We Value Your Privacy

This site uses cookies to improve user experience. By continuing to browse, you accept the use of cookies and other technologies.

I UNDERSTAND
LEARN MORE

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.

Current Book Deal

Loading...
Charlie Wilson's War
Charlie Wilson's War
by George Crile
The Last Jew of Treblinka
The Last Jew of Treblinka
by Chil Rajchman
Kick Kennedy
Kick Kennedy
by Barbara Leaming
BUY
SEE MORE RECOMMENDATIONS
10 Books About the Kennedys
Closing Time
Closing Time
by Lacey Fosburgh
Life at the Dakota
Life at the Dakota
by Stephen Birmingham
Always Running
Always Running
by Luis J. Rodriguez
A Country Year
A Country Year
by Sue Hubbell, Liddy Hubbell
Country Girl
Country Girl
by Edna O'Brien
Ada Blackjack
Ada Blackjack
by Jennifer Niven
The Cooking Gene
The Cooking Gene
by Michael W. Twitty
A Wing and a Prayer
A Wing and a Prayer
by Harry H. Crosby
Walking with Ghosts
Walking with Ghosts
by Gabriel Byrne
Margaret Fuller
Margaret Fuller
by Megan Marshall
Bitter Lemons of Cyprus
Bitter Lemons of Cyprus
by Lawrence Durrell
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
by Carl Sandburg
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.
BUY
SEE MORE RECOMMENDATIONS
8 Powerful Military Memoirs 
The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, William Anderson
Playing for Keeps
Playing for Keeps
by David Halberstam
Kingbird Highway
Kingbird Highway
by Kenn Kaufman
Washington
Washington
by James Thomas Flexner
Twelve Years a Slave
Twelve Years a Slave
by Solomon Northup
Lakota Woman
Lakota Woman
by Mary Crow Dog, Richard Erdoes
Wine Girl
Wine Girl
by Victoria James
Leadership
Leadership
by James MacGregor Burns
The Good Times
The Good Times
by Russell Baker
Marine!
Marine!
by Burke Davis
Cider with Rosie
Cider with Rosie
by Laurie Lee
The Dog Who Came to Stay
The Dog Who Came to Stay
by Hal Borland
Sherman's March
Sherman's March
by Burke Davis
The Garden of the Gods
The Garden of the Gods
by Gerald Durrell
Are You My Mother?
Are You My Mother?
by Alison Bechdel
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress
by Rhoda Janzen
BUY
SEE MORE RECOMMENDATIONS
11 Books About Finding Yourself
Wounded Shepherd
Wounded Shepherd
by Austen Ivereigh
Down the Highway
Down the Highway
by Howard Sounes
Say It Louder!
Say It Louder!
by Tiffany Cross, Michael Eric Dyson
Capote
Capote
by Gerald Clarke
The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book
The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book
by Alice B. Toklas, M. F. K. Fisher, Ruth Reichl
A Light So Lovely
A Light So Lovely
by Sarah Arthur, Charlotte Jones Voiklis
Rez Life
Rez Life
by David Treuer
African Samurai
African Samurai
by Thomas Lockley, Geoffrey Girard
Crown & Sceptre
Crown & Sceptre
by Tracy Borman
The Outsider
The Outsider
by Colin Wilson
A Thousand Days in Venice
A Thousand Days in Venice
by Marlena de Blasi
Love with a Chance of Drowning
Love with a Chance of Drowning
by Torre DeRoche
After the Eclipse
After the Eclipse
by Sarah Perry
Delights and Prejudices
Delights and Prejudices
by James Beard, Julia Child
Depression Hates a Moving Target
Depression Hates a Moving Target
by Nita Sweeney
Showing 51-100 of 289 results

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.