Collection: Biography & Memoir

NPR's Best Books of 2020
BookPage's Best Books of 2020
Real Simple's Best Books of 2020
Boston.com readers voted one of Best Books of 2020

"Anyone striving to understand and improve this country should read her story." --Gloria Steinem, author of My Life on the Road

The Emmy Award-winning journalist and anchor of NPR's Latino USA tells the story of immigration in America through her family's experiences and decades of reporting, painting an unflinching portrait of a country in crisis in this memoir that is "quite simply beautiful, written in Maria Hinojosa's honest, passionate voice" (BookPage).

Maria Hinojosa is an award-winning journalist who, for nearly thirty years, has reported on stories and communities in America that often go ignored by the mainstream media--from tales of hope in the South Bronx to the unseen victims of the War on Terror and the first detention camps in the US. Bestselling author Julia Álvarez has called her "one of the most important, respected, and beloved cultural leaders in the Latinx community."

In Once I Was You, Maria shares her intimate experience growing up Mexican American on the South Side of Chicago. She offers a personal and illuminating account of how the rhetoric around immigration has not only long informed American attitudes toward outsiders, but also sanctioned willful negligence and profiteering at the expense of our country's most vulnerable populations--charging us with the broken system we have today.

An urgent call to fellow Americans to open their eyes to the immigration crisis and understand that it affects us all, this honest and heartrending memoir paints a vivid portrait of how we got here and what it means to be a survivor, a feminist, a citizen, and a journalist who owns her voice while striving for the truth.

Also available in Spanish as Una vez fui tú.

'Refugees are like seeds that scatter in the wind, and land in different soils that become their reluctant homes' my mother once told me. As a small child, I looked up at my mother and clutched her hand. The puffiness of her palm reminded me of a loaf of warm pita bread, and when she laced her fingers into mine like a pretzel, I felt safe. I would have walked with her to the ends of the earth.

When Mona moved from California to Ramallah to teach conflict resolution in a school for a year, she kept a journal. Within its pages, she wrote her impressions of her homeland, a place she had only experienced through her mother's memories.

As she settled into her teaching role, getting to know her students and the challenges they faced living in a militarized, occupied town, Mona also embarked on a personal pilgrimage to find her mother's home in Jerusalem.

Mona had dreamed of being guided by her mother down the old souqs, and the leafy streets of her neighborhood, listening to the muezzin's call for prayer and the medley of church bells. But after fifty-nine years of exile, it was Mona's mother who held her daughter's hand as they visited Jerusalem together, walking the narrow cobblestone alleys of the Old City. Their roles were reversed. Mona had become her Mama's legs and her memory - and the one to tell her story going forward.

In My Mother's Footsteps is a moving and heart-rending journey of a daughter discovering her roots and recovering her mother's beloved past. It's also an intimate and tender account of daily life for Palestinians as never seen before. For fans of The Bookseller of Kabul and The Beekeeper of Aleppo.

Read what everyone is saying about In My Mother's Footsteps:

'This is a beautifully written story told with honesty and passion...It will jerk those tears right out of your head...Surely one of the best books of 2021.' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'Beautiful. Poignant. Phenomenal...I cried and I smiled...Truly a gem.' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'Moving, evocative and poignant...a really insightful and touching book as well as an intimate narration of family history and deep-rooted love of Palestine and I learnt a lot from it.' Resnas_readagram, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'Informative, powerful, moving...Her descriptions of the places she visits in Palestine are exceptionally evocative...I felt transported to the streets of Jerusalem and Ramallah, almost as if I was walking alongside her...an extremely necessary book, narrated in a beautiful prose and which I found very insightful and poignant...If you loved works of fiction such as The Beekeeper of Aleppo or A Thousand Splendid Suns, this memoir will not disappoint.' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'A beautifully written and intimate portrait of a relationship between a mother and daughter.' the_suitable_girl, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy bestselling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the incredible life of Mozart, world-renowned classical musician and composer.

Wolfgang Mozart first started playing the keyboard at just three years old. Inspired by his sister's talent, little Wolfgang soon mastered several instruments and was even writing his own musical compositions. As a young boy, he travelled from city to city with his father and sister, playing for Europe's royal families and delighting them with his talents. When his father fell ill, and Wolfgang had to keep quiet in their home, he wrote a whole symphony from just hearing the instruments in his head! As he grew, Mozart pushed the boundaries of western music and created exciting masterpieces: from dances and masses to symphonies and operas. Wolfgang wrote over 600 pieces during his short life.

Wolfgang became a world-renowned musician and composer, known for his prodigious talent and ability to write across a wide variety of styles. His music has become a key part of western music education, and continues to inspire young musicians to keep playing and practicing their instruments. Today, Wolfgang's music still delights audiences across the world, from the smallest school auditorium to the biggest opera house.

This inspiring book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the incredible musician and composer's life

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling biography series for kids that explores the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.

This empowering series of books offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover and paperback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. With rewritten text for older children, the treasuries each bring together a multitude of dreamers in a single volume. You can also collect a selection of the books by theme in boxed gift sets. Activity books and a journal provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.

Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

Explore 100 remarkable moments in the extraordinary life of Dolly Parton with this illustrated retrospective of her most amazing achievements.

Everyone's favorite country music star and American icon, Dolly Parton, has accomplished incredible things in her life, from releasing the hit "I Will Always Love You" to creating a nonprofit for children. This beautiful volume will take you on a journey through Dolly's life. Look back on her star roles, hit songs, and philanthropic aspirations, all accompanied by photos from throughout the years.

Some of the notable moments you will find include:

• At 13 years old, Dolly graced the stage at The Grand Ole Opry, easily the most prestigious country venue in Nashville
• Dolly's start in show business: Dolly launched her first country album, Hello, I'm Dolly, in 1967
• Dolly's rise to superstardom: her famous song "I Will Always Love you" hits the country music charts
• Classic movie moments from 9 to 5 to The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas to Steel Magnolias
• The creation of her incredibly popular resort and theme park, Dollywood
• Dolly's philanthropy efforts and her $1 million donation for COVID vaccine research
• And so much more!

Dolly Parton: 100 Remarkable Moments in an Extraordinary Life is a stunning tribute to your favorite all-American icon.

Each book in the 100 Remarkable Moments series is a stunning tribute to a different pop culture icon, visually chronicling 100 extraordinary events that define their legacy. Interviews with friends and colleagues, and over 100 magnificent photographs, combine to create an illustrated retrospective of achievements and contributions readers of all ages will enjoy. Also available: Betty White: 100 Remarkable Moments in an Extraordinary Life Hardcover Edition; Betty White: 100 Remarkable Moments in an Extraordinary Life Paperback Edition; Betty White: 100 Remarkable Moments in an Extraordinary Life 2nd Edition

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * One of Esquire's Best Celebrity Memoirs of All Time

An intimate, behind-the-scenes, richly illustrated celebration of beloved The Office co-stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey's friendship, and an insiders' view of Pam Beesly, Angela Martin, and the iconic TV show. Featuring many of their never-before-seen photos.

Receptionist Pam Beesly and accountant Angela Martin had very little in common when they toiled together at Scranton's Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. But, in reality, the two bonded in their very first days on set and, over the nine seasons of the series' run, built a friendship that transcended the show and continues to this day. Sharing everything from what it was like in the early days as the show struggled to gain traction, to walking their first red carpet--plus exclusive stories on the making of milestone episodes and how their lives changed when they became moms--The Office BFFs is full of the same warm and friendly tone Jenna and Angela have brought to their Office Ladies podcast.

"Thorough, fascinating, and joyfully executed, All of the Marvels is essential reading for fans and scholars alike." --G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel)

"A revelation, a tour both electrifying in its weird charisma and replenishing in its loving specificity . . . a testament, and a tribute." --Jonathan Lethem

Winner of the Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Book

A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice

The first-ever full reckoning with Marvel Comics' interconnected, half-million-page story, a revelatory guide to the "epic of epics"--and to the past sixty years of American culture--from a beloved authority on the subject who read all 27,000+ Marvel superhero comics and lived to tell the tale

The superhero comic books that Marvel Comics has published since 1961 are the longest continuous, self-contained work of fiction ever created. Thousands of writers and artists have contributed to it. Everyone recognizes its protagonists. Eighteen of the hundred highest-grossing movies of all time are based on parts of it. And Douglas Wolk has read the whole thing.

Wolk sees both into the ever-expanding story and through it, as a prism through which to view the landscape of American culture. In his hands, the mammoth Marvel narrative becomes a fun-house-mirror history of the past sixty years--a boisterous, tragicomic, magnificently filigreed epic about power and ethics, set in a world transformed by wonders.

A huge treat for Marvel fans, this book is also a revelation for readers who don't know Doctor Strange from Doctor Doom. Here, truly, are all of the marvels.

"An indespensable handbook." --Forbes

"A woman can carry a bag, but it is the shoe that carries the woman" - Christian Louboutin

Among designers of luxury shoes, there is one whose designs are instantly recognizable: Christian Louboutin. His iconic red soles can be seen everywhere from the red carpet, the silver screen and the catwalk to city streets around the world.

From his early life in Paris to the founding of his first store in 1992, and from the red carpet to his global domination of the luxury shoe market, Little Book of Christian Louboutin charts the rise of the world's most celebrated shoe designer. Images of his designs past and present are accompanied by captivating text, describing the rise and rise of the king of shoe design.

Cândido Rondon is by any measure the greatest tropical explorer in history. Between 1890 and 1930, he navigated scores of previously unmapped rivers, traversed untrodden mountain ranges, and hacked his way through jungles so inhospitable that even native peoples had avoided them--and led Theodore Roosevelt and his son, Kermit, on their celebrated "River of Doubt" journey in 1913-14. Upon leaving the Brazilian Army in 1930 with the rank of a two-star general, Rondon, himself of indigenous descent, devoted the remainder of his life to not only writing about the region's flora and fauna, but also advocating for the peoples who inhabited the rainforest and lobbying for the creation of a system of national parks. Despite his many achievements--which include laying down a 1,200-mile telegraph line through the heart of the Amazon and three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize--Rondon has never received his due. Originally published in Brazil, Into the Amazon is the first comprehensive biography of his life and remarkable career.

The stylish, exuberant, and remarkably sweet confession of one of the most famous groupies of the 1960s and 70s is back in print in this new edition that includes an afterword on the author's last 15 years of adventures. As soon as she graduated from high school, Pamela Des Barres headed for the Sunset Strip, where she knocked on rock stars' backstage doors and immersed herself in the drugs, danger, and ecstasy of the freewheeling 1960s. Over the next 10 years she had affairs with Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, Waylon Jennings, Chris Hillman, Noel Redding, and Jim Morrison, among others. She traveled with Led Zeppelin; lived in sin with Don Johnson; turned down a date with Elvis Presley; and was close friends with Robert Plant, Gram Parsons, Ray Davies, and Frank Zappa. As a member of the GTO's, a girl group masterminded by Frank Zappa, she was in the thick of the most revolutionary renaissance in the history of modern popular music. Warm, witty, and sexy, this kiss-and-tell-all stands out as the perfect chronicle of one of rock 'n' roll's most thrilling eras.

In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the graffiti street art movement pioneer.

Jean-Michel was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Puerto Rican mother and Haitian father. When he was eight and recovering from an accident in bed, his mother gave him a copy of Gray's Anatomy, which sparked his interest in the human form. As a teenager, he gained recognition as part of the graffito duo SAMO that spray-painted cryptic messages and images around the landscape of Manhattan's Lower East Side. He eventually made his way to the New York gallery scene and on to international acclaim. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the brilliant artist's life.

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling biography series for kids that explores the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.

This empowering series of books offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover and paperback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. With rewritten text for older children, the treasuries each bring together a multitude of dreamers in a single volume. You can also collect a selection of the books by theme in boxed gift sets. Activity books and a journal provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.

Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

A bite-sized collection of quotes by and about the King of Rock 'n' Roll.

Elvis was one of the most significant cultural icons of the twentieth century, and his music and movement changed the course of rock. This collection of more than 170 fascinating quotes captures what made the star so special. They come from Elton John, Mick Jagger ("He was a unique artist--an original in an area of imitators"), Cher, and of course Presley himself.

His poetic directing and universal themes, such as the importance of nature, have turned Hayao Miyazaki into one of the most respected artists on the movie and animation scene.
Initially intended for Japan only, his works eventually reached the Western market. Spirited Away is one of the most successful animated movies worldwide.
This book aims to explore the personality of this unusual author and his collaborators, and to decipher, movie by movie, the profound themes found throughout his entire work, which reveal the humanist nature of this essential filmmaker.

Named one of the Ten Best Books of 2016 by the New York Times, a spirited account of a major intellectual movement of the twentieth century and the revolutionary thinkers who came to shape it, by the best-selling author of How to Live and Humanly Possible Sarah Bakewell.

Paris, 1933: three contemporaries meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are the young Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and longtime friend Raymond Aron, a fellow philosopher who raves to them about a new conceptual framework from Berlin called Phenomenology. "You see," he says, "if you are a phenomenologist you can talk about this cocktail and make philosophy out of it!"
It was this simple phrase that would ignite a movement, inspiring Sartre to integrate Phenomenology into his own French, humanistic sensibility, thereby creating an entirely new philosophical approach inspired by themes of radical freedom, authentic being, and political activism. This movement would sweep through the jazz clubs and cafés of the Left Bank before making its way across the world as Existentialism.
Featuring not only philosophers, but also playwrights, anthropologists, convicts, and revolutionaries, At the Existentialist Café follows the existentialists' story, from the first rebellious spark through the Second World War, to its role in postwar liberation movements such as anti-colonialism, feminism, and gay rights. Interweaving biography and philosophy, it is the epic account of passionate encounters--fights, love affairs, mentorships, rebellions, and long partnerships--and a vital investigation into what the existentialists have to offer us today, at a moment when we are once again confronting the major questions of freedom, global responsibility, and human authenticity in a fractious and technology-driven world.

This inspiring story will leave you with a sober appreciation for the gift this life actually is along with the confidence that when we take that last breath, life is not over. After a tragic accident took the lives of his wife and youngest son, as well as destroying his body to the brink of death, Olsen experienced a miracle.

His out-of-body, near-death, and after-death communication experiences have guided him to a life of purpose and gratitude.

""Wide-ranging yet consistently affecting, these pieces offer a crucial and inspired survey of the immigrant experience in America."" -Publishers Weekly

"[These contributions] touch on so many different facets of the immigrant experience that readers will find much to ponder... [and] experience how creative writing enriches our understanding of each other and our lives." -Booklist

Introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen

A unique collection of 41 groundbreaking essays, poems, and artwork by migrants, refugees and Dreamers--including award-winning writers, artists, and activists--that illuminate what it is like living undocumented today.

In the overheated debate about immigration, we often lose sight of the humanity at the heart of this complex issue. The immigrants and refugees living precariously in the United States are mothers and fathers, children, neighbors, and friends. Individuals propelled by hope and fear, they gamble their lives on the promise of America, yet their voices are rarely heard.

This anthology of essays, poetry, and art seeks to shift the immigration debate--now shaped by rancorous stereotypes and xenophobia--towards one rooted in humanity and justice. Through their storytelling and art, the contributors to this thought-provoking book remind us that they are human still. Transcending their current immigration status, they offer nuanced portraits of their existence before and after migration, the factors behind their choices, the pain of leaving their homeland and beginning anew in a strange country, and their collective hunger for a future not defined by borders.

Created entirely by undocumented or formerly undocumented migrants, Somewhere We Are Human is a journey of memory and yearning from people newly arrived to America, those who have been here for decades, and those who have ultimately chosen to leave or were deported. Touching on themes of race, class, gender, nationality, sexuality, politics, and parenthood, Somewhere We Are Human reveals how joy, hope, mourning, and perseverance can take root in the toughest soil and bloom in the harshest conditions.

From the eponymous star of one of the most popular reality shows in Fuse's history, this no-holds-barred memoir and "snappily dictated story of inverted cultural norms in the wards of New Orleans" (East Bay Express) reveals the fascinating truth about a gay, self-proclaimed mama's boy who exploded onto the formerly underground Bounce music scene and found acceptance, healing, self-expression, and stardom.

As the "undisputed ambassador" of the energetic, New Orleans-based Bounce movement, Big Freedia isn't afraid to twerk, wiggle, and shake her way to self-confidence, and is encouraging her fans to do the same. In her engrossing memoir, Big Freedia tells the inside story of her path to fame, the peaks and valleys of her personal life, and the liberation that Bounce music brings to herself and every one of her fans who is searching for freedom.

Big Freedia immediately pulls us into the relationship between her personal life and her career as an artist; being a "twerking sissy" is not just a job, she says, but a salvation. A place to find solace and escape from the battles she faced growing up in the worst neighborhood in New Orleans. To deal with losing loved ones to the violence on the streets, drug overdoses, and jail. To survive hurricane Katrina by living on her roof for two days with three adults and a child. To grapple with the difficulties and celebrate the joys of living.

In this eye-opening memoir that bursts with energy, you'll learn the history of the Bounce movement and meet all the colorful characters that pepper its music scene. "Whether detailing the highs or the lows, Freedia's tales pop as much as the booty that made her famous" (Out Magazine).