efforts seem to fall flat? Author H.A. Lewis sets out to answer this age-old question in Hidden Treasures, Or, Why Some Succeed While Others Fail....
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is the immensely powerful autobiography of Harriet Jacobs, who wrote under a pen name. A feminist work, she uses her experiences to state and restate her belief that though all unhappiness sprung from being a slave,...
Renowned American humorist Mark Twain turns his incisive wit loose on his own life story in this unique take on the nineteenth-century memoir. Originally composed in a format that studiously ignored the careful chronological structure that most autob...
Charles Eastman, whose Sioux name was Ohiyesa (pronounced Oh hee' yay suh), was a Native American author, doctor and reformer who also helped to establish the Boy Scouts of America. His autobiographical Indian Boyhood, popular in Boy Scout programs, is...
Although best known as a writer of fiction who produced such classics as Little Women, Louisa May Alcott lived a fascinating life that included a stint as a Civil War nurse. This collection includes several essays, letters, and other pieces that outl...
Painter Benjamin West was an important figure in art history, as he was born in what later became the United States in 1738 and was reaching his creative peak just as the Revolutionary War broke out. As such, he is regarded as one of the first signif...
Scottish writer J. M. Barrie is best remembered for the wildly popular play Peter Pan. In this charming collection of biographical essays and character sketches, Barrie reflects on his life and experiences as a college student in Edinburgh and the life...
One of the most storied and influential rulers in modern history, Queen Victoria's long reign defined the character of the nineteenth century throughout much of Europe. This insightful and comprehensive biography from E. Gordon Browne presents a firs...
The second in the series of three autobiographies penned by Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom picks up where Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass left off. This volume recounts more gripping details of Douglass' transformation from...
William Wordsworth is regarded as one of the most significant figures in the Western literary canon--but his sister, Dorothy, was a skilled poet and diarist in her own right, as well, though she never sought the public acclaim that enveloped her brot...
The story of Rousseau's life, from the formative experiences of his humble childhood in Geneva, through the achievement of international fame as novelist and philosopher in Paris, to his wanderings as an exile, persecuted by governments and alienated...
Concerning art -- Love of nature -- Concerning texts -- On composing -- On performing music -- On his own works -- On art and artists -- Beethoven as critic -- On education -- On his own disposition and character -- The sufferer -- Worldly wisdom -- ...
Founder of Pennsylvania William Penn played a key role in the formation and development of the early American colonies. A man of contradictions, Penn was a savvy businessman, a champion of religious freedom, and a Quaker who was imprisoned due to his...
Swedish novelist and playwright August Strindberg led a tumultuous life defined by giddy heights and despairing depths. One of his most intense periods of depression resulted in profound psychological and existential distress that Strindberg later came...
This delightful collection from R. Shelton Mackenzie brings together a series of Irish stories, tales, myths, jokes, and folklore collected by the author over the course of his life. Presented in a warm, conversational tone, Bits of Blarney is a must-read...
A wise king and, by some accounts, a distant ancestor of Jesus, David is one of the most compelling figures depicted in the Bible. In this thoughtful and comprehensive volume, theologian Charles Henry Mackintosh provides rich historical context for gaining...
Though Henry James is best remembered as a titan of nineteenth-century American literature and an important innovator in the domain of literary realism, he was also a key figure in the literary criticism of the period and helped to shape the era's cr...
With insight and great wit, Emmeline's autobiography chronicles the beginnings of her interest in feminism through to her militant and controversial fight for women's right to vote. While Emmeline received a good education, attending an all-girls school...
Renowned Baptist preacher Frank W. Boreham was known for his unusual ability to spin moving religious lessons from the stuff of everyday life. In the unique collection A Handful of Stars, Boreham takes this approach a step further. Drawing on excerpts...
Most of the lore surrounding America's Wild West has to do with cowboys and outlaws, but these boomtowns were also overrun with grifters, hustlers, and confidence men on the prowl. George Graham Rice was a legendary example of a crook who amassed a s...
The "official" account of the Civil War is well known by many, but this sweeping narrative often overlooks the experiences and impressions of individuals. Life in Dixie During the War offers up a fascinating first-hand account of what it was like to ...
Despite the fact that Abraham Lincoln is widely regarded as one of the most historically significant figures in American politics, many details about his personal life remain shrouded in mystery. In this probing biography, author Henry Ketcham provides...
Although Jack London is best remembered as a fiction writer who chronicled the power of nature and the American West, he also dabbled in psychological drama over the course of his career. John Barleycorn is an engrossing novel based heavily on London...
Many histories of the short life of Old West gunslinger William Bonney have been published, but few pack the punch of Charles A. Siringo's History of 'Billy the Kid' , a thrilling first-person account that traces the doomed outlaw's story from birth to...
Oscar Wilde was one of the most successful playwrights of the Victorian era. He was also a notorious supporter of the decadence and aesthetic movements, eventually jailed for having a young male lover. His name remains a by-word for social commentary...
Interested in reading a take on the historical Jesus that's not weighed down by a particular writer's theological agenda? Samuel H. M. Byers' A Layman's Life of Jesus will definitely fit the bill. This engaging volume sets forth an account of Christ's...
Best known for his novels Tom Jones and Amelia, Henry Fielding was also an intrepid traveler and explorer who used his journeys around the world as fodder for his sprawling, picaresque works of fiction. Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon, Volume I collect...
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, written in 1789, details its writer's life in slavery, his time spent serving on galleys, the eventual attainment of his own freedom and later success in business. Including a look at how slavery...
Though born in Iowa, author Emerson Hough moved to rural New Mexico and practiced as a frontier lawyer there for many years. Along the way, he met some very interesting characters, including many of the Wild West's most infamous outlaws. This volume ...
Get up close and personal with some of the heavy hitters of British history in this engaging volume of brief biographical sketches. With an emphasis on extracting moral lessons from the lives and choices of great men, British jurist James Bryce offers...
In the second volume of Lafcadio Hearn's essays on the culture of nineteenth-century Japan, readers are given an firsthand look inside a society that was long cloaked by secrecy and a suspicion of outsiders. These closely observed anecdotes and vignettes...
This fantastically entertaining memoir relates the trials and tribulations of a self-described "matrimonial monomaniac"--a man who is hopelessly addicted to marriage. Rather than wedded bliss and happily-ever-after, however, Abbott's marriages usually...
In this darkly hilarious World War I-era satire, an affluent British family finds itself being whisked away to a land of fairies, where the matriarch is crowned as queen. They gradually begin to introduce British mores and traditions in their new lan...
Irish-born poet and lyricist Thomas Moore arose from a working-class background to make a name for himself as one of the foremost figures in the Gaelic cultural revival that began to take hold in the early nineteenth century. Stephen Gwynn's comprehe...
Published in 1902 when the author was not yet twenty years old, Mary MacLane's searingly frank memoir is so far ahead of its time that it may shock even current-day readers. Indeed, the original title I Await the Devil's Coming (referring to MacLane'...
Mary Ann Evans, the British writer who worked under the male pen name George Eliot, was a fascinating literary figure and one of the most influential novelists of the Victorian period. This biography from Mathilde Blind delves into Eliot's life and w...
Cleopatra, the last pharaoh of ancient Egypt, was a mysterious and beguiling figure who has fascinated historians for thousands of years. In this detailed account of her life and influence, author Jacob Abbott addresses many of the lingering question...
With candid memoirs like I, Mary MacLane, this controversial Canadian writer helped to usher in a new era of confessional autobiographý⁰₄and to remake the notion of what constituted acceptable subject matter for female essayists and authors. Setting...
In an era where "knowledge workers" with often-nebulous skill sets have come to make up a significant portion of the workforce, it can be refreshing to read about the more clearly defined trades of past eras. This engaging collection of brief biographies...
If you assume that the autobiography of a nineteen-year-old woman experiencing the transition from the nineteenth century to the twentieth century sounds like it could be dull and prim, think again. Mary MacLane's searingly original and frank memoir was...
Describes the life and espionage career of Vera Atkins, a talented agent who rose to the top of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a British secret service dedicated to aiding resistance efforts throughout Nazi-occupied Europe.
When Richie Jackson's eighteen-year-old son came out to him, Jackson was compelled to reflect on his own experiences as a gay man. This is his celebration of embraced identity-- and a powerful warning. Despite the achievements of the past fifty years...
When climate activist Greta Thunberg was eleven, her parents, Malena and Svante, and her little sister, Beata, were facing a crisis in their own home. Greta had stopped eating and speaking, and her mother and father had reconfigured their lives to care...
When the Bank of Scotland recently carried out a survey asking people to name Great Scots, 'Wallace McIntosh - War Hero' was chosen among such illustrious names as John Logie Baird, David Livingstone and Robert Louis Stevenson. Born into grinding pov...
'Asperger's made me a prisoner in my own home. When I finally entered the real world, evil was waiting.' A shocking true account of one girl's harrowing journey to survival. Sophie Crockett spent most of her childhood suffering from crippling anxiety...
eAudiobook
At the start of this remarkable story of recovery, healing, and redemption, Ginger Gaffney answers a call to help retrain the troubled horses at an alternative prison ranch in New Mexico, a facility run entirely by the prisoners. The horses are scave...
"A brave and marvelous book. A page-turner that will rip your heart out."--Jon KrakauerIn the tradition of Into the Wild comes an instant classic of outdoor literature, a riveting work of uncommon depth. I'm planning on doing 4 days in the jungle. . ....
Blueberries could be described as a collection of essays, the closest term available for a book that resists classification; a blend of personal essay, polemic, prose poetry, true-crime journalism and confession that considers a fragmented life, reflecting...
Part 1 is a bullet-pointed look at every released song, complete with insights, trivia, and meanings, including musical insights--like Elton's favorite chord progressions, or the most notable melodies in his discography. Part 2 is a collection of essays...
Homecoming tells the story of the Windrush generation, in their own words; the first book to bring together oral testimonies of the post-war Caribbean immigrants to Britain.
When they fell in love in 1928, Rika and Waldemar could not have been more different. She was a thirty-seven-year-old Dutch-born mother, estranged from her husband. He was her immigrant boarder, not yet twenty, and a wealthy Surinamese descendant of ...
A focused biography, this book details the celebrated author and expatriate Gertrude Stein in her triumphant homecoming to America in 1934, following the surprise success of her disguised memoir, The autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, the previous year....
The little-known story of screenwriter Salka Viertel, whose salons in 1930s and 40s Hollywood created a refuge for a multitude of famous figures who had escaped the horrors of World War ll. Hollywood was created by its "others"; that is, by women, Jews,...
In Secondhand, journalist Adam Minter takes us on an unexpected adventure into the often-hidden, multibillion-dollar industry of reuse: thrift stores in the American Southwest to vintage shops in Tokyo, flea markets in Southeast Asia to used-goods en...
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