BiographiesLike this list

24 items

• King

  a Life

  Eig, Jonathan,

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  Vividly written and exhaustively researched, Jonathan Eig's King: A Life is the first major biography in decades of the civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.--and the first to include recently declassified FBI files. In this revelatory new…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

  Skloot, Rebecca, 1972-

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  Science journalist Skloot makes a remarkable debut with this multilayered story about "faith, science, journalism, and grace." It is also a tale of medical wonders and medical arrogance, racism, poverty and the bond that grows, sometimes painfully,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Steve Jobs

  Isaacson, Walter

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  Based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs conducted over two years--as well as interviews with more than 100 family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues--Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• John Adams

  McCullough, David G.

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  The Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling biography of America's founding father and second president that was the basis for the acclaimed HBO series, brilliantly told by master historian David McCullough.

• John Lewis

  a Life

  Greenberg, David,

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  Born into poverty in rural Alabama, Lewis would become second only to Martin Luther King, Jr. in his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. He was a Freedom Rider who helped to integrate bus stations in the South, a leader of the Nashville…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Team of Rivals

  the Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

  Goodwin, Doris Kearns

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  Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Abraham Lincoln's political genius in this highly original work, as the one-term congressman and prairie lawyer rises from obscurity to prevail over three gifted rivals of national reputation to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Educated

  a Memoir

  Westover, Tara,

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  An unforgettable memoir about a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University.

• The Many Lives of Mama Love

  a Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing

  Hardin, Lara Love,

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  New York Times bestselling author Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter in this harrowing, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir.

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

  Angelou, Maya

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  Filled with images and recollections that point to the dignity and courage of black men and women, Angelou paints a sometimes disquieting, but always affecting picture of the people--and the times--that touched her life.

• Becoming

  Obama, Michelle, 1964-

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  In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her--from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Autobiography of Malcolm X

  X, Malcolm, 1925-1965

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  In the searing pages of this classic autobiography, originally published in 1964, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and anti-integrationist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Black Muslim movement.

• Into the Wild

  Krakauer, Jon

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  In a compelling book that evokes the writings of Thoreau, Muir, and Jack London, Krakauer recounts the haunting and tragic mystery of 22-year-old Chris McCandless who disappeared in April 1992 into the Alaskan wilderness in search of a raw,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Washington

  a Life

  Chernow, Ron

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  Celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation and the first president of the United States.

• The Radium Girls

  the Dark Story of America's Shining Women

  Moore, Kate (Writer and editor),

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  Written with a sparkling voice and breakneck pace, The Radium Girlsfully illuminates the inspiring young women exposed to the "wonder" substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances.

• An Hour Before Daylight

  Memories of a Rural Boyhood

  Carter, Jimmy, 1924-2024

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  A presidential memoir of lasting importance, Carter's account of his rural Depression boyhood is a portrait of pre-Civil Rights Georgia that dramatizes unforgettably how the country has changed. It is, in many ways, a stunning and honest biography…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Just Kids

  Smith, Patti

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  Winner of the National Book Award, Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. It serves as a salute to New York City during the late sixties and seventies and to its rich and poor, its hustlers and hellions. A true fable, it is a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Private Equity

  a Memoir

  Sun, Carrie,

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  When we meet Carrie Sun, she can't shake the feeling that she's wasting her life. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Carrie excelled in school, graduated early from MIT, and climbed the corporate ladder, all in pursuit of the American dream. But at…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Born a Crime

  Stories From a South African Childhood

  Noah, Trevor, 1984-

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  Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man's relationship with his fearless,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Alexander Hamilton

  Chernow, Ron

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  Inspiration for the hit Broadway musical Hamilton, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow presents a landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father who galvanized, inspired, scandalized, and shaped the newborn nation.

• Barracoon

  the Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

  Hurston, Zora Neale

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  This previously unpublished manuscript from Zora Neale Hurston is a remarkable account of the life of Kossola, also known as Cudjo Lewis, the last survivor of the last American slave ship. --Publishers Weekly