Best Biography & Memoir Books

Ron Chernow's monumental biography of Ulysses S. Grant reclaims one of American history's most misunderstood figures — the general who won the Civil War and the president who fought to protect Black Americans during Reconstruction.

Patti Smith's memoir of her friendship and love with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in New York City from 1967 to his death from AIDS in 1989, written as a promise to a dying friend.

David Goggins continues his life story beyond Can't Hurt Me, exploring how he pushed further into the darkest corners of his mind to unlock the next level of human potential.

Sportswriter Mitch Albom reconnects with his dying professor Morrie Schwartz for a series of life lessons delivered in the shadow of death.

Walter Isaacson's definitive biography of Albert Einstein traces the physicist's life from his rebellious childhood to the development of the theory of relativity, his Nobel Prize, and his political activism as a refugee from Nazi Germany.

Matthew McConaughey's memoir drawn from 35 years of diary entries — a personal philosophy built from the experiences, mistakes, and epiphanies of an unconventional life.

Michael Lewis's memoir of his years as a bond salesman at Salomon Brothers in the 1980s, capturing the greed and absurdity of Wall Street's most explosive decade.

Jeannette Walls recounts her extraordinary childhood, raised by brilliant but dysfunctional nomadic parents who flouted convention and neglected their children's basic needs.

Joan Didion's unflinching account of the year following her husband John Gregory Dunne's sudden death while their daughter lay critically ill in the hospital.

A collection of essays on culture, politics, race, and feminism by Roxane Gay, who refuses the pressure to be a perfect feminist and argues for the political power of imperfect, contradictory humanity.

Walter Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk, based on two years of access and hundreds of interviews, covering Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter, and the tortured psychology behind his drive.

Roxane Gay writes about her body — fat, surveilled, weaponized against her — and the sexual violence that shaped her relationship with it, with unflinching honesty and structural precision.

The story of Christopher McCandless, a young man from a privileged background who walked into the Alaskan wilderness alone in 1992 — and was found dead in an abandoned bus four months later.

Michelle Obama shares the tools and practices that helped her navigate uncertainty — from knitting and mentorship to the value of friendship and the art of staying in your own lane.

The October 1991 Halloween storm — a combination of three separate weather systems that produced what meteorologists called a perfect storm — and the swordfishing boat Andrea Gail out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, whose six-man crew did not survive it. A reconstruction of the last voyage and the meteorological event that ended it.

Glennon Doyle recounts how falling in love with soccer player Abby Wambach led her to question every choice she had made and learn to trust her own inner knowing.

Matthew Perry chronicles his rise to fame on Friends and his decades-long battle with alcohol and opioid addiction in a memoir marked by self-lacerating honesty.

A collective autobiography of twentieth-century France, told through the pronoun 'one' rather than 'I,' assembling a life from photographs, memories, and the shared experience of an entire generation.

After the collapse of her marriage and her mother's death, Cheryl Strayed impulsively hiked 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail alone — unprepared, grieving, and ultimately transformed.

Will Smith's memoir traces his journey from West Philadelphia to global superstardom while exploring the fears, failures, and family dynamics that shaped him.

Prince Harry's account of his life inside the British royal family, his grief at his mother's death, his marriage to Meghan Markle, and the decision to step back from royal duties.

David Chang's memoir and cookbook tells the story of how a Korean-American chef opened a ramen shop with almost no money and built one of the most influential restaurant empires in American culinary history.

The untold story of how four friends — Jack Dorsey, Ev Williams, Biz Stone, and Noah Glass — created Twitter and then destroyed their friendships fighting for control of it.

Henry Worsley, a British explorer obsessed with Ernest Shackleton, attempts to be the first person to cross Antarctica alone and unsupported — and does not survive the attempt.