Biography and Memoir
August 2025
Recent Releases
Angelica: For Love and Country in a Time of Revolution
by Molly Beer

University of Michigan professor Molly Beer's evocative debut offers an insightful portrait of socialite (and Alexander Hamilton's sister-in-law) Angelica Schuyler Church, an influential yet overlooked historical figure "whose life reframes and challenges familiar Revolutionary War narratives" (Booklist). Try this next: First Ladies of the Republic by Jeanne E. Abrams.
On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women's Sports
by Christine Brennan

Drawing on interviews and behind-the-scenes reportage, sports journalist Christine Brennan's nuanced and richly detailed biography of record-setting WNBA guard Caitlin Clark discusses the triumphs and travails of her life on the court. "Brennan more than justifies her assessment of Clark as a “groundbreaking, historic, immensely popular, but also at times controversial cultural figure” who is “dramatically altering one of the last great bastions of male superiority" (Publishers Weekly).
Captain Kidd : A True Story of Treasure and Betrayal
by Samuel Marquis

Captain William Kidd stands as one of the most notorious 'pirate' outlaws ever, but his legend is tainted by a bed of lies. In Captain Kidd, his ninth-great-grandson, bestselling author Samuel Marquis, reveals the real story. Kidd was an English American privateer and leading New York husband and father. The King of England himself dubbed Kidd 'trusty and well-beloved,' and some historians describe him as a 'worthy, honest-hearted, steadfast, much-enduring sailor ' who was the 'victim of a deliberate travesty of justice.' Captain Kidd is both thrilling and tragic. Behind the legend is a real man woven into the tapestry of early America, rendering him a unique colonial hero and scapegoat whose life story was fascinating, exciting, bizarre, and heartrending.  You might also like: Black Flags, Blue Waters by Eric Jay Dolin.
Connecting Dots : A Blind Life
by Joshua Alexander Miele

This powerful memoir of resilience and innovation details a blind scientist's journey from childhood trauma to work in accessibility while embracing identity, overcoming challenges and shaping revolutionary technologies with humor and love. Try this next: The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight by Andrew Leland.
The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage That Made an American Icon
by Laurie Gwen Shapiro

Journalist and documentary filmmaker Laurie Gwen Shapiro's well-researched and illuminating dual biography of aviator Amelia Earhart and her husband, publisher George Putnam, draws on archival records, diaries, and interviews to reveal how the lesser-known Putnam shaped Earhart's public image and career. For fans of: Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History by Keith O'Brien.
It Rhymes with Takei
by George Takei, Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, and Justin Eisinger

In his moving and uplifting graphic memoir, iconic Star Trek actor and activist George Takei offers candid reflections on his early childhood spent in Japanese American internment camps, discovering a love of acting after initially studying to become an architect, coming out publicly at age 68, and more. For fans of: the 2014 documentary To Be Takei.
JFK: Public, Private, Secret
by J. Randy Taraborrelli

Kennedy family biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli follows up his bestselling Jackie: Public, Private, Secret with a nuanced and well-researched portrait of America's 35th president, drawing upon interviews and previously unpublished materials to focus on his personal relationships. For more on John F. Kennedy's political life, check out the works of Robert Dallek.
Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer's Legendary Editorship
by Dana A. Williams

Howard University English professor Dana A. Williams' accessible account chronicles Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison's publishing career as a senior editor at Random House in the 1970s, where she worked tirelessly to uplift Black authors and bring their works into the mainstream. Try this next: Miss Chloe: A Memoir of a Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison by A.J. Verdelle.
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