This Summer’s Essential Biographies & Memoirs

Educated, by Tara Westover
A well-written memoir can make a mundane life fascinating, but Tara Westover’s life was anything but mundane, and she tells her own story with gripping, clear-eyed ferocity. Raised in the rural Idaho mountains by a family of fundamentalist Mormon survivalists, Westover never went to school until she turned 17, and lived out her days preparing for the worst:helping her fathersalvage scrap to sell, canning food with her mother to get them through the looming apocalypse, packing and repacking her bag of emergency supplies. She never saw a doctor, despite some serious injuries, including violence inflicted upon her by a sibling. Another brother did make it out, however, and came back to the mountain one day with tales of college, and a better life. Determined to follow in his footsteps, Westover taught herself enough math and science to gain admittance to Brigham University, where her life changed forever. This is the fascinating story of the strange ties that bind a family together, and the strength it takes to sever them and strike out on your own.

Becoming, by Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama remains a uniquely consequential figure who became a powerful advocate for women and girls around the world during her tenure, all while raising a family under the watchful eye of the media. Her life didn’t begin there, though: the Princeton and Harvard Law graduate was a lawyer, educator, and executive before ever stepping foot in the White House. In her own words, she candidly talks about her life, her career, her family, and her continuing story as she constructs a life for herself outside of the pressures and responsibilities politics. This memoir was one of 2018’s year’s biggest books before it even went on sale, and it deserves every one of those six-plus million copies sold.

Howard Stern Comes Again, by Howard Stern
At some point, the king of shock jocks became true radio royalty with a career spanning over four decades and success across multiple mediums. His first book became a hit movie, and his second was also a bestseller—but that was over 20 years ago, and much has changed in the life of Howard Stern since, from his departure from terrestrial radio, to his mega-bucks deal with SiriusXM, to shakeups in his personal life and a reality TV gig that won him fans among people who might not show up for his radio work. There’s no doubt that he has plenty of new stories to tell in his latest, told through the prism of some of his favorite and most revealing celebrity interviews, transcribed with new commentary.

Lake of the Ozarks: My Surreal Summers in a Vanishing America, by Bill Geist
Author and recently retired CBS News correspondent Bill Geist was popular for over three decades for his lighthearted, wonderfully corny human interest segments covering some of the weirder corners of American life. In his latest, the baby boomer looks back to his own childhood in the midcentury American midwest. Specifically, he revisits that middle-class summer vacation hot spot, Lake of the Ozarks, and the eccentric personalities he met there who influenced his life and career. It’s a charming, often very funny portrait of a bygone era.

Let Love Have the Last Word, by Common
Common has won Grammy Awards and Academy Awards, sold millions of albums and carved out a serious acting career, and he’s done so without a hint of controversy or scandal, a rare achievement in this day and age. Here he offers an uplifting and practical message for everyone: put simply, the title says it all. He argues that how you love is just as important as who and what you love. Covering topics as deeply personal as his relationship with his daughter to those as deeply spiritual as his relationship with God, Common uses his own experience as a guide to navigating a world increasingly rent with political and cultural divisions, and as a challenge to everyone to do better and to be better.

All the Way: Football, Fame, and Redemption (B&N Exclusive Edition), by Joe Namath with Don Yaeger
Fifty years after Namath lead the New York Jets to a Super Bowl victory against the Baltimore Colts, the icon tells the story of his journey from small-town Pennsylvania kid to sports legend. Across half a century, Namath spent time at the height of celebrity, but also dealt with debilitating injuries that contributed to an addiction to painkillers and alcohol. Here, he reveals that the charmed life he appeared to lead masked real challenges. It’s a story of incredible triumphs, incredible lows, and, ultimately, redemption.

Life Will Be the Death of Me. . . and you too!, by Chelsea Handler
Part confessional, part journey of self-discovery, Handler’s latest memoir describes a year in her life. Following the tumult of the 2016 presidential election, the comedian, writer, and television host made a commitment to confront her past and look her choices square in the face, embarking on a year of change, growth, and self-sufficiency through therapy, political activism, and picking up her own dog’s poo. It’s a funny and insightful journey, offering a roadmap to those of us looking to keep a smile on our faces as we chart new paths in life.

Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life, by Randy Travis with Ken Abraham
For the first time, the country and gospel superstar tells his own story. From a Nashville club singer, Travis had his first smash hit at only 27, inaugurating a new style of country that blends traditional style with pop elements. Over the following quarter-century, he went from hit record to hit record, with TV and movie roles coming in as well. Then, in 2009, his marriage and finances fell apart, leading to his increasing dependence on alcohol and an eventual arrest. On the road to putting his life back together, he suffered a near-fatal stroke. This confessional autobiography far more than the tale of his success—it’s a journey down the bumpy road of stardom.

Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II, by Robert Matzen with Luca Dotti
There’s something missing in our cultural understanding of Audrey Hepburn, one of the 20th century’s preeminent style icons. The meteoric rise that followed her award-winning performance in Roman Holiday made it seem as though she arrived fully formed to take the movie landscape by storm. But, of course, that’s never really the case, and particularly so in Hepburn’s. Via documents only recently made available, new interviews, and access to the actress’s own diaries, Matzen explores her formative years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. In spite of the (initially) pro-Nazi views of her parents, Audrey participated in the Dutch Resistance as a doctor’s assistant during the brutal war that, according to her son, made her who she came to be.

My Dad, Yogi: A Memoir of Family and Baseball, by Dale Berra with Mark Ribowsky
Baseball fan or otherwise, most everyone knows the name Yogi Berra—his mastery of the game as a New York Yankee and his management of a championship Mets team made him a sports icon, but his personality and… unique speaking style, peppered with his signature Yogi-isms, made him a household name. But no one knew the real Yogi like his family, and here, his son Dale tells his own story of life with the American giant. Dale was blessed with a unique view of baseball and its great platers from an early age, and eventually followed in his father’s footsteps before a drug scandal put an end to his career. Through it all, Yogi supported his son and stayed close to him, and in this new memoir, Dale offers a one-of-a-kind perspective on the baseball great.
Whose life stories inspire you?