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Biography and Memoir February 2026 |
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| Ain't Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton by Martha AckmannMartha Ackmann’s biography of country music legend Dolly Parton goes beyond the glamour to reveal the grit that propelled her to international stardom. Parton’s phenomenal talent was discovered while she was a teenager. Her business savvy and philanthropic generosity would be discovered later, namely by sexist Nashville executives trying to control her skyrocketing career. Available as an eaudiobook through the Library's Libby service. |
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| A Danger to the Minds of Young Girls: Margaret C. Anderson, Book Bans, and the Fight to... by Adam MorganAmerican editor Margaret C. Anderson was a champion of early modernists including Djuna Barnes and James Joyce, giving their experimental works voice in her upstart literary journal The Little Review. Critic Adam Morgan documents her fierce advocacy of the arts, romances with various high-profile women, and independence from the 20th-century status quo. Readers will savor this “enlightening depiction of a[n]…influential figure of both modernism and queer history” (Publishers Weekly). |
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| One Aladdin, Two Lamps by Jeanette WintersonProlific novelist and essayist Jeanette Winterson considers the richness of storytelling traditions using One Thousand and One Nights as a guide. Amidst examples of tales spun by Shahrazad that draw parallels with the author’s experiences and the real world, Winterson holds out hope for humanity, expressed through our seemingly inexhaustible imagination. This is an original, thought-provoking work. Available as an ebook through the Library's Libby service. |
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| Hated by All the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unraveling of the Conservative Mind by Jason ZengerleJournalist Jason Zengerle offers a discerning summary of conservative pundit Tucker Carlson’s career to date while sounding a sobering critique of today’s TV news landscape. Always right-leaning but once a proponent of nuanced political debate, Carlson seemed to abandon these ideals after signing on with Fox News, instead flirting with agitprop, conspiracies, and white supremacism. Available as an eaudiobook through the Library's Libby service. |
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The Jailhouse Lawyer by Calvin DuncanA searing and ultimately hopeful account of Calvin Duncan, the most extraordinary jailhouse lawyer of our time (Sister Helen Prejean), and his thirty-year path through Angola after a wrongful murder conviction, his coming-of-age as a legal mind while imprisoned, and his continued advocacy for those on the inside. Criminal justice reform advocate Sophie Cull met Duncan after he was finally released from prison; he began to tell her his story. Together, they've written a bracing condemnation of the criminal legal system, and an intimate portrait of a heroic and brilliant man's resilience in the face of injustice. Available as an eaudiobook through the Library's Libby service, and a physical book. |
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Focus on: Black History Month |
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| Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline GumbsPoet Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ innovative, adventurous biography of Black feminist poet Audre Lorde is a tribute to and legacy of a shared intersectional identity. Gumbs, who, like her subject, is an LGBTQIA+ descendant of Caribbean immigrants, details how Lorde rose from a difficult upbringing to become an inspiring feminist figure whose work never hesitated to call out injustice and oppression in this “scintillating tour de force” (Publishers Weekly). |
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The Education of Kendrick Perkins by Kendrick Perkins with Seth RogoffWhat it is: the impassioned debut memoir of ESPN analyst and former NBA player Kendrick Perkins.
Topics include: how Perkins turned to basketball to navigate his fraught childhood; his path to NBA stardom and his 2008 championship season as a player for the Boston Celtics; family and fatherhood.
Don't miss: Perkins' incisive commentary on the intersection of sports and social justice. Available as a physical book, and eaudiobook and ebook copy through the Library's Hoopla service. |
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| The Garretts of Columbia: A Black South Carolina Family from Slavery to the Dawn of... by David NicholsonAuthor and former journalist David Nicholson dives deep into family archives to pen the sweeping story of his ancestors from before the Civil War to the mid-20th century. Beginning with an enslaved patriarch who purchased freedom for himself and family members, notable Garretts would go on to become soldiers, scholars, and lawyers, steadfastly building a legacy of success despite an unsympathetic and, at times, antagonistic society. For fans of: The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson. Available as an ebook copy through the Library's Hoopla service. |
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Coming Home by Brittney GrinerFrom the nine-time women's basketball icon and two-time Olympic gold medalist--a raw, revelatory account of her unfathomable detainment in Russia and her journey home. Coming Home is both a story of survival and a testament to love--the bonds that brought Brittney home to her family, and at last, to herself.
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Contact your librarian for more great books! |
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