Share in the childhood tales of A Girl Named Zippy. Hear Kenneth Branagh read Samuel Pepys' exuberant 17th-century diary. Be transformed by the extraordinary women of Half the Sky. You'll find these and other remarkable life stories under biography and memoir.
Revealing the central yet intentionally obliterated role of Africa in the creation of modernity, Born in Blackness vitally reframes our understanding of world history. Learn More
by Sami Yaffa with Tommi Liimatta; read by Sami Yaffa
Sami Yaffa is a bass guitar legend, an icon of the rock world, and an uncompromising walker of his own way, who rose to prominence as the bassist of the mythical Hanoi Rocks. This is his story. Learn More
Based on exclusive interviews before his death in 2020 at age 103, Sonny is the first and only authorized biography of legendary mob boss John "Sonny" Franzese, the head of the Colombo crime family and financier of the infamous film Deep Throat. Learn More
by Jori Epstein; foreword by Michael Berenbaum; read by Jori Epstein
Infused with raw emotion and vivid detail, this memoir relays holocaust survivor Max Glauben's powerful lifetime commitment to actively thwarting hate and galvanizing resilience. Max insists you, too, can transform your adversity into your greatest strength. Learn More
A celebrated Irish writer's magisterial, brilliantly insightful chronicle of the wrenching transformations that dragged his homeland into the modern world. Learn More
Five Nickels is the true story of Captain Steve Phillis, a decorated Air Force A-10 fighter pilot killed under heroic circumstances while trying to save his downed wingman on their thirtieth Desert Storm combat mission. Learn More
by Rodney Stotts with Kate Pipkin; read by James Fouhey
To escape the tough streets of Southeast Washington DC in the late 1980s, young Rodney Stotts would ride the metro to the Smithsonian National Zoo. There, the bald eagles and other birds of prey captured his imagination for the first time. In Bird Brother, Rodney shares his unlikely journey to becoming a conservationist and one of America's few Black master falconers. Learn More
A New York Public Library Best Book of 2020 A Best Read of 2020 at Ms. Magazine
Radiant and tender, My Baby First Birthday is a collection that examines innocence, asking us who gets to be loved and who has to deplete themselves just to survive. Learn More
by Thomas Huening; foreword by Congresswoman Jackie Speier; read by Mike Chamberlain
The authorized biography of John Joseph Kelly—the quintessential Good Samaritan—who changed the lives of thousands of people in need, first as a devoted Catholic priest; then as a champion of the poor and a father figure to troubled minority youth; and finally, as a one-on-one mentor offering hope and guidance to hardcore San Quentin inmates. Learn More
by Natascia Tornetta-Mallin; read by Jean Ann Douglass
A proudly humanist portrayal of sexual impulse and impropriety in the City of Angels, The First 50 is a chronological recapitulation of fifty erotic encounters that take place between the ages of thirteen and thirty-three. Columbine, 9/11, The Iraq War, and The Great Recession set the stage as a young woman navigates the ambient decadence that has long defined Los Angeles. Learn More
In his remarkable and moving memoir, Steve Majors gathers the shards of a broken past to piece together a portrait of a man on an extraordinary journey toward Blackness, queerness, and parenthood. High Yella delivers its hard-won lessons on love, life, and family with exceptional grace. Learn More
by Katharine Ogden Michaels; read by Janet Metzger
An in-depth look at the life of Oakland, California native, Barclay Simpson, Strong Ties focuses on the set of convictions and leadership qualities that allowed Simpson to build a successful business from nothing and to become one of the major philanthropists in the San Francisco Bay Area. Learn More
by Senator Joseph I. Lieberman; read by Rich Miller
Senator Joseph Lieberman offers a master class in effective government by probing his forty years in elective office—from the Vietnam War era to the Presidency of Barack Obama—and by shining a light on historic acts of centrism and compromise, extracting productive and problem-solving lessons and techniques we need now more than ever. Learn More
Bestselling author Lowell Cauffiel's "auspicious debut in the true-crime genre . . . [a] sensitive and searching story of the murders of at least six nursing home patients" (Publishers Weekly). Learn More
Benjamin Franklin: Cultural Protestant follows Franklin's remarkable career through the lens of the trends and innovations that the Protestant Reformation started (both directly and indirectly) almost two centuries earlier. Learn More
by John Gentile and Brad Logan; read by Brad Logan
Architects of Self-Destruction: An Oral History of Leftöver Crack traces the band's entire history by speaking to the band members themselves, fellow musicians, their fans, and of course, those that still hold a grudge against the LoC. Learn More
