Classic Memoir & Biography

Frederick Douglass narrating his own escape from slavery, Benjamin Franklin writing his way into American identity, Rousseau's Confessions, Helen Keller's The Story of My Life. First-person classics that built the modern memoir — click-to-explain on every forgotten name, trade, and custom, so a nineteenth-century self doesn't feel like a closed room.

90 books

Walden

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence

The House of the Dead

The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

A Confession

A Confession by Leo Tolstoy

Travel Essays

Travel Essays by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Story of My Experiments with Truth

The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mahatma Gandhi

The Journal of a Disappointed Man

The Journal of a Disappointed Man by W. N. P. Barbellion

The Voyage of the Beagle

The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin

Histories

Histories by Herodotus

The Innocents Abroad

The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant by Ulysses S. Grant

My Four Weeks in France

My Four Weeks in France by Ring Lardner

An Autobiography

An Autobiography by Theodore Roosevelt

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas De Quincey

The Diary

The Diary by Samuel Pepys

The Autobiography of Mark Twain

The Autobiography of Mark Twain by Mark Twain

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

Roughing It

Roughing It by Mark Twain

The Lives of the Caesars

The Lives of the Caesars by Suetonius

The Worst Journey in the World

The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

The Souls of Black Folk

The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois

Commentaries on the Gallic War

Commentaries on the Gallic War by Julius Caesar

The Story of My Life

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

A Yankee in the Trenches

A Yankee in the Trenches by Robert Derby Holmes

Twelve Years a Slave

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

Scrambles Amongst the Alps in the Years 1860–69

Scrambles Amongst the Alps in the Years 1860–69 by Edward Whymper

Now It Can Be Told

Now It Can Be Told by Philip Gibbs

A Daughter of the Samurai

A Daughter of the Samurai by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto

The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius

Ten Days That Shook the World

Ten Days That Shook the World by John Reed

South!

South! by Ernest Shackleton

Geronimo’s Story of His Life

Geronimo’s Story of His Life by Geronimo

The Mirror of the Sea

The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad

Through the Brazilian Wilderness

Through the Brazilian Wilderness by Theodore Roosevelt

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Linda Brent

Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria by Lytton Strachey

My First Summer in the Sierra

My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir

Memoirs of a Revolutionist

Memoirs of a Revolutionist by Peter Kropotkin

The Bolshevik Myth

The Bolshevik Myth by Alexander Berkman

Up from Slavery

Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington

You Can’t Win

You Can’t Win by Jack Black

The Path to Rome

The Path to Rome by Hilaire Belloc

My Disillusionment in Russia

My Disillusionment in Russia by Emma Goldman

The Education of Henry Adams

The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

Wild Animals I Have Known

Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano

Two Years Before the Mast

Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Jr.

The Secret History

The Secret History by Procopius

Yashka

Yashka by Maria Bochkareva

Suspiria de Profundis

Suspiria de Profundis by Thomas De Quincey

The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge

The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge by Calvin Coolidge

The Rough Riders

The Rough Riders by Theodore Roosevelt

The Autobiography of an Idea

The Autobiography of an Idea by Louis H. Sullivan

A Personal Record

A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad

Recollections of Full Years

Recollections of Full Years by Helen Herron Taft

Red Dusk and the Morrow

Red Dusk and the Morrow by Paul Dukes

The Life of Buffalo Bill

The Life of Buffalo Bill by William F. Cody

Eminent Victorians

Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey

American Indian Stories

American Indian Stories by Zitkála-Šá

Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark

Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark by Mary Wollstonecraft

Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom

Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom by William Craft

The Autobiography of John Stuart Mill

The Autobiography of John Stuart Mill by John Stuart Mill

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers by Henry David Thoreau

On a Chinese Screen

On a Chinese Screen by W. Somerset Maugham

My Reminiscences

My Reminiscences by Rabindranath Tagore

Struggles and Triumphs

Struggles and Triumphs by P. T. Barnum

The Four Men

The Four Men by Hilaire Belloc

A Negro Explorer at the North Pole

A Negro Explorer at the North Pole by Matthew Henson

The Enormous Room

The Enormous Room by E. E. Cummings

Passages from the Life of a Philosopher

Passages from the Life of a Philosopher by Charles Babbage

Disenchantment

Disenchantment by C. E. Montague

Our Nig

Our Nig by Harriet E. Wilson

To Cuba and Back

To Cuba and Back by Richard Henry Dana Jr.

Twenty Years at Hull House

Twenty Years at Hull House by Jane Addams

Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man

Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon

Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands

Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands by Mary Seacole

The Land of Little Rain

The Land of Little Rain by Mary Austin

Journals

Journals by Alexander Mackenzie

The Inferno

The Inferno by August Strindberg

The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft

The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft by George Gissing

The Autobiography of Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, or Black Hawk

The Autobiography of Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, or Black Hawk by Black Hawk

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson

Bashan and I

Bashan and I by Thomas Mann

Lavengro

Lavengro by George Borrow

The Hashish Eater

The Hashish Eater by Fitz Hugh Ludlow

The Eleventh Virgin

The Eleventh Virgin by Dorothy Day

Mark Rutherford’s Deliverance

Mark Rutherford’s Deliverance by Mark Rutherford

The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford

The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford by Mark Rutherford

The Middle Five

The Middle Five by Francis La Flesche

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