Best of
Autobiography

1975

Survival in the Killing Fields


Haing Ngor - 1975
    I am a survivor of the Cambodian holocaust. That's who I am.He became famous through his academy award-winning performance as Dith Pran in the film The Killing Fields, but the key to Haing Ngor's screen success was the terrible truth of his own experiences in the rice paddies and labour camps of revolutionary Cambodia.Here, in a gripping memoir of life under the communist Khmer Rouge regime, he reveals the country's descent into a hell beyond our imaginings: a world of war slaves and senseless brutality, where family life simply ceases to be. But with the pain he also gives us hope and an illuminating example of how the best sort of love can actually be strengthened through the shared experience of a life-threatening ordeal. An eyewitness account of the real killing fields by an extraordinary survivor, this book is both a reminder of the horrors of war and a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

Born Again


Charles W. Colson - 1975
    Colson pleaded guilty to Watergate-related offenses and, after a tumultuous investigation, served seven months in prison. In his search for meaning and purpose in the face of the Watergate scandal, Colson penned "Born Again." This unforgettable memoir shows a man who, seeking fulfillment in success and power, found it, paradoxically, in national disgrace and prison. In the decades since its initial publication, "Born Again" has brought hope and encouragement to millions. This remarkable story of new life continues to influence lives around the world through a dozen foreign editions.

Corrie Ten Boom's Prison Letters


Corrie ten Boom - 1975
    Here are the actual writings of Corrie and her sister Betsie from the concentration camp...the emotion-filled letters they received from relatives and friends on the outside...snatches of a diary recorded by Betsie..Corrie's perceptive sketches of prison life smuggled out of the camp by a sympathetic soldier-all containing precious lessons of faith and love learned in God's training school. It was only recently that Corrie herself re-read these moving letters, an experience which resurrected many paintful memories for her. But with the sadness came the conviction that God wanted her to share these writings so that others could experience the same faith that guided her through a time of trial and triumph.

Appointment in Jerusalem


Lydia Prince - 1975
    In Lydia Prince's search for God and her life's purpose, she is led to Jerusalem where she learns the power of prayer and experiences many miracles of provision and protection.Lydia rescues a dying baby girl and then miraculously survives many dangers, including gunfire, siege, and barricades. She enters into her true appointment from God and, in the process, rescues scores of abandoned sick and orphaned children from disease and death. Discover how God can remarkably use those who trust Him

The Greatest: My Own Story


Richard Durham - 1975
    He was named Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated and the BBC. Ali redefined what it meant to be an athlete by giving hope to millions around the world and inspiring us all to fight for what is important to us.This is a multifaceted portrait of Muhammad Ali only he could render: sports legend; unapologetic anti-war advocate; outrageous showman and gracious goodwill ambassador; fighter, lover, poet, and provocateur; an irresistible force to be reckoned with.Who better to tell the tale than the man who went the distance living it?

The Letters of Virginia Woolf: Vol. One, 1888-1912


Virginia Woolf - 1975
    "Engagingly fresh and spontaneous as young Virginia's letters are...the excitement in this collection arises from [her] growing awareness of herself as a writer" (Chicago Sun-Times). Introduction by Nigel Nicolson; Index; photographs.

Bring on the Empty Horses


David Niven - 1975
    He recounts stories and anecdotes of the stars, producers, directors, tycoons and oddballs, many of whom were his friends.

All the Strange Hours: The Excavation of a Life


Loren Eiseley - 1975
    It was in pursuit of this interest, and in the expression of his natural curiosity and wonder, that Eiseley sprang to national fame with the publication of such works as The Immense Journey and The Firmament of Time. In All the Strange Hours, Eiseley turns his considerable powers of reflection and discovery on his own life to weave a compelling story, related with the modesty, grace, and keen eye for a telling anecdote that distinguish his work. His story begins with his childhood experiences as a sickly afterthought, weighed down by the loveless union of his parents. From there he traces the odyssey that led to his search for early postglacial man—and into inspiriting philosophical territory—culminating in his uneasy achievement of world renown. Eiseley crafts an absorbing self-portrait of a man who has thought deeply about his place in society as well as humanity’s place in the natural world.

Lost!: A Harrowing True Story of Disaster at Sea


Thomas Thompson - 1975
    The journey was expected to take a matter of weeks, but ten days into the cruise, the party encountered a freak storm off the coast of northern California. When gale-force winds and fifty-foot waves capsized their boat, the voyage became a nightmare.   For seventy-two days, the trio was lost at sea. Challenged by nature and compromised by a bitter rivalry, their courage and will to live was put to the ultimate test. Jim, the owner and skipper of the boat, was a devout fundamentalist whose recognition of God’s will in every event brought him into increasing conflict with his brother-in-law. As the two men battled to take control of a dire situation, Linda kept a secret that would lead to heartrending tragedy.

Roland Barthes


Roland Barthes - 1975
    "Barthes par Barthes is a genuinely post-modern autobiography, an innovation in the art of autobiography comparable in its theoretical implications for our understanding of autobiography to Sartre's The Words."--Hayden White, University of California

The Words to Say It


Marie Cardinal - 1975
    It reveals her truamatic childhood and institutionalization, followed by her escape to the quiet cul-de-sac where her psychoanalysist lived. There, for many years, she made the journey towards recovery through Freudian analysis.

Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of La Causa


Jacques E. Levy - 1975
    . . Against a background of motels and all-night cafés and strikes, the high relief in which the characters stand out is truly fascinating. Jacques Levy’s biography of Chavez has unforgettable descriptive passages and fine photographs.” —The NationMexican-American civil rights and labor activist Cesar Chavez (1927–1993), comes to life in this vivid portrait of the charismatic and influential fighter who boycotted supermarkets and took on corporations, the government, and the powerful Teamsters Union. Jacques E. Levy gained unprecedented access to Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union in writing this account of one of the most successful labor movements in history which can also serve as a guidebook for social and political change.“[The] definitive work. The book’s major contribution lies in its portrait of the man himself—deeply religious in an almost mystical fashion; a dedicated battler, but not a dedicated hater; a leader who not only will not ask, but will not allow his followers to make the sacrifices he has made.” —Publishers Weekly“One of the heroic figures of our time.” —Senator Robert F. KennedyJacques E. Levy (1927–2004), a prize-winning journalist, spent six years with Cesar Chavez researching and writing this book.Fred Ross Jr. is a spokesperson for the Service Employees’ International Union and the son of Fred Ross, Chavez’s mentor.Jacqueline Levy is the daughter of Jacques E. Levy and a high school science teacher in Sonoma County, California.

The Green Fool


Patrick Kavanagh - 1975
    Full of wry humour, Kavanagh's unsentimental and evocative account of his Irish rural upbringing describes a patriarchal society surviving on the edge of poverty, sustained by the land and an insatiable love of gossip. There are tales of schoolboy skirmishes, blackberrying and night-time salmon-poaching; of country-weddings and fairs, of political banditry and religious pilgrimages; and of farm-work in the fields and kicking mares.

Nice Guys Finish Last


Leo Durocher - 1975
    But for sheer cantankerousness, fighting moxie, and will to win, very few have come close to Leo "the Lip" Durocher. Following a five decade career as a player and manager for baseball's most storied franchises, Durocher teamed up with veteran sportswriter Ed Linn to tell the story of his life in the game. The resulting book, Nice Guys Finish Last, is baseball at its best, brimming with personality and full of all the fights and feuds, triumphs and tricks that made Durocher such a success and an outsized celebrity.

Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors


Franz Kafka - 1975
    Collected after his death by his friend and literary executor Max Brod, here are more than two decades' worth of Franz Kafka's letters to the men and women with whom he maintained his closest personal relationships, from his years as a student in Prague in the early 1900s to his final months in the sanatorium near Vienna where he died in 1924.Sometimes surprisingly humorous, sometimes wrenchingly sad, they include charming notes to school friends; fascinating accounts to Brod about his work in its various stages of publication; correspondence with his publisher, Kurt Wolff, about manuscripts in progress, suggested book titles, type design, and late royalty statements; revealing exchanges with other young writers of the day, including Martin Buber and Felix Weltsch, on life, literature, and girls; and heartbreaking reports to his parents, sisters, and friends on the declining state of his health in the last months of his life.

Fighting Back: The Rocky Bleier Story


Rocky Bleier - 1975
    Book by Rocky Bleier, Terry O'Neil

They Called Me Mama


Margaret Nicholl Laird - 1975
    At first reluctant to go to Africa, Margaret Nicholl Laird came to know it as the land of miracles, where God’s love won over both hostile tribes and skeptical officials.

The Brontes


Brian Wilks - 1975
     In Brian Wilks’ book the sisters, their brother Branwell and their father Patrick are seen with remarkable clarity. The author paints a vivid picture from when Patrick meets his short-lived wife, Maria. Their courtship and love for each other is detailed along with their move to the village of Haworth., where Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne were born. Unbeknown to them, the village of Haworth was a densely populated and highly unsanitary. The combination of this, along with living amongst the dead, was to bring the family more troubles. The author gives a vivid picture of the times, and of the Brontës’ surroundings — the reeking, unhealthy village, the bleak parsonage, and the wild and lonely moors. Shortly after Anne’s birth, Maria fell ill and died — leaving six young children in the care of their grieving father. With the help of Maria’s sister, Elizabeth Branwell, the family got through this difficult period. Elizabeth was to stay on with the Brontës for the rest of her life and support the children’s various endeavours. Patrick took it upon himself to ensure his children would be able to survive on their own in the event of his death. Following the death of the older girls, Maria and Elizabeth, he withdrew, leaving the four remaining siblings to form their own imaginations — weaving the foundations for the stories that that were to come. Governessing was a decent form of living then and the girls took it up. Branwell was moved towards becoming an artist. However, none of the siblings could stay away from home, Haworth, for too long and they missed the close companionship of their siblings. Inevitably, they returned time and time again, unable to follow their career paths. With illness surrounding Haworth, the girls, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, took to seeking comfort in their writing. Their greatest novels were written during some of the most harrowing times of their lives. When Charlotte, the last remaining Brontë child, died, Patrick was left with the greatest of grief, and alone. Yet the compassion he was well known to possess continued well up to his death at the age of eighty-five. Brian Wilks is a Lecturer in Education at the University of Leeds in Yorkshire. He is also the author of a biography of Jane Austen. “All scholars will cherish this book which is recommended for college and public libraries.” — Library Journal

My Life


Golda Meir - 1975
    The book is both frank and very revealing of her personality and goals. Her total lack of pretense is especially winning. Meir's practical idealism can be seen in efforts as diverse as the beautification of kibbutzim and her strong advocacy of unemployment benefits. The work that 'most concerned and interested me,' she writes, was 'the translation of socialist principles into the down-to-earth terminology of everyday life.' Although the political events and the world players she worked with are well known they are recounted with drama and spirit.

Man in Black


Johnny Cash - 1975
    The popular country-and-western singer chronicles the ups and downs of his life and career, profiling the people involved and describing his hard-found Christian faith

Poems & Plays: With a Memoir by Alison Lurie


V.R. Lang - 1975