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The Best Biographies and Memoirs

For some readers, real life is much more compelling than fiction, and real people are far more interesting than any character an author could dream up. If you're one of those readers, then biographies, autobiographies and memoirs are for you. 

The types of true stories are endless—there are romantic memoirs and tragic memoirs. There are short, essay-length memoirs that give you just a taste of an author’s writing. Perhaps you’re interested in a travel memoir that will make you feel as though you’ve walked the same steps as the writer, or you’re an American history buff looking for a bucket list of biographies on every American president. You could read a first-hand account from a former slave who became a dressmaker for Mary Todd Lincoln, or immerse yourself in Ruth Gruber’s own account of how she helped 1000 refugees find asylum. 

From biographies of politicians, business leaders, artists and celebrities, to memoirs that tell unforgettable true stories with unflinching honesty, these are the books that let you fully step into someone else's shoes.

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Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come
Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come
by Jessica Pan
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Song of the Vikings
Song of the Vikings
by Nancy Marie Brown
H Is for Hawk
H Is for Hawk
by Helen Macdonald
The Lord God Made Them All
The Lord God Made Them All
by James Herriot
To Kill or Be Killed
To Kill or Be Killed
by Joni Ankerson
12, 20 & 5
12, 20 & 5
by John A. Parrish
Red Road from Stalingrad
Red Road from Stalingrad
by Mansur Abdulin, Artem Drabkin
An Italian Education
An Italian Education
by Tim Parks
The Last Founding Father
The Last Founding Father
by Harlow Giles Unger
The Perfect Mile
The Perfect Mile
by Neal Bascomb
The Solace of Open Spaces
The Solace of Open Spaces
by Gretel Ehrlich
Revolutionaries
Revolutionaries
by Jack Rakove
Peary to the Pole
Peary to the Pole
by Walter Lord
The Olive Farm
The Olive Farm
by Carol Drinkwater
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great
by Philip Freeman
My Family and Other Animals
My Family and Other Animals
by Gerald Durrell
The Autobiography of Gucci Mane
The Autobiography of Gucci Mane
by Gucci Mane, Neil Martinez-Belkin
The Grandees
The Grandees
by Stephen Birmingham
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The Rose of Martinique
The Rose of Martinique
by Andrea Stuart
The Nature of Alexander
The Nature of Alexander
by Mary Renault
Full Service
Full Service
by Scotty Bowers, Lionel Friedberg
Remembering America
Remembering America
by Richard N. Goodwin
Tell Me How It Ends
Tell Me How It Ends
by Valeria Luiselli
The Collapse of the Third Republic
The Collapse of the Third Republic
by William L. Shirer
Yestermorrow
Yestermorrow
by Ray Bradbury
Papa Hemingway
Papa Hemingway
by A. E. Hotchner
Annapurna
Annapurna
by Maurice Herzog, Nea Morin, Janet Adam Smith
All Creatures Great and Small & All Things Bright and Beautiful
All Creatures Great and Small & All Things Bright and Beautiful
by James Herriot
Colter
Colter
by Rick Bass
The Water Is Wide
The Water Is Wide
by Pat Conroy
The Last Jew of Treblinka
The Last Jew of Treblinka
by Chil Rajchman
Close to the Knives
Close to the Knives
by David Wojnarowicz
Mommie Dearest
Mommie Dearest
by Christina Crawford
Leadership
Leadership
by James MacGregor Burns
Always Running
Always Running
by Luis J. Rodriguez
A Country Year
A Country Year
by Sue Hubbell, Liddy Hubbell
The Diary of Anais Nin, 1931–1934
The Diary of Anais Nin, 1931–1934
by Anais Nin, Gunther Stuhlmann
Why We Can't Sleep
Why We Can't Sleep
by Ada Calhoun
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Ada Blackjack
Ada Blackjack
by Jennifer Niven
Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith
by Michael Coveney
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
by Helen Castor
Walden
Walden
by Henry David Thoreau
All Wound Up
All Wound Up
by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra
by Adrian Goldsworthy
Nam Sense
Nam Sense
by Arthur Wiknik Jr.
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8 Powerful Military Memoirs 
The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, William Anderson
Memories of a Catholic Girlhood
Memories of a Catholic Girlhood
by Mary McCarthy
Diana Ross
Diana Ross
by J. Randy Taraborrelli
After the Eclipse
After the Eclipse
by Sarah Perry
The Gift of Black Folk
The Gift of Black Folk
by W. E. B. Du Bois
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Every list has different criteria, but the most sold autobiographies that rank on all of them are Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and InheritanceThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

A memoir is a narrative written in the author’s perspective that details an important part of their life or a personal observation. While autobiographies are detailed accounts of a person’s life from beginning to end, memoirs are more narrative in tone and don’t have such a rigid structure, nor do they need to talk about a person’s entire life.