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Biography and Memoir July 2026 |
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| True Crime by Patricia CornwellKay Scarpetta series author Patricia Cornwell’s autobiography reads like a gritty, dramatic backstory for one of her characters. She talks plainly but captivatingly about her dysfunctional childhood, the multiple incidents of sexual violence she endured, her early journalism career, and the real-life female medical examiner who served as inspiration for Scarpetta. This chatty, candid memoir has more action and drama than many novels. |
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A Voice Like Mine: A Memoir
by Deb Haaland
Former cabinet secretary, organizer, congresswoman, and New Mexico 2026 gubernatorial frontrunner Deb Haaland shares her story, offering a powerful and personal look at what it means to be the first. Nothing about Deb Haaland's upbringing or family history set her up for a life of firsts: the first Native American woman elected to chair a state political party in the United States, one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress, the first Native American to serve in a presidential cabinet. Throughout her journey, Haaland has drawn on her heritage in her activism and service, leading with humility, purpose, and a commitment to leave the ladder down for those who follow.
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| Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, & Young: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground by Zayd Ayers DohrnPlaywright Zayd Ayers Dohrn is the oldest son of Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, leftist radicals belonging to the 1970s terrorist organization the Weather Underground. Dohrn describes what it was like growing up off the grid as his family honed tactics for evading federal agents, and how both of his parents struggled to balance their love for their children with commitment to the cause. Try this next: The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s by Jason Burke. |
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| Checkmate: Genius, Lies, Ambition, and the Biggest Scandal in Chess by Ben MezrichIn September 2022, 19-year-old chess competitor Hans Niemann toppled grandmaster Magnus Carlsen in a face-to-face match, stunning the chess world. Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating shortly afterwards, and author Ben Mezrich (Breaking Twitter) revisits the resulting scandal. The back-and-forth recriminations, intensified by the involvement of the popular gaming site Chess.com, would turn this high-drama feud into the stuff of legends. Try this next: Rebel Queen: The Cold War, Misogyny, and the Making of a Grandmaster by Susan Polgar. |
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The Make-Believe: A Memoir of Magic and Madness
by Hannah Murray
From her breakout role as a teen actor on the cult TV show Skins, to critically acclaimed movies, to the smash hit Game of Thrones, Hannah Murray built a career in Hollywood cracking open her own psychological foundations and pushing her body to its limits. But one day, the line between make-believe and reality disappeared, and she found herself confined to a psych ward, dangerously in love with the leader of a shadowy wellness organization, and believing in magic. How she got there- and how she managed to rebuild her life- is the heart of this gripping, powerful memoir that asks: How far would you go to find enlightenment? For Hannah, it was deceptively easy to fall down the rabbit hole. As she struggled with her mental health, she sought help in the form of wellness and self-care. After Hannah was introduced to an organization that she was told would bring her further spiritual rewards, her sense of reality began to slip, eventually resulting in her hospitalization and diagnosis with bipolar disorder. She realized she had fully ceded control of her life to this mysterious organization. Both a cautionary tale and a cry for radical empathy, Hannah's story of learning to trust herself will resonate with anyone who has struggled to find agency.
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| Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me by Elizabeth Stordeur PryorThe inspiration for history professor Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor’s memoir began with a tense moment in class when a student casually dropped the same racial epithet that her father, the late comedian Richard Pryor, had used countless times in his stage shows as a storytelling device and a totem of Black identity. Pryor recalls treasured moments with her father while considering the complicated multiple meanings of a charged part of our lexicon. |
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Crossroads: A Memoir in Baseball and Life
by Dusty Baker
Legendary baseball player and manager Dusty Baker reflects on his extraordinary career- filled with invaluable lessons on perseverance, leadership, and living life meaningfully on the field and off. Dusty Baker walked with baseball legends and became one himself. After he signed with the Braves in 1968 at the age of nineteen against his father's wishes, no less than the great Hank Aaron promised to take Baker under his wing. Mentored by Aaron, Orlando Cepeda, and Willie Mays, Baker became a premier hitter, helping take the Dodgers to a World Series victory in 1981. He would bookend this with another championship in 2022, this time as a manager helping guide and redeem a Houston Astros team humbled by a cheating scandal. Respected by generations across the game, Baker has come to embody the spirit of the sport--and yet, to discuss his baseball career is only to scratch the surface of a remarkable life.
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| Conversion Therapy Dropout: A Queer Story of Faith & Belonging by Timothy Schraeder RodriguezAfter an awkward, teenaged Timothy Schraeder Rodriguez experienced rejection from members of his Evangelical youth group who discovered he was gay, he willingly enrolled in a church-organized therapy program meant to “cure” his queerness with repression exercises. The author, now out, is still healing from the psychic harm this therapy caused, and has co-founded Church Clarity, an organization that helps queer Christians connect with accepting congregations. |
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The Housewives Underground: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the JFK Assassination Our Most Enduring Mystery
by Kaitlyn Tiffany
The untold story of the women who debunked the Warren Report--a riveting history of obsession, heartbreak, and the myth of the great American century An extraordinary account of a relentless search for truth. In the winter of 1967, the official account of the Kennedy assassination was beginning to unravel. A scattered group of Americans had pointed to major problems with the report prepared by President Johnson. Many of the most serious criticisms of the government's work came from a source that surprised some: women who, within the community of critics, outnumbered the men two to one. Politicians and reporters dismissed these women. But in The Housewives Underground, Kaitlyn Tiffany resurrects the story of Maggie Field, Shirley Martin, and Sylvia Meagher, whose collaboration and friendship reshaped both their own lives and our national memory.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Michigan City Public Library
100 E. 4th Street
Michigan City, Indiana 46360
219-873-3044mclib.org/ |
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