Penguin Classic / Biography & autobiography

The Age of Alexander

by Plutarch & Ian Scott-Kilvert

The nine Lives in this selection trace a crucial phase in ancient history. Plutarch's Lives of the great Greek statesmen and men of action were designed to pair with the now better-known Roman portraits and...

The Souls of Black Folk

by Du Bois, W.

Du Bois' 1903 collection of essays is a thoughtful, articulate exploration of the moral and intellectual issues surrounding the perception of blacks within American society.

Revolutionary Suicide: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

by Huey P. Newton

The searing, visionary memoir of founding Black Panther Huey P. Newton, in a dazzling graphic package

Eloquently tracing the birth of a revolutionary, Huey P. Newton's famous and oft-quoted autobiography is...

Mary Chesnut's Diary

by Mary Boykin Chesnut & Catherine Clinton

An unrivalled account of the American Civil War from the Confederate perspective.

One of the most compelling personal narratives of the Civil War, Mary Chesnut's Diary was written between 1861 and 1865. As...

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave: A Penguin Enriched eBook Classic

by Frederick Douglass & Houston Baker

Published in 1845, this pre-eminent American slave narrative powerfully details the life of the internationally famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass from his birth into slavery in 1818 to his escape to the...

The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings: Revised Edition

by Olaudah Equiano & Vincent Carretta

Completely revised and edited with an introduction and notes by Vincent Carretta

An exciting and often terrifying adventure story, as well as an important precursor to such famous nineteenth-century slave narratives...

In Patagonia

by Bruce Chatwin

An exhilarating look at a place that still retains the exotic mystery of a far-off, unseen land, Bruce Chatwin’s exquisite account of his journey through Patagonia teems with evocative descriptions, remarkable...

The Letters of Vincent van Gogh

by Vincent Van Gogh & Ronald de Leeuw

Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all’ Few artists’ letters are as self-revelatory as Vincent Van Gogh’s, and the selection included here, spanning...

Apologia pro Vita Sua

by John Newman & Ian Ker

"Aurora Leigh (1856), Elizabeth Barrett Browning's epic novel in blank verse, tells the story of the making of a woman poet, exploring 'the woman question', art and its relation to politics and social oppression....

La vita nuova

by Dante Alighieri & Barbara Reynolds

La Vita Nuova marked a turning point in European literature, introducing personal experience into the strict formalism of medieval love poetry. The sequence of poems tells the story of Dante's passion for Beatrice,...

The Journals of Captain Cook

by James Cook & Philip Edwards

‘They crowded so thick round the boats … that it was some time before we could get room to land’ These Journals record the historic meeting between two worlds as Europe’s greatest navigator made the...

Egil's Saga

by Anonymous & Bernard Scudder

Egil's Saga tells the story of the long and brutal life of tenth-century warrior-poet and farmer Egil Skallagrimsson: a psychologically ambiguous character who was at once the composer of intricately beautiful...

The Marsh Arabs

by Wilfred Thesiger & Jon Lee Anderson

During the years he spent among the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq-long before they were almost completely wiped out by Saddam Hussein-Wilfred Thesiger came to understand, admire, and share a way of life that...

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

by Harriet Jacobs & Nell Painter

A haunting, evocative recounting of her life as a slave in North Carolina and of her final escape and emancipation, Harriet Jacobs's classic narrative, written between 1853 and 1858 and published pseduonymously...

The Portable John Adams

by John Adams & Jack Diggins

In addition to being an uncompromising defender of liberty, esteemed diplomat, and successor to George Washington, John Adams was a passionate and prolific writer. Adams biographer John Patrick Diggins gathers...

117 Days

by Ruth First & Angela Davis

An unforgettable account of defiance against political terror by one of South Africa's pioneering anti-apartheid activists

An invaluable testimonial of the excesses of the apartheid system, 117 Days presents...

The Autobiography and Other Writings

by Benjamin Franklin & Kenneth Silverman

Benjamin Franklin's writings represent a long career of literary, scientific, and political efforts over a lifetime which extended nearly the entire eighteenth century. Franklin's achievements range from inventing...

Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition

by de Vaca, Alvar Nunez Cabeza, Fanny Bandelier & Harold Augenbraun

This riveting true story is the first major narrative detailing the exploration of North America by Spanish conquistadors (1528-1536). The author, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, was a fortune-seeking...

Army Life in a Black Regiment: and Other Writings

by Thomas Higginson & R. Madison

THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON ARMY LIFE IN A BLACK REGIMENT AND OTHER WRITINGS WITH AN INTRODUTION AND NOTES BY R. D. MADISON A stirring account of wartime experiences from the leader of the first regiment of...

The History of Mary Prince

by Mary Prince

'I have been a slave - I have felt what a slave feels, and I know what a slave knows ...' Mary Prince recalls that in the slave market in Bermuda, where she was put up for sale, the buyers' talk 'fell like...