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Biography and Memoir November 2025 |
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The Improbable Victoria Woodhull : Suffrage, Free Love, and the First Woman to Run for President by Eden CollinsworthTraces the extraordinary life of Victoria Woodhull, a clairvoyant-turned-stockbroker who overcame poverty, scandal, and imprisonment to become a political trailblazer, newspaper founder, and the first woman to run for U.S. president, defying 19th-century norms with bold ambition and resilience. Further reading: The Scarlet Sisters : Sex, Suffrage, and Scandal in the Gilded Age by Myra MacPherson.
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| Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America by Beth MacyAuthor Beth Macy tells her life story framed within a recent visit to her hardscrabble Midwestern hometown. Although Macy’s childhood was marked by trauma, she remembers Urbana, Ohio, as a place where neighbors had each other’s backs, a situation since compromised by declining opportunities, opioid addiction, and social polarization. Try this next: Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild. |
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| Joyride by Susan OrleanCelebrated nonfiction author Susan Orlean chooses her own life as subject in Joyride. Orlean openly reveals her bumpy road through the often challenging life of a professional writer, including her years developing a strong journalistic voice, and as a bonus provides indispensable advice to aspiring writers throughout. For another work-centered memoir from a writer of nonfiction, try Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing by Robert A. Caro. |
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A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever : The Story of Spinal Tap by Rob ReinerAn inside look at the creation, legacy and cultural impact of the groundbreaking mockumentary comedy This Is Spinal Tap features behind-the-scenes stories, iconic quotes and rare memorabilia from the fictional band that became a real rock phenomenon. You might also like: The History of Rock and Roll Volumes I &II by Ed Ward.
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Focus on: Native American Heritage Month
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Catching the Light by Joy HarjoUnited States Poet Laureate, and winner of the 2022 Academy of American Poets Leadership Award, Joy Harjo examines the power of words and how poetry summons us toward justice and healing.
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| Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian's Journey Home by Chris La TrayMontana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray’s story is one of self-discovery in the face of resistance from one’s own family: La Tray’s father denied his Indigenous ancestry and refused to discuss it with his son. La Tray has spent the years since his father’s death as an enrolled member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa and advocating for young people curious about where they come from. |
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Squanto : A Native Odyssey by Andrew LipmanDrawing from a wide range of evidence and newly uncovered sources, Lipman reconstructs Squanto's upbringing, his transatlantic odyssey, his career as an interpreter, his surprising downfall, and his enigmatic death. The result is a fresh look at an epic life that ended right when many Americans think their story begins.
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Whiskey Tenderby Deborah Jackson TaffaReflecting on her past and present, the author, a citizen of the Quechan (Yuma) Nation and Laguna Pueblo, reminds us of how the cultural narratives of her ancestors have been excluded from the central mythologies and structures of the "melting pot" of America, revealing all that is sacrificed for the promise of acceptance.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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