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.
Acclaimed travel writer Jonathan Raban invites us aboard his boat, a floating cottage cluttered with books, curling manuscripts, and dead ballpoint pens. Learn More
This authoritative biography of Patrick Henry—the underappreciated founding father best known for saying, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"—restores him and his fellow Virginians to their seminal place in the story of American independence. Learn More
Despite the key part he played in the country's founding, few Americans today have heard of John Dickinson. Early chroniclers and historians cast him as a coward and Loyalist for not signing the Declaration. Many later historians have simply accepted and echoed this distorted and dismissive view. Jane Calvert's fascinating, authoritative, and accessible biography, the first complete account of Dickinson's life and work, restores him to a place of prominence in the nation's formative years. Learn More
The beauty, genius and heroism of the human spirit shines throughout this collection of encounters with exceptional individuals, selected and presented by NPR personalities whose lives have been enriched by a single conversation. Learn More
by Mercy Fontenot, Lyndsey Parker; read by Natasha Soudek
Mercy Fontenot was a Zelig who grew up in the San Francisco Haight-Ashbury scene, where she crossed paths with Charles Manson, went to the first Acid Test, and was friends with Jimi Hendrix (she was later in his movie Rainbow Bridge). Written just prior to her death in 2020, Permanent Damage shows us the world of the 1960s and 1970s music scene through Mercy's eyes. Learn More
Picasso's War sheds light on the conflict that was an ominous prelude to WWII and delivers an unforgettable portrait of a genius whose visionary statement about horror and terrible wounds of war still resonates today. Learn More
by Anthony Youn, MD with Alan Eisenstock; read by Kyle Tait
In this thrilling and moving memoir, Dr. Anthony Youn reveals that the true metamorphosis from student to doctor occurs not in medical school but in the formative years of residency training and early practice. Learn More
Retired Navy SEAL Drago Dzieran takes listeners behind the scenes of his incredible life, from an impoverished childhood in Communist-controlled Poland to his time as a political prisoner, to his twenty years as a member of the United States military's most elite fighting force. Learn More
Chaim Gans's A Political Theory for the Jewish People examines the two dominant interpretations of Zionism, contrasts them with post-Zionist alternatives, and develops a third model. Along with exploring the historiographic, philosophical, and moral foundations of each of these approaches, Gans considers their implications for the relationship between Jews and Arabs in Israel/Palestine as well as the relationship between Israeli and diasporic Jews. Learn More
by Steve Tsang and Olivia Cheung; read by Rebecca Lam
An authoritative examination of "Xi Jinping Thought"—now the official dogma of the Chinese Communist Party—that marshals Xi's personal words and writings to reveal his plan to make "the China Dream of national rejuvenation" a reality in the coming decades. Learn More
National Book Critics Circle Award John Leonard Prize Finalist A Buzzfeed Most Anticipated Book of the YearA Literary Hub Most Anticipated Book of the Year One of The Millions' Most Anticipated Books of the Year
Like a song that feels written just for you, Larissa Pham's debut work of nonfiction captures the imagination and refuses to let go. Learn More
