The Country Under My Skin: A Memoir of Love and War

My Life

Leon Trotsky · 602 pages

The Complete Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi · 352 pages

From inside front cover: The story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a ... loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private and public life in a coutnry plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trails of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming -- both sweet and terrible; and, fina

The Secret Piano: From Mao's Labor Camps to Bach's Goldberg Variations

Zhu Xiao-Mei · 316 pages

Zhu Xiao-Mei was a child prodigy on the piano, taught by her mother, and she immersed herself in the classical masters. With the onset of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, life as she knew it ended abruptly. This book tells Zhu's story through her difficult early years, longing for the comfort of playing piano, through to her emigration to France, where she was able to fully embrace her passion.

Reading Lolita in Tehran

Azar Nafisi · 368 pages

Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Azar Nafisi, a bold and inspired teacher, secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics. Some came from conservative and religious families, others were progressive and secular; some had spent time in jail. They were shy and uncomfortable at first, unaccustomed to being asked to

My Life: A Spoken Autobiography

Fidel Castro, Ignacio Ramonet · 608 pages

Long Walk to Freedom

Nelson Mandela · 638 pages

The riveting memoirs of the outstanding moral and political leader of our time, Long Walk to Freedom brilliantly recreates the drama of the experiences that helped shape Nelson Mandela's destiny. Emotive, compelling and uplifting, Long Walk to Freedom is the exhilarating story of an epic life; a story of hardship, resilience and ultimate triumph told with the clarity and eloquence of a born leader

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

Jung Chang · 544 pages

"Jung Chang vividly evokes China's sights, sounds, and smells to create what must be one of the grimmest, yet most perceptive accounts of growing up middle-class in the maelstrom that has swept China since the 1920s." - Back cover.

The Bolivian Diary: The Authorised Edition

Ernesto Che Guevara · 303 pages

Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter

Carmen Aguirre · 277 pages

"A gripping, darkly comic first-hand account of a young underground revolutionary during the Pinochet dictatorship in 1980s Chile. On September 11, 1973, a violent coup removed Salvador Allende, the democratically elected socialist president of Chile, from office. Thousands were arrested, tortured and killed under General Augusto Pinochet's repressive new regime. Soon after the coup, six-year-old

My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams

Abigail Adams, John Adams · 528 pages

A collection of letters between Abigail and John Adams written from 1762 to 1801 covering topics of revolution, independence, and nation building, along with those that reflect their love for one another.

Life and Death in Shanghai

Nien Cheng · 547 pages

In August 1966 a group of Red Guards ransacked the home of Nien Cheng. Her background made her an obvious target for the fanatics of the Cultural Revolution: educated in London, the widow of an official of Chiang Kai-shek's regime, and an employee of Shell Oil, Nien Cheng enjoyed comforts that few of her compatriots could afford. When she refused to confess that any of this made her an enemy of th

King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father

Brooke Barbier · 320 pages

India Wins Freedom: The Complete Version

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad · 277 pages

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

Walter Isaacson · 599 pages

Chronicles the founding father's life and his multiple careers as a shopkeeper, writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, business strategist, and political leader, while showing how his faith in the wisdom of the common citizen helped forge an American national identity based on the virtues of its middle class.

Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People Is Greater Than the People in Power, a Memoir

Wael Ghonim · 308 pages

A key figure behind the Egyptian uprising in January 2011 which resulted in the ousting of President Mubarak tells the inside story and presents lessons on how to unleash the power of crowds to create political change.

Bend, Not Break: A Life in Two Worlds

Ping Fu · 276 pages

In her autobiography, Ping Fu tells her story as she lived it--from child soldier and political prisoner to a CEO and "Inc." magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year.

From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey

Pascal Khoo Thwe · 304 pages

Traces the life of a former Burma student rebel leader who won a Human Rights Watch award in 2002, describing his tribal upbringing, experiences with political turmoil and poverty, participation in the insurrection of 1988, and flight to England, where he attended college.

Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb

Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand · 412 pages

By the time he came to write his extraordinary, highly entertaining memoirs, Chateaubriand had witnessed some of the iconic figures and events of French history--from the court of Louis XVI, to the reign of Napoleon, to the disaster of Waterloo, to life under the Restoration.

The Story of My Experiments With Truth

Mahatma Gandhi · 420 pages

Gandhi's non-violent struggles against racism, violence, and colonialism in South Africa and India had brought him to such a level of notoriety, adulation that when asked to write an autobiography midway through his career, he took it as an opportunity to explain himself. He feared the enthusiasm for his ideas tended to exceed a deeper understanding of his quest for truth rooted in devotion to God

Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford

Clint Hill, Lisa McCubbin · 457 pages

Retired Secret Service agent Clint Hill brings history to life with this portrait of the American presidency. Hill delivers the perspective of an everyman who saw some of the most historic moments of the 20th century during his seventeen years protecting the most powerful office in the nation. Hill walked alongside Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford, seeing them through a lon

Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations

Ayaan Hirsi Ali · 277 pages

"In this highly personal follow-up to Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali examines the high cost of freedom - estrangement from her family and country, the loud criticism of her by many Muslims (some of them women), the 24-hour security which came as a result of death threats, and her struggle to come to terms with an often lonely independence. She records the painful reconciliation with her beloved father,

The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left

Ed Husain · 294 pages

The true story of one mans journey to Islamic fundamentalism and backRaised in a devout but quiet Muslim community in London, at sixteen Ed Husain was presented with an intriguing political interpretation of Islam known as fundamentalism. Lured by these ideas, he committed his life to them. Five years later, he rejected extremism and tried to return to a normal life. But soon he realized that Isla

A Doctor in the House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad

Mahathir "Che Det" Mohamad, mhtyr mHmd · 843 pages

Going Rogue: An American Life

Sarah Palin, Lynn Vincent · 512 pages

One year ago, Sarah Palin burst onto the national political stage like a comet. Yet even now, few Americans know who this remarkable woman really is.On September 3, 2008 Alaska Governor and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention that electrified the nation and instantly made her one of the most recognizable women in the world.As chief executi