Great Biographies and Memoirs of Unknown PeopleLike this list

45 items

• Barbarian Days

  a Surfing Life

  Finnegan, William,

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  Pulitzer Prize Winner 2016: "An old-school adventure story, an intellectual autobiography, a social history, a literary road movie, and an extraordinary exploration of the gradual mastering of an exacting, little understood art."

• Educated

  a Memoir

  Westover, Tara,

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  Astonishingly self-aware, truth stranger than fiction, and compulsively readable.

• Swimming in the Sink

  Cox, Lynne, 1957-

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  A memoir from the open-water swimmer in which "we see Cox finding her way, writing about her transformative journey back toward health, and slowly moving toward the one aspect of her life that meant everything to her--freedom, mastery,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Kabul Beauty School

  An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil

  Rodriguez, Deborah

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  In the tradition of Reading Lolita in Tehran, Rodriguez tells the story of the beauty school she founds in the middle of the Afghan city of Kabul, and lifts the veil of secrecy about the vibrant women who were her students there.

• Secret Service Dogs

  the Heroes Who Protect the President of the United States

  Goodavage, Maria, 1962-

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  In an age fraught with terrorism, United States Secret Service canine teams risk their lives to safeguard the president, vice president, their families, visiting heads of state, and a host of others. Unprecedented access to these heroic…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Return

  Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between

  Matar, Hisham, 1970-

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  Pulitzer Prize Winner 2017

• Signed, Sealed, Delivered

  Celebrating the Joys of Letter Writing

  Sankovitch, Nina

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  "In a beautifully written book, itself a perfect gift, Nina Sankovitch reminds us that the letters we write are as important as the ones we wait for."

• In a Rocket Made of Ice

  Among the Children of Wat Opot

  Gutradt, Gail,

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  "The story of a woman who volunteers at an orphanage in Cambodia, set up by a Vietnam War vet for children with and/or orphaned by HIV/AIDS"

• Trying to Float

  Coming of Age in the Chelsea Hotel

  Rips, Nicolaia,

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  "Not since Holden Caulfield has there been such a fabulously compelling teen guide to New York City: Nicolaia Rips's debut is a disarming, humble, heartfelt, and wise tale of coming-of-age amid the contradictions, complexities, and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me

  a Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi Past

  Teege, Jennifer, 1970-

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  "The memoir of a German-Nigerian woman who learns that her grandfather was the brutal Nazi commandant depicted [by Ralph Fiennes] in Schindler's List, Amon Goeth"

• The Speechwriter

  a Brief Education in Politics

  Swaim, Barton, 1972-

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  "An intimate and hilarious look inside the spin room of the modern politician: a place where ideals are crushed, English is mangled, people are humiliated, and the opportunity for humor is everywhere"

• A Truck Full of Money

  Kidder, Tracy,

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  "Kidder casts a fresh, critical, and often humorous eye on the way new money and new ideas--often frivolous and yet vital to virtually every aspect of modern society--are reshaping our culture and the world, and takes us inside the mind of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Different Kind of Daughter

  the Girl Who Hid From the Taliban in Plain Sight

  Toorpakai, Maria, 1990-

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  "Maria Toorpakai hails from Pakistan's violently oppressive northwest tribal region, where the idea of women playing sports is considered haram--un-Islamic, forbidden--and girls rarely leave their homes. But she did, passing as a boy in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Philomena

  a Mother, Her Son, and a Fifty-year Search

  Sixsmith, Martin

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  "When she became pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee was sent to a convent to be looked after as a "fallen woman." Then the nuns took her baby from her and sold him, like thousands of others, to America for adoption.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Queen Bee of Tuscany

  the Redoubtable Janet Ross

  Downing, Ben, 1967-

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  "Spirited, erudite, and supremely well-connected, Ross was one of the most dynamic women of her day. Her life offers a fascinating window on fascinating times, from the Risorgimento to the rise of fascism. Encompassing all this rich…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Threading My Prayer Rug

  One Woman's Journey From Pakistani Muslim to American Muslim

  Rehman, Sabeeha,

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  "This enthralling story of the making of an American is also a timely meditation on religion and culture. Beginning with a sweetly funny, moving account of an arranged marriage in Pakistan that would become a love match lasting forty…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Harley and Me

  Embracing Risk on the Road to a More Authentic Life

  Murphy, Bernadette M. (Bernadette Mary), 1963-

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  "What happens when women in midlife step out of what's predictable? For Bernadette Murphy, learning to ride a motorcycle at forty-eight becomes the catalyst that transforms her from a settled wife and professor with three teenage children…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Elephant Company

  the Inspiring Story of An Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II

  Croke, Vicki

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  "Billy Williams came to Burma in 1920 fresh from service in World War I, as a "forest man" for a British teak company. Mesmerized by the intelligence, character, and even humor of the great animals who hauled logs through the jungles, he…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Lunch in Paris

  a Love Story, With Recipes

  Bard, Elizabeth (Journalist)

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  "Peppered with mouth-watering recipes for summer ratatouille, swordfish tartare and molten chocolate cakes, Lunch in Paris is a story of falling in love, redefining success and discovering what it truly means to be at home. "

• When Breath Becomes Air

  Kalanithi, Paul,

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  "At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer."