Popular North American Biography Books
Find biography books written by authors from North America for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (47)
31.
Run Towards the Danger : Confrontations with a Body of Memory by Sarah Polley EN
Country: North America / 
Canada
Canada
Description:
*A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice* These are the most dangerous stories of my life. The ones I have avoided, the ones I haven’t told, the ones that have kept me awake on countless nights. As these stories found echoes in my adult life, and then went another, better way than they did in childhood, they became lighter and easier to carry. In this extraordinary book, Sarah Polley explores what it is to live in one’s body, in a constant state of becoming, learning, and changing. Each of these six essays captures a piece of Polley’s life as she remembers it, while at the same time exami... continue
32.
The Book of Rosy : A Mother's Story of Separation at the Border by Rosayra Pablo Cruz, Julie Schwietert Collazo EN
Country: North America / 
Guatemala
Guatemala
Description:
A searing tale of the human lives behind the Trump administration-made immigration crisis, written by two remarkable mothers--a Central American woman whose children were taken from her by the United States government at the southern border, and the American who helped reunite the family--and offers a timely and urgent look at a migrant experience, family separation and reunification, and the power of individuals banding together to overcome even the cruelest and most unjust circumstances. When Rosayra Pablo Cruz made the wrenching decision to seek asylum in America with two of her children, f... continue
33.
The Closer by Mariano Rivera and Wayne Coffey EN
Country: North America / 
Panama
Panama
Description:
Mariano Rivera never dreamed of becoming a professional athlete. He didn't grow up collecting baseball cards, playing Little League, or cheering on his home team at the World Series. He had never heard of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, or Mickey Mantle. One day, that all changed. From a childhood playing pickup games in Panama to an epic career with the New York Yankees, Mariano's rise to greatness has been anything but ordinary. He's the guy on the mound who doesn't hear the crowd, just the sound of the ump calling, Strike! The teammate you can rely on, even when the bases are loaded in... continue
34.
The Day The World Came To Town by Jim DeFed EN
Country: North America / 
United States of America
United States of America
Description:
The True Story Behind the Events on 9/11 that Inspired Broadway’s Smash Hit Musical Come from Away, Featuring All New Material from the Author When 38 jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land at Gander International Airport in Canada by the closing of U.S. airspace on September 11, the population of this small town on Newfoundland Island swelled from 10,300 to nearly 17,000. The citizens of Gander met the stranded passengers with an overwhelming display of friendship and goodwill. As the passengers stepped from the airplanes, exhausted, hungry and distraught after being held o... continue
35.
The Home That Was Our Country: A Memoir of Syria by Alia Malek EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
Alia Malek weaves a lyrical narrative around the history of her family's apartment building in the heart of Damascus, the many lives that crossed in the stairwell, and how the fates of her neighbors reflect the fate of her country. At the Arab Spring's hopeful start, Alia Malek returned to Damascus to reclaim her grandmother's apartment, which had been lost to her family since Hafez al-Assad came to power in 1970. Its loss was central to her parent's decision to make their lives in America. In chronicling the people who lived in the Tahaan building, past and present, Alia portrays the Syrians-... continue
36.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The story of modern medicine and bioethics—and, indeed, race relations—is refracted beautifully, and movingly.”—Entertainment Weekly NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM HBO® STARRING OPRAH WINFREY AND ROSE BYRNE • ONE OF THE “MOST INFLUENTIAL” (CNN), “DEFINING” (LITHUB), AND “BEST” (THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER) BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF ESSENCE’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS • WINNER OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE HEARTLAND PRIZE FOR NONFICTION NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Entertainment Weekly • O: The Op... continue
37.
The Mango Tree : A Memoir of Fruit, Florida, and Felony by Annabelle Tometich EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
Rows of orange people sit handcuffed in a beige room. One of them is my mother. When journalist Annabelle Tometich picks up the phone one June morning, she isn't expecting a collect call from an inmate at the Lee County Jail. And when she accepts, she certainly isn't prepared to hear her mother's voice on the other end of the line. However, explaining the situation to her younger siblings afterwards was easy; all she had to say was, "Mom shot at some guy. He was messing with her mangoes." They immediately understood. Answering the questions of the breaking-news reporter--at the same newspaper ... continue
38.
The Measure of a Man : A Spiritual Autobiography by Sidney Poitier EN
Country: North America / 
Bahamas
Bahamas
Description:
"I have no wish to play the pontificating fool, pretending that I've suddenly come up with the answers to all life's questions. Quite that contrary, I began this book as an exploration, an exercise in self-questing. In other words, I wanted to find out, as I looked back at a long and complicated life, with many twists and turns, how well I've done at measuring up to the values I myself have set." —Sidney Poitier In this luminous memoir, a true American icon looks back on his celebrated life and career. His body of work is arguably the most morally significant in cinematic history, and the powe... continue
39.
The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle EN
Country: North America / 
Cuba
Cuba
Description:
A portrait in poems of Juan Francisco Manzano, the poet who was born a slave in Cuba in 1797.
40.
The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
This last book from beloved Hollywood icon Carrie Fisher is the crown jewel of ideal Star Wars gifts. The Princess Diarist is an intimate, hilarious, and revealing recollection of what happened behind the scenes on one of the most famous film sets of all time. When Carrie Fisher discovered the journals she kept during the filming of the first Star Wars movie, she was astonished to see what they had preserved—plaintive love poems, unbridled musings with youthful naiveté, and a vulnerability that she barely recognized. Before her passing, her fame as an author, actress, and pop-culture icon was ... continue