Biography & autobiography

A Brief History of the House of Windsor: The Making of a Modern Monarchy

by Michael Paterson

The British monarchy may be over a thousand years old, but the House of Windsor dates only from 1917, when, in the middle of the First World War that was to see the demise of the major thrones of continental...

Girl, Interrupted

by Susanna Kaysen

In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital.  She spent most of the next two years on the ward for teenage...

The Fragile Face of God: A True Story About Light, Darkness, and the Hope Beyond the Veil

by LeeAnn Taylor

Can our darkest hour give rise to miracles? Can departed loved ones intervene on our behalf? And can the most fragile among us light the way? LeeAnn Taylor gives a transformative response in her courageous new...

Second Suns: Two Doctors and Their Amazing Quest to Restore Sight and Save Lives

by David Oliver Relin

From the co-author of Three Cups of Tea comes the inspiring story of two very different doctors—one from the United States, the other from Nepal—united in a common mission: to rid the world of preventable...

Tough Jews: Fathers, Sons, and Ganster Dreams

by Richard Cohen

Award-winning writer Rich Cohen excavates the real stories behind the legend of infamous criminal enforcers Murder, Inc. and contemplates the question: Where did the tough Jews go?

In 1930s Brooklyn, there lived...

A Tragic Honesty

by Blake Bailey

The first biography of acclaimed American novelist and story writer Richard Yates

Celebrated in his prime, forgotten in his final years, only to be championed anew by our greatest contemporary authors, Richard...

Mo' Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove

by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson & Ben Greenman

"You have to bear in mind that [Questlove] is one of the smartest motherfuckers on the planet. His musical knowledge, for all practical purposes, is limitless." --Robert Christgau

MO' META BLUES

The World According...

Wear Your Dreams

by Ed Hardy & Joel Selvin

The memoir of iconic tattoo artist Ed Hardy from his beginnings in 1960s California, to leading the tattoo renaissance and building his name into a hugely lucrative international brand

“Ed Hardy” is emblazoned...

Survivor

by Sam Pivnik

Now in his eighties, Sam Pivnik tells for the first time the extraordinary story of how he survived the Holocaust

Sam Pivnik is the ultimate survivor from a world that no longer exists. On fourteen occasions...

Stolen

by Louise Monaghan & Yvonne Kinsella

In the vein of Not Without My Daughter, a memoir recounting a mother's crusade to rescue her kidnapped daughter from her abusive ex-husband during the tumultuous days of the Arab Spring

In the middle of one...

Queen Bee of Tuscany

by Ben Downing

An engrossing examination of a fascinating woman and her irresistible world

Ben Downing’s Queen Bee of Tuscany brings an extraordinary Victorian back to life. Born into a distinguished intellectual family and...

Highs in the Low Fifties: How I Stumbled through the Joys of Single Living

by Marion Winik

A cross between Nora Ephron and David Sedaris, longtime NPR commentator Marion Winik has a uniquely hilarious and relatable way of looking at life. Her stories of being single in middle age, marked by stylish...

Paris France

by Gertrude Stein & Adam Gopnik

Matched only by Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, Paris France is a "fresh and sagacious" (The New Yorker) classic of prewar France and its unforgettable literary eminences.Celebrated for her innovative literary...

A Harappan Adventure

by Sunila Gupte

2570 BCE, Bagasra Village, Harappa, India Twelve-year-old Avani is a happy-go-lucky, adventurous Harappan girl, who loves to play with her friends Tavishi, Delshad and Ambar. The wedding of the Village Elder’s...

Thatcher

by Clare Beckett

Accessible and affordable illustrated biography about a topical historical figure

Native American in the Land of the Shogun: Ranald MacDonald and the Opening of Japan

by Frederik L. Schodt

A wide-ranging, readable account of an eccentric and exceptional man who crossed cultures and changed history.

Lytton Strachey: The New Biography

by Michael Holroyd

"A triumphant success. . . . His prose is confident, clear . . . occasionally perfect." -Dennis Potter, The Times (London)"It is impossible to suppose that this 'Life' will ever be superseded . . . the best...

His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker, Former Slave and Conductor on the Underground Railroad

by John P. Parker & Stuart Seely Sprague

"Surpasses all previous slave narratives. . . . Usually we need to invent our American heroes. With the publication of Parker's extraordinary memoir, we seem to have discovered the genuine article." -Joseph...

The Man from Mars: Ray Palmer's Amazing Pulp Journey

by Fred Nadis

The rollicking true story of the legendary writer and editor who ruled over America's fantasy and supernatural pulp journals in the mid-twentieth century, and shaped today's UFO and sci-fi cultures: Ray Palmer....

The Faraway Nearby

by Rebecca Solnit

This personal, lyrical narrative about storytelling and empathy from award winner Rebecca Solnit is a fitting companion to her beloved A Field Guide for Getting Lost

In this exquisitely written new book by the...