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Biography and Memoir August 2026 |
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| Auden by Peter AckroydHistorian and novelist Peter Ackroyd offers a closely studied portrait of W.H. Auden, the celebrated British expatriate poet, professor, and LGBTQIA+ figure. Readers get a detailed view of Auden’s staunch work ethic, fierce intellect, and singular lyrical virtuosity; but also an intimate look into the poet’s personal slovenliness and many romantic infidelities, all “told with flair and flourish” (Kirkus Reviews). Try this next: Christopher Isherwood Inside Out by Katherine Bucknell. |
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Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!
by Liza Minnelli
A bombshell, jaw-dropping memoir --People Magazine #1 New York Times Bestseller Global icon Liza Minnelli shares her inspiring story: stepping out from the long shadow of a mega-star mother and legendary film director father, fighting a lifetime battle with addiction, and emerging from it all to become a once-in-a-lifetime artist. Kids, Wait Till You Hear This is the autobiography of EGOT icon Liza Minnelli. This fascinating, untold story reveals the intimate truth of the only child born to Hollywood legends Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland. For the first time, here is Liza up close: Raw, strong, sexy, hilarious and heartbreaking. Despite every challenge, Liza's is a life wrapped in laughter and her tremendous capacity to give and receive love. Today at nearly 80, she opens her heart, mind and memories, sharing secrets we never knew. Liza's book celebrates supreme artistry and, more importantly, her human rights activism. It's time to tell the truth, Liza says, and help people heal, as I have, one day at a time.
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Lost: Amelia Earhart's Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life
by Rachel Hartigan
In Lost, former National Geographic reporter Rachel Hartigan delves into Earhart's disappearance, introducing a host of eccentric characters who have become obsessed with finding the truth. In the spirit of nonfiction blockbusters like The Lost City of Z, Hartigan draws us into the world of Earhart's devotees and unspools a beguiling tale. The theories lead Hartigan from the pilot's birthplace of Atchison, Kansas to an expedition on a remote Pacific Island, where forensic dogs attempt to recover a potential sample of Earhart's DNA. As tantilizing new evidence mounts, Hartigan and her fellow investigators descend deeper into a world of conspiracy and obsession. Through its irresistible characters, prodigious research, and haunting images, Lost reveals not just why we remember Amelia Earhart as a trailblazer and adventurer, but why unsolved mysteries keep us forever searching for answers.
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Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery
by Gavin Newsom
From California Governor Gavin Newsom comes an intimate and poignant account of identity, belonging, and the defining moments that inspired a life in politics Go slow, his political elders advised him, but Gavin Newsom has never known such a speed. For Newsom, the California Dream is what lured his father's family from County Cork, Ireland, six generations ago. His great-great-grandfather, a cop, walked a beat in San Francisco, where almost 150 years later, Newsom would be elected as mayor, running on the values instilled in him by his family history: that California's open arms must continue to extend to each new generation.Newsom has never lived anywhere but California. Born in San Francisco, his parents divorced at a young age, and his childhood was spent being tugged between two worlds: his mother worked three jobs in order to care for her children while his father, a close friend of the Getty family, brought Newsom into San Francisco society, a world of wealth and connections. The dissonance was frustrating, and made all the more difficult because of undiagnosed dyslexia, but the vantage point was valuable: he inherited his mother's perseverance and his father's reverence of California, not only its wildness, but its opportunity.In Young Man in a Hurry, Newsom traces the forces that have defined his ambitions as a politician and have pushed him to outpace the nation on myriad cutting-edge social issues that have since entered the mainstream. As mayor of San Francisco, he made waves when he violated state law in order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, more than ten years before the Supreme Court made such unions legal. He launched bold efforts to counter climate change, improve mental health care, and enhance gun safety, and worked to preserve the California Dream for his constituents. Elected as governor on the eve of unprecedented wildfires and entering office into immediate hyper-partisan headwinds from Washington, DC, Newsom has constantly and consistently stuck his neck out. Here for the first time, he reflects on the long personal journey that ultimately shaped him into one of the most recognizable and accomplished elected officials in America. Filled with intimate family history and written with candor and remarkable personal insight, here is a deeply resilient California story of identity, belonging, and the defining moments that inspired a life in politics.
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Revolutionary Life
by Ellen Carol DuBois
The definitive biography of American suffragist and women's rights pioneer Elizabeth Cady Stanton, from a preeminent historian of women's suffrage. Though most remembered for her fight for the vote, she was also an early crusader for women's reproductive autonomy and reforming the institution of marriage, and against Christianity's subordination of women. Her rifts with Black reformers and embrace of nativist ideas tarnished her reputation, but her words still have the ability to move and agitate people today. Building upon exhaustive archival research and a deep engagement with Stanton's copious writings, Elizabeth Cady Stanton brilliantly captures a crucial reformer in all of her intelligence, moral ambiguity, and power.
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The Last Titans: How Churchill and de Gaulle Saved Their Nations and Transformed the World
by Richard Vinen
A compelling joint biography of Churchill and de Gaulle that shines new light on two of the greatest figures of the 20th century. Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle were thrown together by the challenges of war. They incarnated the resistance of Britain and France to the existential threat from Nazi Germany, and their ultimate victory over Hitler has ensured their achievements will never be forgotten. But, as The Last Titans shows, that is only a small part of a complex story. Both men influenced their countries, and the world around them, long after the war was won. Richard Vinen explores what made these men exceptional and how profoundly they were influenced by their national cultures. Beyond personal intrigue, the book makes a wider point that Britain and France are both haunted by perceptions of past greatness. Vinen retraces the paths of two leaders who once helmed superpowers but lived to see their nations weakened by two world wars and the loss of empires. The Last Titans offers a fresh exploration into the lives of de Gaulle and Churchill. By bringing their two stories into one, each man is seen afresh and we gain new insights into their achievements and their legacy today.
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| Becoming George: The Invention of George Sand by Fiona SampsonAuthor Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin de Francueil (better known by her male pseudonym George Sand) was not just one of the 19th century’s most prolific novelists, she was also a pioneering feminist before such a concept existed. Biographer Fiona Sampson unpacks her literary influence alongside the controversy she constantly courted -- dressing like a man, lesbianism, affairs with famous figures, etc. -- in a detailed tribute to a gender-bending maverick. For fans of: Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife by Francesca Wade. |
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A Way Home: A Memoir of Losing Yourself, and the Beauty of Returning
by Cinelle Barnes
From Cinelle Barnes, author of Monsoon Mansion, comes a hopeful and heart-wrenching memoir about remembering and rebuilding a life after everything she knows disappears in a flash.In 2023, Cinelle Barnes is writing a travelogue about journeying home to the Philippines after a twenty-year separation when she suffers a traumatic brain injury. Cinelle's story of her adoption and immigration to America as a child is not an easy one to tell to begin with. Suddenly, it seems impossible. Her memories and her connection to her husband and daughter in the Carolinas, to her own sense of self, and to her past are all erased in the blink of an eye. Cinelle has to not only piece together who she used to be but struggle to learn who she is here and now.In this memoir of resilience and recovery, Cinelle charts her way back to life. Through her unfinished manuscript, she sees a creative and vibrant former self she longs to remember and to know all over again. With the everlasting support of family and friends, Cinelle discovers that nobody heals or journeys home alone.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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