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Biography and Memoir November 2026 |
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| The Ballad of the Fugitive William Parker: A True Tale of Love, Murder, Treason, and Ordinary Folks Who Saved America by Cristin O'Keefe AptowiczPoet and historian Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz (Dr. Mütter’s Marvels) tells the obscure tale of Wiliam Parker, a fugitive enslaved man who escaped from his Maryland owner to a Pennsylvania town whose free Black and white residents rallied to his cause. Aptowicz’s biography doubles as a piece of local history, climaxing with a dramatic 1851 stand-off in which Parker and an armed militia murder his former enslaver who had come to recapture him. For fans of: Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery’s Borderland by Scott Shane. |
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| American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn's Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump by Kai Bird with Susan GoldmarkBiographers Kai Bird and Susan Goldmark pull no punches in naming Donald Trump as the inheritor of his one-time lawyer Roy Cohn’s style of pugnacious negotiation. First gaining notoriety as chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy, Cohn, whose duplicity included spouting homophobia despite being a closeted gay man, would go on to school the junior real estate mogul in bending the rules to win at any cost. Try this next: Gossip Men: J. Edgar Hoover, Joe McCarthy, Roy Cohn, and the Politics of Insinuation by Christopher M. Elias. |
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My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments
by Eric Dane
A moving personal narrative from Grey's Anatomy and Euphoria star Eric Dane, on the most impactful days--past, present, and future--of his life. Poignant, vulnerable and deeply human, My Book of Days is a profound meditation on the passing of time and what matters most when you're looking at life through the lens of a terminal illness.
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| Plot Twist: Life, Craft, and the Messy First Draft: A Memoir on Writing by Harlan CobenBeloved thriller author Harlan Coben (Nobody’s Fool; I Will Find You) opens up about his life and his writing in this punchy memoir. Is the writing advice useful? As Coben himself admits, “It’s messy.” His most salient points are to embrace sub-par first drafts, be prepared for inspiration wherever and whenever it comes, and have enough passion to keep at it. The book is written with a “humor and humanity” (Publishers Weekly) that the author’s fans will love. |
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| The Phantom: The Untold Story of the American Marine the Nazis Could Not Kill by Bob Drury and Tom ClavinHistorians Bob Drury and Tom Clavin tell the “rollicking” (Publishers Weekly) story of Marine Major Pierre “Pete” Ortiz, an early recruit to the Office of Strategic Services, the unit that spawned the Special Forces and the CIA. In a novelistic narrative, the multilingual and larger-than-life Ortiz parachutes into Nazi-occupied France and embeds with resistance fighters as a saboteur and spy. Try this next: Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII’s Most Decorated Spy by Larry Loftis. |
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| The Perilous Fight by Colin KaepernickPro quarterback turned social justice activist Colin Kaepernick is unapologetic in his recounting of the events that allegedly led to his ousting from the NFL. Growing up a biracial adoptee who spent much of his life feeling othered in “white spaces,” Kaepernick was sensitized to police shootings of Black men publicized in the media. He never hesitated in his impulse to take a knee for the national anthem during the 2016 season, regardless of the outcry that followed. |
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| Sitcom by Chuck LorreTV comedy writer and producer Chuck Lorre (Young Sheldon; Two and a Half Men) takes aim at the pitfalls of his industry and his own foibles in Sitcom. For someone who has seen so much career success, Lorre really enjoys poking fun at his failures. He gives a detailed peek inside the world of television showrunning, and his anecdotes are candid, gossipy, and as funny as one of his scripts (of which he provides samples!). For fans of: Larry Charles’ Comedy Samurai: 40 Years of Blood, Guts and Laughter. |
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| Never Say Die by Ke Huy QuanHaving immigrated to the United States from postwar Vietnam at age seven, Ke Huy Quan already knew the life of a child refugee when he became a child star in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. When the job offers dried up in the late 1980s, that could have been the end of his Hollywood story. Instead, Quan went to work behind the camera as a fight choreographer and went on to win an Oscar for his supporting role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. This is a good pick for folks who enjoy stories of unlikely comebacks, like Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me by Ralph Macchio. |
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| Alexander: God, King, Man by Edmund RichardsonClassicist Edmund Richardson’s biography of military leader and empire builder Alexander the Great excels both in impeccable scholarship and cinematic storytelling. The reader is given vivid and action-packed descriptions of important battles, as well as insight into what scholars can glean about Alexander’s character -- he was a leader with vision, but his neglect of administrative detail brought about his downfall. Try this next: The Plague of War: Athens, Sparta, and the Struggle for Ancient Greece by Jennifer T. Roberts. |
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| An Unexpected Life by Gloria SteinemActivist and second-wave feminist Gloria Steinem’s final memoir, published weeks after her death, is not a comprehensive tell-all. Rather, Steinem delivers essays that reflect on certain formative events -- growing up in rural poverty, attending Smith College with married classmates, meeting writer and activist bell hooks -- that gave her life purpose and direction. The result is a “spare but powerful” (Booklist) book that gets to the heart of the author’s outlook on the world. Further reading: The Movement: How Women's Liberation Transformed America, 1963-1973 by Clara Bingham. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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