By Frank McCourt

Continues the sometimes harrowing tale of the author's youth as he immigrates from Ireland to the United States, joins the Army, goes to college, and begins building a life.

By Solomon Northup

A memoir describing the life of Solomon Northup, a free Black man from Saratoga, N.Y., who was kidnapped in 1841 and forced into slavery in Louisiana for twelve years.

Became the movie: 12 Years a Slave.

By Craig Brown
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian

Draws on previously unexamined lore and celebrity testimony in a kaleidoscopic group portrait of the Fab Four that reveals lesser-known examples of their indelible and enduring cultural impact.

By Bruce Goldfarb

An account of the life of the woman best known for creating the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death dioramas describes her transition from a wealthy socialite to a leader in modern forensics whose methods are still used today.

By John Higham

After more than a decade of planning, John Higham and his wife leave their jobs and suburban lives and pack up their home and set out with their two young children to travel around the world. In the course of the next 52 weeks, they crossed 24 time zones, visited 28 countries and experience a lifetime of adventures.

By Steve Pressman

Based on the HBO documentary, a true story of personal courage and heroism follows one Jewish American couple as they risked their own lives to travel to Nazi-controlled Vienna and Berlin to rescue fifty Jewish children.

By Heather Dune Macadam
Recommended By Jackie, Head of Readers' Services

The acclaimed internationally best-selling author of Rena's Promise reveals the poignant stories of the 999 women on the first official transport to Auschwitz, drawing on extensive interviews with survivors, and consulting with historians, witnesses and relatives of those first deportees.

By John Preston

Recounts the political scandal of British Parliament member Jeremy Thorpe, who stood on trial for murder, exposing his secret life of gay lovers, lying, embezzlement, and evading punishment for years.

By Yangzom Brauen
Recommended By Neela Vass, Head of Acquisitions

Author Yangzom Brauen shares details about her life and the lives of her mother and grandmother, who lived in Tibet during Chinese rule and were forced to find ways to preserve their identity and culture while in exile.

By J. Randy Taraborrelli

In this ambitious and sweeping account, Taraborelli continues the Kennedy family chronicle begun with his bestselling "Jackie, Ethel, Joan" and provides a behind-the-scenes look at the years "after Camelot.”

By Helen Fremont

The author tells how she discovered that her parents were Jews who survived the Holocaust and explores the elaborate deceptions her parents concocted to preserve her and her sister.

By Anne Morrow Lindbergh

A final collection of selected letters & diary entries by the National Aviation Hall of Fame inductee.

By Sara Benincasa

The comedian and radio host recollects her experiences with agoraphobia and how she, with the help of her friends and family who drew her back from the edge, broke free from fear to live in the life she was meant to live.

By Ron Chernow

Traces the life of Alexander Hamilton, an illegitimate, largely self-taught orphan from the Caribbean who rose to become George Washington's aide–de–camp and the first Treasury Secretary of the United States.

By Anthony Everitt
Recommended By Ralph Guiteau, Readers' Services Librarian

A reconstruction of the life of the ancient Greek conqueror highlights his contradictory depictions throughout history, placing his achievements against a backdrop of his own historical time to discuss his growing empire, respect for regional traditions and mysterious death.

By Stacy A. Cordery
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian

A detailed portrait of Teddy Roosevelt's daughter relates such facts as her tempestuous teen years and flouting of social conventions in order to promote women's rights, her infidelity-tested marriage to Speaker of the House Nicholas Longworth, and her sharp criticism of FDR's New Deal programs.

By Ali Wentworth
Recommended By Amy B., Children's Librarian

The best-selling author, actress, podcaster and producer takes humorous look at the absurd, trying, and hysterical things her family experienced during the global pandemic and reveals how she learned, grew and found comfort in unexpected places.

By Elie Wiesel

The memoirs of the Nobel Peace Laureate chronicle his prewar childhood, suffering in Auschwitz, adult struggles with faith, literary endeavors, and relationships with such figures as Golda Meir.

By Amy Elizabeth Smith
Recommended By Sue Ann R., Head of Children's Services

“Details the author's yearlong journey organizing book clubs devoted to Jane Austen novels in six Central and South American countries, during which she discovered friendship and love, and learned about life and the power of Austen (From the Publisher).”

By Donald Stratton
Recommended By Neela Vass, Head of Acquisitions

A memoir by a USS Arizona survivor describes his experience of the attacks that left him with burns over more than sixty-five percent of his body, his resolve to reenter service after a grueling recovery, and his contributions to some of the Pacific's most violent battles.

By Shulem Deen

A former Skverer Hasid and the founding editor of Unpious openly documents his harrowing loss of faith, which forced him into a life of deception, while providing a thought–provoking look at one of the most insular Hasidic sects in the U.S. Genres: Biography/Memoir; Autobiography; Religion & Spirituality

By Nicole Chung
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian

A Korean adoptee who grew up with a white family in Oregon discusses her journey to find her identity as an Asian American woman and a writer after becoming curious about her true origins.

By Martin Sheen

A dual memoir of the film legend and his actor/director son, shares fifty years of family history, covering their Northern Spanish heritage, careers, and individual spiritual lives.

By Dan Dye
Recommended By Lisa C., Library Clerk

“The co-founders of Three Dog Bakery describe how the rescue of Gracie, a deaf, partially blind, albino Great Dane pup, and her relationship with her owner, Dan Dye, led to the founding of their successful enterprise (From the Publisher).”

By America Ferrera

From an award—winning actress and political activist comes a vibrant and varied collection of first person accounts from prominent figures—including Lin–Manuel Miranda, Issa Rae, Kumail Nanjiani, Roxane Gay and many more—about the experience of growing up between cultures.

By Andrea Bernstein

Examines the multigenerational saga of two families who rose from immigrant roots to the pinnacle of U.S. power that tracks the unraveling of American democracy.

By Matthew Polly

This is the story of the childhood dream that led Polly to study martial arts at China’s famed Shaolin Temple, his initial disenchantement that turned into respect for the instructors, and the training that eventually led him to represent the Temple in international competitions.

By Chris Kyle
With Ralph Guiteau, Readers' Services Librarian

Tuesday, November 10, 2015. 7:30 PM.

American Sniper is the astonishing autobiography of SEAL Chief Chris Kyle, who is the record-holding sniper in U.S. military history. Kyle has more than 150 officially confirmed kills (the previous American record was 109), though his remarkable career total has not been made public by the Pentagon.

By Taya Kyle with Jim DeFelice

The widow of American Sniper Chris Kyle shares their private journey, a moving and universal chronicle of love and family, service and patriotism, grief and sacrifice, faith and purpose.

By Claudia Kalb

A meticulously researched glimpse into the likely mental illnesses of high-profile historical figures reveals that Albert Einstein had autism, Frank Lloyd Wright was a narcissist, Marilyn Monroe had borderline personality disorder and Charles Darwin suffered from anxiety.

By Frank McCourt

The author recounts his childhood in Depression-era Brooklyn as the child of Irish immigrants who decide to return to worse poverty in Ireland when his infant sister dies.

By Frank McCourt
Recommended By Jackie, Head of Readers' Services

“The McCourts began their family in poverty in Brooklyn, yet when Angela slipped into depression after the death of her only daughter, the family reversed the tide of emigration and returned to Ireland, living on public assistance in Limerick. McCourts’ story is laced with the pain of extreme poverty, aggravated by an alcoholic father who abandoned the family during World War II. Given the burdens of grief and starvation, it's a tribute to his skill that he can serve the reader a tale of love, some sadness, but at least as much laughter as the McCourts' "Yankee" children knew growing up in the streets of Limerick (Library Journal).”

Became the movie: Angela’s Ashes

By Barbara Kingsolver

Chronicles the year Kingsolver made a commitment to become one of those who eat only locally grown foods.

By Sid Jacobson

Drawing on the archives and expertise of the Anne Frank House, the best-selling authors of 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation cover the short-but-inspiring life of the famed Jewish teen memoirist, from the lives of her parents to Anne's years keeping her private diary while hidden from the Nazis to her untimely death in a concentration camp.

By Anne Frank
With Jackie Ranaldo, Head of Readers' Services

Tuesday, March 10, 2020. 7:30 PM.

Commemorating the 75th anniversary of Anne Frank's death

Teens Welcome

The autobiographical reminiscences of a young Jewish girl coming of age during World War II describes her life in hiding from the Nazis and offers a poignant study of the tragedy of the Holocaust.

By Susan Hertog

Offers a portrait of a world-famous couple, their marriage, and the tragic kidnapping and murder of their infant son.

By Alex Trebek
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian

Longtime Jeopardy! host and television icon Alex Trebek reflects on his life and career.

By Stephen Fried
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian

How visionary businessman Fred Harvey built a railroad hospitality empire that civilized the Wild West. Traces the story of the nineteenth–century entrepreneur who established a national chain of restaurants, hotels, and bookstores patronizing railroad passengers, in an account that reveals his role in shaping culture and labor.

By Kang Chol-Hwan

The memoirs of a survivor of a North Korean communist prison describes the harsh conditions in a gulag, his life in North Korea, and his daring escape.

By Alison Bechdel

Depicts the author's mother as a voracious reader, music lover, and passionate amateur actress who quietly suffers as the wife of a closeted gay artist and withdraws from her young daughter, who searches for answers to the separation later in life.

By Lucette Lagnado

An autobiography of Lagnado's early years as an immigrant from Cairo to Brooklyn, reflecting on her own mother's story as she makes her own choices.

By Cary Elwes
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian

In a twenty-fifth anniversary, behind-the-scenes account of the making of the cult classic film, the lead actor shares never-before-told stories and exclusive photographs as well as interviews with fellow actors and producers of the film.

By Derek Wilson

The historian-author of Rothschild chronicles the fascinating history of the Astor dynasty, from John Jacob Astor I and his beginnings as a poor immigrant to his great-grandson's life as an English viscount.

By Alec Nevala-Lee

Astounding is the landmark account of the extraordinary partnership between four controversial writers—John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and L. Ron Hubbard—who set off a revolution in science fiction and forever changed our world.

By Kim Wilson

At Home with Jane Austen explores Austen's world, her physical surroundings, and the journeys the popular author took during her lifetime.

By Earl Swift

Follows auto mechanic Tommy Arney as he painstakingly attempts to restore a classic 1957 Chevy to its former glory, all while financial ruin, government bureaucrats and the FBI close in on him.

By Lucy Grealy

A memoir in which award–winning poet Lucy Grealy recalls her experiences with a potentially terminal cancer that required she have a third of her jaw removed when she was nine years old, and discusses the suffering she endured as she was growing up from classmates, strangers, and other people because of her looks.

By Alex Kershaw

Documents the story of American doctor Sumner Jackson in Nazi-occupied Paris and his life-risking espionage contributions to the French resistance during World War II.

By Alexandra Penney
Recommended By Pam Martin, Assistant Library Director

"Entertaining and inspiring, The Bag Lady Papers chronicles Penney's struggle to cope with the devastating financial and emotional fallout of being cheated out of her life…." (From the Publisher)

By Keiji Nakazawa

In this graphic depiction of nuclear devastation, three survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima - Gen, his mother, and his baby sister - face rejection, hunger, and humiliation in their search for a place to live.