autobiographies

Type: 
655
Subfield: 
a
Alias: 
autobiographies

Un-American

a soldier's reckoning of our longest war
2020
"Erik Edstrom grew up in suburban Massachusetts with an idealistic desire to make an impact, ultimately leading him to the gates of West Point. Five years later, he was deployed to Afghanistan as an infantry lieutenant. Throughout his military career, he confronted atrocities, buried his friends, wrestled with depression, and struggled with an understanding that the war he fought in, and the youth he traded to prepare for it, was in contribution to a bitter truth: The War on Terror is not just a tragedy, but a crime. The deeper tragedy is that our country lacks the courage and conviction to say so. Un-American is a hybrid of social commentary and memoir that exposes how blind support for war exacerbates the problems it's intended to resolve, devastates the people allegedly being helped, and diverts assets from far larger threats like climate change . . . a revolutionary act, offering a blueprint for redressing America's relationship with patriotism, the military, and military spending"--Provided by publisher.

Testimony

2016
Robbie Robertson, songwriter and guitarist of "The Band," weaves together the journey that led him from his diverse upbringing on the Six Nations Indian Reserve to his wild ride into American music stardom.

The rules do not apply

a memoir
2018
"A ... humorous memoir ... about a woman overcoming dramatic loss and finding reinvention, as well as a portrait of a generation used to assuming they're entitled to everything."--Publisher.

Rough beauty

forty seasons of mountain living
2018
Auvinen discusses her life and her time spent in solotude in the Rocky Mountains.

Herbie Hancock

possibilities
2015
Spanning seven decades, legendary jazz musician and composer Herbie Hancock reflects on his life and extraordinary career.

Fox & I

an uncommon friendship
2021
A solitary woman's inspiring, moving, surprising, and often funny memoir about the transformative power of her unusual friendship with a wild fox. Catherine Raven left home at 15, fleeing an abusive father and an indifferent mother. Drawn to the natural world, she worked as a ranger in national parks, at times living in her run-down car on abandoned construction sites, or camping on a piece of land in Montana she bought from a colleague. She managed to put herself through college and then graduate school, eventually earning a PhD in biology and building a house on her remote plot. Yet she never felt at home with people. Except when teaching, she spoke to no one. One day, she realised that a wild fox that had been appearing at her house was coming by every day precisely at 4:15.

Blind man's bluff

a memoir
2021
"At age sixteen, James Tate Hill was diagnosed with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy, a condition that left him legally blind. When high-school friends stopped calling and a disability counselor advised him to aim for C's in his classes, he tried to escape the stigma by pretending he could still see. . . . Hill discloses the tricks he employed to pass for sighted, from displaying shelves of paperbacks he read on tape to arriving early on first dates so women would have to find him. He risked his life every time he crossed a street, doing his best to listen for approaching cars. A good memory and pop culture obsessions like Tom Cruise, Prince, and all things 1980s allowed him to steer conversations toward common experiences. For fifteen years, Hill hid his blindness from friends, colleagues, and lovers, even convincing himself that if he stared long enough, his blurry peripheral vision would bring the world into focus. At thirty, faced with a stalled writing career, a crumbling marriage, and a growing fear of leaving his apartment, he began to wonder if there was a better way"--Provided by publisher.

Taking aim

daring to be different, happier, and healthier in the great outdoors
2018
"[The author] tells . . . [her] story of choosing the less-traveled path to a . . . life in outdoor pursuits like hunting and fishing. For her, . . . that has meant hunting as a way of harvesting food, caring deeply about conservation, sustainability and healthy eating, and getting closer to God in nature. In this . . . memoir for the adventurer in all of us, [she] takes readers along as she hunts caribou on the rugged Aleutian Islands, tracks a 1,500-pound bull moose across the unforgiving Yukon, and meets many other challenges of a life in the wild"--Provided by publisher.

I'm Glad My Mom Died

2022
"A . . . memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor--including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother--and how she retook control of her life"--Provided by publisher.
Cover image of I'm Glad My Mom Died

Just a girl

a true story of World War II
2022
The author recalls her experiences coming of age in Fascist Italy during World War II as she, along with her sisters, hid in a convent where she tried to come to terms with her new life while longing to be "just a girl.".
Cover image of Just a girl

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - autobiographies