Biography & Memoir

Scions of a once-great southern Chinese family that produced the tutor of the last emperor, Jun and Hong were each other's best friends until, in their twenties, they were separated by chance at the end of the Chinese Civil War. For the next thirty...

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2021 BY THE NEW YORK POST AND BOOK RIOTNAMED A BEST TRUE CRIME BOOK OF 2021 BY CRIMEREADSFor readers of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and The Phantom of Fifth Avenue, "a sensational story told with nuance and humanity"...

Nominated for the 2023 Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical book.   In the first major history of crime fiction in fifty years, The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and their Creators traces the evolution of the genre from the...

This biography of Vincent van Gogh’s sisters tells the fascinating story of the lives of these women whose history has largely been neglected.   Many people are familiar with the life and art of Vincent van Gogh, and his extensive correspondence with his...

In December 1888, Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear. It is the most famous story about any artist in history. But what really happened on that dark winter night?In Van Gogh's Ear, Bernadette Murphy reveals the truth. She takes us on an extraordinary...

Honest, warm, and witty, this memoir reads like a chat with a dear friend sharing her insight and taking us along as she heals. Complete with family stories over cocktails and a praying mantis named Claude.“I drive and say to myself, if I am dying, if...

A #1 New York Times bestseller!   One year ago, the Joker limped off the streets of Gotham, mutilated and scarred when someone had taken the pale white skin right off of his face.  But now, the Dark Knight’s greatest foe has returned but for once, Batman...

Plutarch’s vivid and engaging portraits of the Spartans and their customs are a major source of our knowledge about the rise and fall of their remarkable Greek city-state between the sixth and third centuries BC. Through his Lives of Sparta’s leaders and...

Now a major motion picture, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin and starring Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, and Michael Cera—the true story of "Hollywood’s poker princess" who gambled everything, won big, then lost it all.   Molly Bloom...

From a bold new voice in nonfiction, an exhilarating account of the lives and works of influential 17th and 18th century feminist philosophers Mary Wollstonecraft and her predecessors who have been written out of history, and a searing look at the...

“Venter instills awe for biology as it is, and as it might become in our hands.” —Publishers WeeklyOn May 20, 2010, headlines around the world announced one of the most extraordinary accomplishments in modern science: the creation of the world’s first...

“A rollicking tour through humanity’s evolutionary past, and von Hippel is the consummate tour guide. With equal parts wisdom, humor, authority, and charm, he shows how our past explains the present and why our well-being rests on an understanding of how...

A riotous collection of "witty and captivating" essays by a gay Filipino immigrant in America who is learning that everything is about sex (Bitch Magazine) — and sex is about power.When Matt Ortile moved from Manila to Las Vegas, the locals couldn't...

Named a Best Book by: The Globe and Mail, Indigo, Out Magazine, Audible, CBC, Apple, Quill & Quire, Kirkus Reviews, Brooklyn Public Library, Writers’ Trust of Canada, Autostraddle, Bitch, and BookRiot.Finalist for the 2019 Lambda Literary Award,...

An eloquent, restless, and enlightening memoir by one of the most thought-provoking journalists today about growing up Black and queer in America, reuniting with the past, and coming of age their own way.   One of nineteen children in a blended family,...

From a bestselling writer, an intense and moving memoir about changing identity, complex sexuality, and enduring family relationships—now in paperbackAt age 36, while serving on a jury, author Molly Wizenberg found herself drawn to a female attorney...

NEW YORK TIMES Editors’ Choice • THE TIMES BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR • WINNER OF THE HAWTHORNDEN PRIZEA groundbreaking new biography of philosophy’s greatest iconoclastFriedrich Nietzsche is one of the most enigmatic figures in philosophy, and his...

From a star theoretical physicist, a journey into the world of particle physics and the cosmos—and a call for a more liberatory practice of science.Winner of the 2021 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science & TechnologyWinner of the 2022 Phi Beta...

One of Amazon's Best Books of DecemberThe Happiness Project meets So Sad Today in this "hilariously witty, unflinchingly honest" book from Words of Women founder Lauren Martin, as she contemplates the nature of negative emotions — and the insights that...

"Rod Pulido delivers the ultimate one-two punch: bare-knuckled, bruising honesty wrapped in humor, sincerity, and sweetness." — Becky Albertalli, bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens AgendaExperience the extreme joys, sorrows, and triumphs of...