Summer Reading Suggestions 2015: Biography

Drawing on interviews with current and former colleagues of Jon Stewart, the author chronicles the life of The Daily Show host Jon Stewart, from his early stand-up days to the acclaimed The Jon Stewart Show to his rise to become a comedic and, surprisingly, a political icon.

Cornel West offers an unflinching look at 19th and 20th century African American leaders and their visionary legacies. In an accessible, conversational format, West, with distinguished scholar Christa Buschendorf, provides a fresh perspective on six revolutionary African American leaders: Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., Ella Baker, Malcolm X, and Ida Wells-Barnett.

Drawing on exclusive interviews, an award-winning journalist and former State Department speechwriter sheds new light on the extraordinary Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who inspired Burma's first steps towards democracy, and her lifelong fight for liberty.

His father is a restaurateur with a dark past back in Taiwan, his mother a fierce protector and constant threat. Eddie found his home as leader of a rainbow coalition of lost boys up to no good: skate punks, dealers, hip-hop junkies, and sneaker freaks. This is the story of a Chinese-American boy trying to find himself, ten thousand miles from his legacy and anchored by his conflicted love for his family and his passion for food.

Ketcham’s biography not only traces Madison’s career, it gives readers a sense of the man. As Madison said of his early years under the study of Donald Robertson, who introduced him to thinkers like Montaigne and Montesquieu, "all that I have been in life I owe largely to that man." It also captures a side of Madison that is less rarely on display including a portrait of Dolly Madison.

In addition to chronicling the baseball star's on-field achievements, the author also explains how the dignity and determination with which Aaron stood against racism helped transform the role and significance of the professional black athlete and turn Aaron into a national icon. By the author of Shut Out.

This first-hand account of John Lewis' lifelong struggle for civil and human rights continues to cover his involvement in the Freedom Rides and the 1963 March on Washington. In graphic-novel format.

Acclaimed actor Alan Cumming profiles his turbulent relationship with his father. He discusses his 2010 appearance in a celebrity genealogy show to solve the disappearance of a WWII hero grandparent and his discovery of astounding family secrets.

Presents the life of the urban planner whose rise to power in mid-twentieth century New York City gave him control over the construction of highways, bridges, public buildings, and housing projects and helped shape the infrastructure that exists today. In graphic-novel format.

In this third self-contained volume of her autobiography, which began with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou moves into the adult world. Maya struggles to support herself and her son through a series of odd jobs and weathers a failed marriage to a white man before moving into the world of theater. She deals with her nagging guilt that she has abandoned the person she loves most in life, her son, whose reentrance into her world reveals to Maya the healing power of devotion and love. --Random House

This biography of one of America's most treasured playwrights describes the writer's public persona as well as his more personal life, including conflicts with his family, his sexuality and multiple affairs, and even his misreported death. A National Book Award Finalist.

This sympathetic portrait of the architect of the English Reformation describes Cromwell's lesser-known experiences as a devoted family man, fiercely loyal servant, and revolutionary who helped transform England into a modern state. By the author of Elizabeth's Women.

The author discusses his life as the son of a terrorist, and how he came to reject his father's ideology and embrace the path of nonviolence. Ebrahim’s father shot and killed the leader of the Jewish Defense League and helped plan the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993.

To be a free man and a man with a trade was a lot to be proud of for a black man in 19th- century America. Solomon Northup was such a man. Then, one day, his good life and his dreams came to a crashing halt. Northup was kidnapped and carried off into slavery to serve on plantations in the South. For 12 long years he experienced the cruelty and subjugation that was slavery. This is Solomon Northup’s true story. Narrated by Peter Jay Fernandez.

Terry Mutchler tells the story of her secret lesbian relationship with Illinois state senator Penny Severns during the 1990s. As she explains how and why they kept their relationship a secret in a conservative place and time and describes how they weathered Penny’s cancer diagnosis, she makes clear the emotional consequences of living a lie and the societal consequences of denying gays and lesbians marriage equality.

This intimate account by the legendary rock musician, Carlos Santana, traces his hardscrabble youth in Mexico and early days as a promising guitarist through his influential collaborations with fellow Latin stars.

Provides an overview of the life of a former Kentucky slave, who grew up on a farm next to Daniel Boone's and eventually found freedom and became one of most accomplished African-American writers of the 19th century.