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  1. Genres
  2. ›Biography

Best Biography Books

Life stories of notable people

451 summaries

Showing 145–168 of 451

  1. Thunderstruck

    Erik Larson

    ★ 3.7 (38k) average on GoodreadsHistory

    In an era of scientific marvels and Edwardian opulence, a meek doctor's desperate attempt at the perfect murder collides with Marconi's revolutionary wireless, igniting the first global manhunt across the vast, once-silent Atlantic.

  2. Lincoln

    Gore Vidal

    ★ 4.2 (38k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    Gore Vidal strips away the myth to reveal Abraham Lincoln as a shrewd, melancholic political animal, navigating personal tragedy and a deeply divided capital to reluctantly emancipate a nation teetering on the brink of collapse.

  3. Spilled Milk

    K.L. Randis

    ★ 4.3 (38k) average on GoodreadsPsychology

    After a desperate call to social services backfires, a single glass of spilled milk becomes the catalyst for Brooke Nolan to expose her father's escalating brutality and navigate a broken system, risking everything for justice even as she confronts the painful truth that not everyone wants to be saved.

  4. Cheaper by the Dozen

    Frank B. Gilbreth Jr.

    ★ 4.0 (37k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    Meet the Gilbreths, a family of twelve children whose efficiency-expert parents apply their industrial principles to everything from chore charts to synchronized tonsillectomies, all with hilarious and heartwarming results.

  5. Slouching Towards Bethlehem

    Joan Didion

    ★ 4.2 (37k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    Joan Didion's 'Slouching Towards Bethlehem' examines the fractured American psyche of the 1960s, showing the unsettling truths beneath the counterculture's facade through personal disquiet and societal decay.

  6. Decision Points

    George W. Bush

    ★ 3.8 (37k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    George W. Bush recounts his presidency's defining choices, from 9/11's aftermath to the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina, in the Situation Room and Oval Office.

  7. Truth and Beauty

    Ann Patchett

    ★ 4.0 (35k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    A memoir about the deep, twenty-year friendship between two writers, one disfigured by cancer, as they deal with ambition, addiction, and the lasting grief of a life intertwined with another's.

  8. Out of Africa

    Isak Dinesen

    ★ 3.9 (34k) average on GoodreadsLifestyle

    In the wild heart of Kenya, a Danish baroness builds a life on a coffee plantation, surrounded by untamed land and a passionate, tragic love, while becoming a master storyteller.

  9. An Invisible Thread

    Laura Schroff

    ★ 4.0 (33k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    A chance encounter between a Manhattan sales executive and a homeless eleven-year-old boy becomes a nearly three-decade-long friendship, showing that a single act of kindness can create a strong bond across different lives.

  10. Teacher Man

    Frank McCourt

    ★ 3.8 (31k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    Frank McCourt's "Teacher Man" follows his thirty-year journey through New York City classrooms, where his unconventional methods, rebellious students, and personal struggles shaped him into a Pulitzer-winning storyteller.

  11. The Wolf of Wall Street

    Jordan Belfort

    ★ 3.7 (31k) average on GoodreadsBusiness

    Jordan Belfort's memoir is a wild ride through the decadent 90s, where an insatiable appetite for wealth, drugs, and debauchery propelled him from selling Italian ices to orchestrating a multi-million dollar stock fraud empire, only to see it all spectacularly collapse.

  12. West with the Night

    Beryl Markham

    ★ 4.2 (30k) average on GoodreadsLifestyle

    Beryl Markham's 'West with the Night' tells the story of her life in 1920s Kenya as a pilot and horse trainer, showing her defiance of expectations.

  13. The Middle Place

    Kelly Corrigan

    ★ 3.9 (30k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    A daughter, strengthened by her father's spirit, faces her own battle with breast cancer only to confront his mortality, ultimately finding her own identity during their shared fight.

  14. A Man Named Dave

    Dave Pelzer

    ★ 3.9 (30k) average on GoodreadsPsychology

    From the ashes of a brutal childhood, Dave Pelzer forges a path to forgiveness and self-love, ultimately breaking the cycle of abuse to create a legacy of hope for his own son.

  15. Born Survivors

    Wendy Holden

    ★ 4.1 (29k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    Three women, having lost everything in Auschwitz and Mauthausen, secretly nurtured their unborn children, giving birth in the shadow of the crematoria.

  16. My Life on the Road

    Gloria Steinem

    ★ 4.1 (29k) average on GoodreadsLifestyle

    Gloria Steinem's memoir, "My Life on the Road," is a journey across America, showing how her many conversations on the road shaped both her identity and the movement for equality.

  17. What I Know for Sure

    Oprah Winfrey

    ★ 4.2 (29k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    Oprah Winfrey shares personal reflections on joy, strength, and thanks, offering an intimate guide to living an authentic and powerful life.

  18. Kisses from Katie

    Katie Davis

    ★ 4.4 (28k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    An American homecoming queen trades college and comfort for the Ugandan dust, adopting fourteen children and founding a ministry, all in radical obedience to a divine call.

  19. The Vow

    Kim Carpenter

    ★ 3.8 (27k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    After a car crash makes his wife forget him, Kim Carpenter tries to make her fall in love with him again, showing that true promises are felt in the heart, not just remembered.

  20. A Piece of Cake

    Cupcake Brown

    ★ 4.2 (27k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    Orphaned and in a sadistic foster home, Cupcake Brown's life goes from preteen tragedy to an odyssey of addiction, gang violence, and street survival. She ultimately reclaims her life from near death.

  21. A Wolf at the Table

    Augusten Burroughs

    ★ 3.7 (26k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    In a chilling memoir, Augusten Burroughs unearths the psychological cruelty and terrifying 'games' inflicted by his enigmatic father, grappling with a childhood defined by betrayal and the desperate longing for a love that never materialized.

  22. The Long Hard Road Out of Hell

    Marilyn Manson

    ★ 3.9 (26k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    From the suffocating grip of Christian schoolboy conformity to the defiant roar of America's most feared rock icon, Marilyn Manson's memoir rips through a landscape of shock, fame, and self-reinvention.

  23. Not Without My Daughter

    Betty Mahmoody

    ★ 4.1 (26k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    Trapped in Iran by her fanatical husband, an American mother must navigate a treacherous underground and defy cultural oppression to escape with her young daughter, even if it means leaving her behind.

  24. Up from Slavery

    Booker T. Washington

    ★ 4.1 (26k) average on GoodreadsMemoir

    Born enslaved, Booker T. Washington's autobiography tells of his rise to become a leading educator and national figure, showing the path from bondage to empowerment through the Tuskegee Institute.

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