Biography & autobiography

A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare

Samuel Johnson Prize 2006

by James Shapiro

1599 was an epochal year for Shakespeare and England

Shakespeare wrote four of his most famous plays: Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and, most remarkably, Hamlet; Elizabethans sent off an army...

American Savage: Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics

by Dan Savage

On the heels of his Emmy-winning It Gets Better campaign, columnist and provocateur Dan Savage weighs in on such diverse issues as healthcare, gun control, and marriage equality with characteristic straight...

A Woman of Science: An Extraordinary Journey of Love, Discovery, and the Sex Life of Mushrooms

by Cardy Raper & Remeline M.D. Damasco

A STORY OF TRUE LOVE, DETERMINATION, SACRIFICE, AND DISCOVERY.

A Woman of Science catalogues a decades-long journey of inspirational hardship and success that serves as a model for what women can do in a field...

Margaret Thatcher: From Grantham to the Falklands

by Charles Moore

With unequaled authority and dramatic detail, the first volume of Charles Moore’s authorized biography of Margaret Thatcher reveals as never before the early life, rise to power, and first years as prime minister...

I Can Barely Take Care of Myself: Tales From a Happy Life Without Kids

by Jen Kirkman

"You'll Change Your Mind."

That’s what everyone says to Jen Kirkman— and countless women like her—when she confesses she doesn’t plan to have children. But you know what? It’s hard enough to be an...

My Foot Is Too Big for the Glass Slipper: A Guide to the Less Than Perfect Life

by Gabrielle Reece & Karen Karbo

So you got the guy on the big white horse, and the beautiful little mermaids, and the picket fence, and your life isn’ t . . . perfect in every imaginable way?

You’re not alone. In 1997, Gabrielle Reece...

The Bling Ring

by Nancy Jo Sales

The true story that inspired the Sofia Coppola film

Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Orlando Bloom, Rachel Bilson: robbed. More than $3 million in stolen clothing, jewelry, shoes, and handbags reported missing. Who...

Chasing the Sun

by Juanes

"I'm doing what I believe I was brought to this world to do: to create music that raises awareness, renews hearts, and generates change. I'll continue looking to the stars and traveling the globe as God permits...

The Unknown Paul McCartney

by Ian Peel

Internationally acclaimed, knighted and immortalised in music's pantheon, Paul McCartney nevertheless remains one of the least fully appreciated of modern icons.

Throughout his career, McCartney has initiated...

Unsinkable

by Debbie Reynolds & Dorian Hannaway

The definitive memoir by legendary actress and performer Debbie Reynolds—an entertaining and moving story of enduring friendships and unbreakable family bonds, of hitting bottom and rising to the top again—that...

Lifesaving Lessons: Notes from an Accidental Mother

by Linda Greenlaw

Famed swordfish boat captain Linda Greenlaw faces her greatest battle with nature—a newly adopted teenage daughter

Linda Greenlaw isn’t a woman who shies away from a challenge—a nationally renowned swordfish...

Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End

by Jennifer Worth

The last book in the trilogy begun by Jennifer Worth's New York Times bestseller and the basis for the PBS series Call the Midwife

When twenty-two-year-old Jennifer Worth, from a comfortable middle-class upbringing,...

This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band

by Levon Helm & Stephen Davis

The Band, who backed Bob Dylan when he went electric in 1965 and then turned out a half-dozen albums of beautifully crafted, image-rich songs, is now regarded as one of the most influential rock groups of the...

Banished: Surviving My Years in the Westboro Baptist Church

by Lauren Drain & Lisa Pulitzer

NOW A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER You've likely heard of the Westboro Baptist Church. Perhaps you've seen their pickets on the news, the members holding signs with messages that are too offensive to copy here,...

Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse

by Jennifer Worth

The sequel to Jennifer Worth's New York Times bestselling memoir and the basis for the PBS series Call the Midwife

When twenty-two-year-old Jennifer Worth, from a comfortable middle-class upbringing, went to...

Fighting Blind: On assignment in war-torn Iraq

by Shane Horsburgh & Jason K Foster

Fast-paced, gripping and real, a former SWAT team leader and Commando trainer, shares his life story - an intense sometimes humorous account of a remarkable life.

The Military 100

by Lt. Col. (Ret.) Michael Lanning

THEY WERE CONQUERERS. LIBERATORS. HEROES. MADMEN.ALL CHANGED THE WORLD FOREVER ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE

This compelling study by Lt. Col. Michael Lee Lanning (U.S. Army, Ret.) lists the hundred most influential...

My Mother Wore A Yellow Dress

by Christina McKenna

'I learned about conflict from my parents.' So begins Christina McKenna's haunting memoir of her lonely early life. Recounting scenes from her chlldhood in Ulster, she paints a memorable and poignant picture...

Von Sternberg

by John Baxter

Belligerent and evasive, Josef von Sternberg chose to ignore his illegitimate birth in Austria, deprived New York childhood, abusive father, and lack of education. The director who strutted onto the set in a...

Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son

by Anne Lamott & Sam Lamott

“If there is a doyenne of the parenting memoir, it would be Anne Lamott.”—Time

In Some Assembly Required, Anne Lamott enters a new and unexpected chapter in her own life: grandmotherhood. Stunned to learn...