Michigan City Public Library: Biography and Memoir: May 2026

Recent Releases

Cosmic Music: The Life, Art, and Transcendence of Alice Coltrane
by Andy Beta

Jazz pianist and harpist Alice Coltrane has always labored in the long shadow of her more famous husband, John. But music journalist Andy Beta’s new biography gives Alice her due. Her unique solo recordings meld elements of jazz, gospel, and eastern and western classical music into a dreamlike, meditative tapestry that speaks to the composer’s strong spiritual foundation.

Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found
by Andrew Graham-Dixon

This revelatory biography persuasively addresses the two great unresolved questions about Vermeer: why did he paint his pictures, and what do they mean?

This Is Not About Running
by Mary Cain

When she was a teenager, Mary Cain’s talent as a middle-distance runner secured her a coveted position in Nike’s Oregon Project youth training program, headed by running legend Alberto Salazar. But when Cain’s performance started to slip, it became clear that she had been harming and starving herself as a result of Salazar’s cruel treatment and other abuse allowed by the program.

This Dark Night: Emily Bronte, a Life
by Deborah Lutz

Deborah Lutz compellingly captures Emily Jane Brontë, extraordinary poet and author of the incomparable Wuthering Heights, with deep insight and glorious prose.

Project Tiger: The Birth of Genius and the Price of Greatness
by Gavin Newsham

As soon as Tiger Woods began showing golfing talent as a toddler, his father Earl embarked on “Project Tiger,” his mission to turn his son into the greatest golfer the world had ever seen. The racism that Earl was trying to help Tiger withstand was real, but in golf journalist Gavin Newsham’s telling, it was Earl’s obsessed guidance that would enable both Tiger’s astonishing dominance and the entitlement that would almost destroy him.

Heartland: A Forgotten Place, an Impossible Dream, and the Miracle of Larry Bird
by Keith O'Brien

Larry Bird was just a poor kid from a broken home in French Lick who thought his college basketball career was over when he quit the University of Indiana after an overwhelming first semester. In an unlikely turn, Bird was re-recruited by Bob King of Indiana State (a school with zero hoops cred), leading to a trip to the Final Four in 1979 and a storied NBA career. Biographer Keith O’Brien spins a smart, well-paced tale of Bird beginning to take flight.

Beyond Life and Death: The Way of True Freedom
by Jet Li

Martial arts legend and international movie star Jet Li distills ten powerful insights from his iconic career, his personal life and philosophies, and his thirty-year Buddhist practice Jet Li's story defies legend. Behind the glory lay a deeper battle: a search for meaning beyond fame, fortune, and physical skill. After a near-death encounter in the 2004 tsunami, Li turned inward, deepening his study of Tibetan Buddhism and dedicating his life to philanthropy, though he was at the height of his Hollywood career. For the very first time, Li shares the ten insights that have guided his life. Li invites readers to share his interior life, to hear untold stories from his martial arts and film career, and to meditate with him on the nature of spiritual awakening. If you look deeply, you can see Li's life philosophy in many of his movies, and in Beyond Life and Death he fully links his own story and spiritual journey with ten actionable insights that anyone can apply to live a healthy and happy life.

Western Star: The Life and Legends of Larry McMurtry
by David Streitfeld

Novelist and screenwriter Larry McMurtry is perhaps best remembered for his western novel Lonesome Dove and his screenplay adaptation of Annie Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain, as well as for making his home state of Texas a minor character in most of his writing. Before his death in 2021, McMurtry entrusted his friend and Pulitzer-winning journalist David Streitfeld with writing this biography, a revealing portrait of a complicated man who remained an enigma to all but his closest associates.

The Confessions of Samuel Pepys: Private Revelations from Britain's Most Famed Diarist
by Guy de la Bédoyère

A remarkable collection of the most personal aspects of Samuel Pepys' diaries, in celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of their publication. The Diary of Samuel Pepys is the most celebrated personal journal in the English language. Pepys's candid revelations as he forged his career as a civilian naval official in Restoration London have fascinated readers ever since the first selection was published in 1825. This book focuses on Pepys's controversial private life and is geared for a contemporary readership by charting his varied and complex relationships with women. Most of these controversial entries were excised from nineteenth century editions, but all are featured here in completely new transcriptions-with Pepys's secret code translated-following fresh forensic examination from the original shorthand diary. The Confessions of Samuel Pepys also reveals how all previous transcribers of the diary, as well as many of his biographers, have deliberately avoided this controversial element of Pepys's reputation.

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