Best of
Autobiography

1969

To Be Young, Gifted, and Black: An Informal Autobiography


Lorraine Hansberry - 1969
    Now, Hansberry tells her own life story in an autobiography that rings with the voice of its creator.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings


Maya Angelou - 1969
    Her life story is told in the documentary film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters.Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned. Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read.

Papillon


Henri Charrière - 1969
    Sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, he became obsessed with one goal: escape. After planning and executing a series of treacherous yet failed attempts over many years, he was eventually sent to the notorious prison, Devil's Island, a place from which no one had ever escaped . . . until Papillon. His flight to freedom remains one of the most incredible feats of human cunning, will, and endurance ever undertaken.Charrière's astonishing autobiography, Papillon, was published in France to instant acclaim in 1968, more than twenty years after his final escape. Since then, it has become a treasured classic -- the gripping, shocking, ultimately uplifting odyssey of an innocent man who simply would not be defeated.

Run Baby Run


Nicky Cruz - 1969
    This is the thrilling story of Nicky Cruz's desperate battle against drugs, alcoholism, and a violent environment, as he searched for a better way of life on the streets of New York City.

The Price of my Soul


Bernadette Devlin McAliskey - 1969
    If its name was "Saint Somebody", they know you are a Catholic and you don't get taken on...'In vivid detail, she brings to life the situation which has focused world attention on the North of Ireland...the early marches, and then the shootings, the burnings, the barricades...how she went to America to help her people rebuild their homes...and how she feels today...

Our Kate: Catherine Cookson, Her Personal Story


Catherine Cookson - 1969
    This, her autobiography, makes plain how it is she knows her background and her characters so well. The Kate of the title is not Catherine Cookson, but her mother.OUR KATE is about living with hardship and poverty. The story is told from the viewpoint of a highly sensitive child, later the mature woman, whose zest for life and unquenchable sense of humor made Catherine Cookson a warm, engaging writer.

The Movies, Mr. Griffith, And Me


Lillian Gish - 1969
    

My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr.


Coretta Scott King - 1969
    Introduction by the author's children, Bernice, Dexter, Martin, and Yolanda King. 16-page photo insert.

The Jail Diary Of Albie Sachs


Albie Sachs - 1969
    

With A Machine Gun To Cambrai: A Story Of The First World War


George Coppard - 1969
    Serving with the Machine Gun Corps, he fought in the battles of Loos, Somme and Arras, and at Cambrai, where he was badly wounded and won the Military Medal for Bravery. This book is based on diaries that the author kept, against military regulation, during his service in France. It is one of the few accounts of the war to be written by a private soldier rather than an officer, and as such it paints a vivid and horrifying picture of life in the trenches as seen by someone at the very bottom of the military hierarchy.

Mourning Headband for Hue: An Account of the Battle for Hue, Vietnam 1968


Nhã Ca - 1969
    As the citizens of Hue are preparing to celebrate Tet, the start of the Lunar New Year, Nha Ca arrives in the city to attend her father's funeral. Without warning, war erupts all around them, drastically changing or cutting short their lives. After a month of fighting, their beautiful city lies in ruins and thousands of people are dead. Mourning Headband for Hue tells the story of what happened during the fierce North Vietnamese offensive and is an unvarnished and riveting account of war as experienced by ordinary people caught up in the violence.

Too Long in the Bush


Len Beadell - 1969
    Hard to find edition.

My Thirty Years' War: The Autobiography: Beginnings and Battles to 1930


Margaret Anderson - 1969
    

May Your First Love Be Your Last, And Other Stories


Greg Clark - 1969
    

The Greatest Game of All: My Life in Golf


Jack Nicklaus - 1969
    He was already the best golfer in the world and he felt he had a wonderful story to tell, and he did. What he did not know is that he would go on to win another eleven major championships before he was through. A marvelous book complete with golf instruction. Foreword by Robert Tyre Jones, Jr