LibraryAware September 2025

Biography and MemoirSeptember 2025

Recent Releases

Baldwin: A Love Story
by Nicholas Boggs

Drawing on interviews and previously unreleased archival materials, National Humanities Center fellow Nicholas Boggs’ moving and intimate biography of writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin examines how his personal relationships impacted his life and career. Further reading: James Baldwin: Living in Fire by Bill V. Mullen.

Nothing More of This Land: Community, Power, and the Search for Indigenous Identity
by Joseph Lee

Aquinnah Wampanoag journalist Joseph Lee explores the limitations of Indigenous identity and sovereignty in this “searching and timely” (Kirkus Reviews) blend of memoir and history. Try this next: Thinning Blood: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity by Leah Myers.

Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler
by Susana M. Morris

Georgia Institute of Technology professor Susana M. Morris’ well-researched biography of trailblazing science fiction author Octavia E. Butler thoughtfully places Butler’s works within the sociocultural and historical contexts that shaped her, utilizing correspondence, unpublished manuscripts, and interviews. Try this next: Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture by Ytasha Womack.

Coming Up Short: A Memoir of America
by Robert B. Reich

Former United States Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich’s sobering yet hopeful blend of memoir and political analysis incisively explores how the rise of partisanship and tribalism has hindered American economic progress. Try this next: The Theft of a Decade: Baby Boomers, Millennials, and the Distortion of Our Economy by Joseph C. Sternberg.

Peace is a shy thing : the life and art of Tim O'Brien
by Alex Vernon

Drawing on extensive interviews and research, this book looks at the novelist's Vietnam War service, his evolution as a writer, and his broader cultural impact, intertwining his personal history with historical events and offering insights into his creative process and literary legacy.

Focus on: Sports Biographies

Althea: The Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson
by Sally H. Jacobs

Former Boston Globe reporter Sally H. Jacobs' biography of trailblazing tennis player Althea Gibson, the first African American to win a Grand Slam tournament, offers a comprehensive portrait of a complex woman who battled racial and gender discrimination, poverty, and abuse in her journey toward stardom. Further reading: Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson by Ashley Brown.

Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe
by David Maraniss

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Maraniss' well-researched and insightful biography of multi-hyphenate athlete Jim Thorpe, the first Indigenous American to win Olympic gold for the United States, looks at the man beyond the myth, exploring how Thorpe grappled with racist treatment, poverty and alcoholism, and fraught family relationships amid his career triumphs. Further reading: Native American Son: The Life and Sporting Legend of Jim Thorpe by Kate Buford.

The Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball
by John W. Miller

America Magazine contributing writer John W. Miller’s evocative debut offers a nuanced portrait of Baltimore Orioles manager and Baseball Hall of Famer Earl Weaver, whose innovations helped modernize Major League Baseball and whose outsized personality frequently got him into dustups both on and off the field. For fans of: Billy Ball: Billy Martin and the Resurrection of the Oakland A's by Dale Tafoya.

The front runner : the life of Steve Prefontaine
by Brendan O'Meara

"In the fifty years since his tragic death in a car crash, Steve Prefontaine has towered over American distance running. One of the most recognizable and charismatic figures to ever run competitively in the United States, Prefontaine has endured as a source of inspiration and fascination-a talent who presaged the American running boom of the late 1970s and helped put Nike on the map as the brand's first celebrity-athlete face. Now on the anniversary of his untimely death, author Brendan O'Meara, host of the Creative Nonfiction podcast, offers a fresh, definitive retelling of Prefontaine's life, revisiting one of the most enigmatic figures in American sports with a twenty-first-century lens. Through dozens of original interviews with family, friends, teammates, and competitors, this long-overdue reappraisal of Prefontaine-the first such exhaustive treatment in almost thirty years-provides never-before-told stories about the unique talent, innovative mental strength, and personal struggles that shaped Prefontaine on and off the track. Bringing new depth to an athlete long eclipsed by his brash, aggressive running style and the heartbreak of his death at twenty-four, O'Meara finds the man inside the myth, scrutinizing a legacy that has shaped American sports culture for decades. What emerges is a singular portrait of a distinctly American talent, a story written in the pines and firs of the Pacific Northwest back when running was more blue-collar love than corporate pursuit-the story of a runner whose shortlife casts a long, fast shadow"

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