Literature The Best Autobiographies Ever Written

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List Rules Which autobiographies were the best and most moving reads? Vote them up and add all of your favorites.

The best autobiographies ever written include memoirs by famous historical figures, authors, politicians, celebrities, and more. This list includes a wide variety of books that are considered autobiographical. Which one is the best? That's for you to decide, with votes of course. Some of the books listed here have proven to be life-changing reads. If you are an avid reader of autobiographies, you'll likely recognize a vast majority of the books listed here. If one of your favorites is missing, by all means, please do add it to the list. Those of us who love reading a beautifully written autobiography will be grateful!

When talking about the best-written autobiographies ever, any list would be woefully incomplete without Anne Frank: 'The Diary of a Young Girl,' as well as 'The Autobiography of Malcolm X' and Frank McCourt's heartbreaking (and humorous) memoir 'Angela's Ashes.' These books are not only notable autobiographies, they are certainly among the best non-fiction eBooks ever.

Not all of the best autobiographies ever written are dark and serious. Some manage to mix an ample amount of humor in. Tina Fey's brilliant 'Bossypants' and Steve Martin's 'Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life' are excellent examples of must read books by stand up comedians.FYI: You don't necessarily have to spend a small fortune to purchase these best autobiographies ever written. Some of them are available as free ebooks, so be sure to check before you shell out a ton of money.If you're a reading fanatic, you might also like this list of famous autobiographical novel books, as well as this list of the top must-read books of all time.

list ordered by

1
661 240

The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank The Diary of a Young Girl is a book of the writings from the Dutch language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the ...more

2
411 139

The Story of My Experiments with Truth Mahatma Gandhi Autobiography is a book written by Mahatma Ghandi.

3
285 125

Night Elie Wiesel Night is a work by Elie Wiesel about his experience with his father in the Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–45, at the height of the Holocaust toward the end ...more

4
330 132

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is the traditional name for the unfinished record of his own life written by Benjamin Franklin from 1771 to 1790; however, Franklin himself appears to have ...more

5
345 117

Long Walk to Freedom Nelson Mandela Long Walk to Freedom is an autobiographical work written by South African President Nelson Mandela, and published in 1995 by Little Brown & Co. The book profiles his early life, coming of ...more

6
202 92

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the 1969 autobiography about the early years of African-American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The first in a seven-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story ...more

7
330 122

The Autobiography of Malcolm X Alex Haley, Malcolm X The Autobiography of Malcolm X was published in 1965, the result of a collaboration between human rights activist Malcolm X and journalist Alex Haley. Haley coauthored the autobiography based on ...more

8
313 118

Open: An Autobiography Andre Agassi

9
168 70

The Story of My Life Helen Keller The story of my life, with her letters (1887-1901) and a supplementary account of her education is a book written by Helen Keller.

10
189 69

Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt Angela's Ashes is a 1996 memoir by the Irish author Frank McCourt. The memoir consists of various anecdotes and stories of Frank McCourt's impoverished childhood and early adulthood in Brooklyn, ...more

11
68 29

looksharp added The Confessions of St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo Confessions is the name of an autobiographical work, consisting of 13 books, by St. Augustine of Hippo, written in Latin between 397 and 400 AD. Modern English translations of it are sometimes ...more

12
124 52

msprabhakar added Steve Jobs Walter Isaacson Steve Jobs is the authorized biography of Steve Jobs. The biography was written at the request of Jobs by Walter Isaacson, a former executive at CNN and Time who has written best-selling ...more

13
199 87

Scar Tissue Anthony Kiedis, Larry Sloman Scar Tissue is the autobiography of Red Hot Chili Peppers vocalist Anthony Kiedis. It was released in 2004 by Hyperion and authored by Kiedis with Larry Sloman, who compiled information and ...more

14
171 71

A Child Called "It" Dave Pelzer

15
95 44

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Richard Feynman "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character is an edited collection of reminiscences by the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. The book, ...more

16
33 4

Jodie Hunt added The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls The Glass Castle is a 2005 memoir by Jeannette Walls. The book recounts Walls' and her siblings' unconventional, poverty-stricken upbringing at the hands of their deeply dysfunctional parents. ...more

17
86 49

A Walk in the Woods Bill Bryson A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail is a 1998 book by travel writer Bill Bryson, describing his attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail with his friend ...more

18
59 28

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft Stephen King On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King, published in 2000, is a memoir of the author's experiences as a writer, and also serves as a guide book for those who choose to enter the ...more

19
74 41

Up From Slavery Booker T. Washington Up from Slavery is the 1901 autobiography of Booker T. Washington detailing his personal experiences in working to rise from the position of a slave child during the Civil War, to the ...more

20
66 36

Girl, Interrupted Susanna Kaysen Girl, Interrupted is a best-selling 1993 memoir by American author Susanna Kaysen, relating her experiences as a young woman in a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s after being diagnosed with ...more

21
69 41

The Last Lecture Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow The Last Lecture is a New York Times best-selling book co-authored by Randy Pausch—a professor of computer science, human-computer interaction, and design at Carnegie Mellon University in ...more

22
53 37

Chronicles: Volume One Bob Dylan Chronicles, Volume One is the first part of Bob Dylan's planned 3-volume memoir. Published on October 5, 2004, by Simon & Schuster, the 304-page volume covers selected points from Dylan's ...more

23
55 30

The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly Jean-Dominique Bauby The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly is a book by Jean-Dominique Bauby.

24
71 44

Running with Scissors Augusten Burroughs Running with Scissors is a 2002 memoir by American writer Augusten Burroughs. The book tells the story of Burroughs's bizarre childhood life after his mother, a chain-smoking aspiring poet, sent ...more

25
53 29

My Left Foot Christy Brown My Left Foot is the 1954 autobiography of Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy on June 5, 1932 in Dublin, Ireland. As one of 13 surviving children, Brown went on to be an author, ...more

26
75 35

A Moveable Feast Ernest Hemingway A Moveable Feast is a memoir by American author Ernest Hemingway about his years as an expatriate writer in Paris in the 1920s. The book describes Hemingway's apprenticeship as a young writer ...more

27
113 99

Bossypants Tina Fey Bossypants is an autobiographical comedy book written by American comedian Tina Fey. The book topped The New York Times Best Seller list, and stayed there for five weeks upon its release. Since ...more

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46 29

The Education of Henry Adams Edmund Morris

29
38 22

Life and Times of Frederick Douglass Life and Times of Frederick Douglass is Frederick Douglass' third autobiography, published in 1881, revised in 1892. Because of the emancipation of American slaves during and following the ...more

30
28 13

WilliamCarrigan added The Civil War memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant is an autobiography of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States, focused mainly on his military career during the Mexican-American War ...more

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43 38

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Steve Martin Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life is a memoir, released November 20, 2007, by Steve Martin, an American author, actor, comedian, producer, playwright and screenwriter. It chronicles his early ...more

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27 22

looksharp added The Crack-Up F. Scott Fitzgerald The Crack-Up is a collection of essays by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. It consists of previously unpublished letters, notes and also three essays originally written for and published ...more

33
24 21

looksharp added Witness Whittaker Chambers Witness is a book written by Whittaker Chambers.

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65 42

Black Boy Richard Wright Black Boy is a bildungsroman by Richard Wright, and his eventual move to Chicago, where he establishes his writing career and becomes involved with the Communist Party.

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28 20

looksharp added Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia Joseph D. Pistone Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia is a 1988 autobiographical crime book written by Joseph D. Pistone about his story as an FBI agent going undercover and infiltrating the Mafia. In ...more

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25 17

stubb added Survival In Auschwitz Primo Levi Primo Levi is in every way a better writer than Elie Wiesel. // First published as If This Be a Man, which is neither informative nor compelling. If This Is a Man is a work by the Italian Jewish writer Primo Levi. It describes his arrest as a member of the Italian anti-fascist resistance during the Second World War, and his incarceration ...more

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69 49

Life: Keith Richards Keith Richards

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50 35

Persepolis Marjane Satrapi Persepolis is an autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi depicting her childhood up to her early adult years in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution. The title is a reference ...more

39
14 10

dresworld1020 added Miles Quincy Troupe, Miles Davis Miles is a book written by Miles Davis.

40
44 32

Me: Stories of My Life Katharine Hepburn Me: Stories of My Life is a 1991 book by Katharine Hepburn.

41
10 7

stubb added The Naked Civil Servant Quentin Crisp The Naked Civil Servant is the first volume of an autobiography by the gay icon Quentin Crisp. It was later turned into a TV movie starring John Hurt, which was also titled The Naked Civil ...more

42
29 18

DavidSanders1 added Autobiography of a Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda Autobiography of a Yogi is an autobiography of Paramahansa Yogananda first published in 1946. Yogananda was born Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Gorakhpur, India, into a Bengali family. Autobiography of a ...more

43
10 7

Max Mansell added Moonwalker Michael Jackson

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10 8

Jessica Jayne added Shantaram Gregory David Roberts Shantaram is a 2003 novel by Gregory David Roberts, in which a convicted Australian bank robber and heroin addict who escaped from Pentridge Prison flees to India. The novel is commended by many ...more

45
48 39

The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography Stephen Fry The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography is the 2010 autobiography of Stephen Fry. The book is a continuation from the end of his 1997 publication of his first autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot: An ...more

46
35 38

Me Talk Pretty One Day David Sedaris Me Talk Pretty One Day, published in 2000, is a bestselling collection of essays by American humorist David Sedaris. The book is separated into two parts. The first part consists of essays about ...more

47
26 28

looksharp added Harpo Speaks! Harpo Marx

48
43 35

Notes of a Native Son James Baldwin Notes of a Native Son is a non-fiction book by James Baldwin. It was Baldwin's first non-fiction book, and was published in 1955. The volume collects ten of Baldwin's essays, which had ...more

49
9 11

stubb added Nigger Dick Gregory, Robert Lipsyte Nigger: An Autobiography by Dick Gregory is an autobiography by comedian and social activist Dick Gregory, published in 1964 by E.P. Dutton, and reprinted by Pocket Books from 1965 to present. ...more

50
32 27

Just Kids Patti Smith Just Kids is a memoir by Patti Smith, published on January 19, 2010. In the book, Smith documents her relationship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe.

1 661 240 The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank The Diary of a Young Girl is a book of the writings from the Dutch language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the ...more

2 411 139 The Story of My Experiments with Truth Mahatma Gandhi Autobiography is a book written by Mahatma Ghandi.

3 285 125 Night Elie Wiesel Night is a work by Elie Wiesel about his experience with his father in the Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–45, at the height of the Holocaust toward the end ...more

4 330 132 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is the traditional name for the unfinished record of his own life written by Benjamin Franklin from 1771 to 1790; however, Franklin himself appears to have ...more

5 345 117 Long Walk to Freedom Nelson Mandela Long Walk to Freedom is an autobiographical work written by South African President Nelson Mandela, and published in 1995 by Little Brown & Co. The book profiles his early life, coming of ...more

6 202 92 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the 1969 autobiography about the early years of African-American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The first in a seven-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story ...more

7 330 122 The Autobiography of Malcolm X Alex Haley, Malcolm X The Autobiography of Malcolm X was published in 1965, the result of a collaboration between human rights activist Malcolm X and journalist Alex Haley. Haley coauthored the autobiography based on ...more

8 313 118 Open: An Autobiography Andre Agassi

9 168 70 The Story of My Life Helen Keller The story of my life, with her letters (1887-1901) and a supplementary account of her education is a book written by Helen Keller.

10 189 69 Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt Angela's Ashes is a 1996 memoir by the Irish author Frank McCourt. The memoir consists of various anecdotes and stories of Frank McCourt's impoverished childhood and early adulthood in Brooklyn, ...more

11 68 29 looksharp added The Confessions of St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo Confessions is the name of an autobiographical work, consisting of 13 books, by St. Augustine of Hippo, written in Latin between 397 and 400 AD. Modern English translations of it are sometimes ...more

12 124 52 msprabhakar added Steve Jobs Walter Isaacson Steve Jobs is the authorized biography of Steve Jobs. The biography was written at the request of Jobs by Walter Isaacson, a former executive at CNN and Time who has written best-selling ...more

13 199 87 Scar Tissue Anthony Kiedis, Larry Sloman Scar Tissue is the autobiography of Red Hot Chili Peppers vocalist Anthony Kiedis. It was released in 2004 by Hyperion and authored by Kiedis with Larry Sloman, who compiled information and ...more

14 171 71 A Child Called "It" Dave Pelzer

15 95 44 Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Richard Feynman "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character is an edited collection of reminiscences by the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. The book, ...more

16 33 4 Jodie Hunt added The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls The Glass Castle is a 2005 memoir by Jeannette Walls. The book recounts Walls' and her siblings' unconventional, poverty-stricken upbringing at the hands of their deeply dysfunctional parents. ...more

17 86 49 A Walk in the Woods Bill Bryson A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail is a 1998 book by travel writer Bill Bryson, describing his attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail with his friend ...more

18 59 28 On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft Stephen King On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King, published in 2000, is a memoir of the author's experiences as a writer, and also serves as a guide book for those who choose to enter the ...more

19 74 41 Up From Slavery Booker T. Washington Up from Slavery is the 1901 autobiography of Booker T. Washington detailing his personal experiences in working to rise from the position of a slave child during the Civil War, to the ...more

20 66 36 Girl, Interrupted Susanna Kaysen Girl, Interrupted is a best-selling 1993 memoir by American author Susanna Kaysen, relating her experiences as a young woman in a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s after being diagnosed with ...more

21 69 41 The Last Lecture Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow The Last Lecture is a New York Times best-selling book co-authored by Randy Pausch—a professor of computer science, human-computer interaction, and design at Carnegie Mellon University in ...more

22 53 37 Chronicles: Volume One Bob Dylan Chronicles, Volume One is the first part of Bob Dylan's planned 3-volume memoir. Published on October 5, 2004, by Simon & Schuster, the 304-page volume covers selected points from Dylan's ...more

23 55 30 The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly Jean-Dominique Bauby The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly is a book by Jean-Dominique Bauby.

24 71 44 Running with Scissors Augusten Burroughs Running with Scissors is a 2002 memoir by American writer Augusten Burroughs. The book tells the story of Burroughs's bizarre childhood life after his mother, a chain-smoking aspiring poet, sent ...more

25 53 29 My Left Foot Christy Brown My Left Foot is the 1954 autobiography of Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy on June 5, 1932 in Dublin, Ireland. As one of 13 surviving children, Brown went on to be an author, ...more

26 75 35 A Moveable Feast Ernest Hemingway A Moveable Feast is a memoir by American author Ernest Hemingway about his years as an expatriate writer in Paris in the 1920s. The book describes Hemingway's apprenticeship as a young writer ...more

27 113 99 Bossypants Tina Fey Bossypants is an autobiographical comedy book written by American comedian Tina Fey. The book topped The New York Times Best Seller list, and stayed there for five weeks upon its release. Since ...more

28 46 29 The Education of Henry Adams Edmund Morris

29 38 22 Life and Times of Frederick Douglass Life and Times of Frederick Douglass is Frederick Douglass' third autobiography, published in 1881, revised in 1892. Because of the emancipation of American slaves during and following the ...more

30 28 13 WilliamCarrigan added The Civil War memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant is an autobiography of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States, focused mainly on his military career during the Mexican-American War ...more

31 43 38 Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Steve Martin Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life is a memoir, released November 20, 2007, by Steve Martin, an American author, actor, comedian, producer, playwright and screenwriter. It chronicles his early ...more

32 27 22 looksharp added The Crack-Up F. Scott Fitzgerald The Crack-Up is a collection of essays by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. It consists of previously unpublished letters, notes and also three essays originally written for and published ...more

33 24 21 looksharp added Witness Whittaker Chambers Witness is a book written by Whittaker Chambers.

34 65 42 Black Boy Richard Wright Black Boy is a bildungsroman by Richard Wright, and his eventual move to Chicago, where he establishes his writing career and becomes involved with the Communist Party.

35 28 20 looksharp added Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia Joseph D. Pistone Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia is a 1988 autobiographical crime book written by Joseph D. Pistone about his story as an FBI agent going undercover and infiltrating the Mafia. In ...more

37 69 49 Life: Keith Richards Keith Richards

38 50 35 Persepolis Marjane Satrapi Persepolis is an autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi depicting her childhood up to her early adult years in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution. The title is a reference ...more

39 14 10 dresworld1020 added Miles Quincy Troupe, Miles Davis Miles is a book written by Miles Davis.

40 44 32 Me: Stories of My Life Katharine Hepburn Me: Stories of My Life is a 1991 book by Katharine Hepburn.

41 10 7 stubb added The Naked Civil Servant Quentin Crisp The Naked Civil Servant is the first volume of an autobiography by the gay icon Quentin Crisp. It was later turned into a TV movie starring John Hurt, which was also titled The Naked Civil ...more

42 29 18 DavidSanders1 added Autobiography of a Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda Autobiography of a Yogi is an autobiography of Paramahansa Yogananda first published in 1946. Yogananda was born Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Gorakhpur, India, into a Bengali family. Autobiography of a ...more

43 10 7 Max Mansell added Moonwalker Michael Jackson

44 10 8 Jessica Jayne added Shantaram Gregory David Roberts Shantaram is a 2003 novel by Gregory David Roberts, in which a convicted Australian bank robber and heroin addict who escaped from Pentridge Prison flees to India. The novel is commended by many ...more

45 48 39 The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography Stephen Fry The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography is the 2010 autobiography of Stephen Fry. The book is a continuation from the end of his 1997 publication of his first autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot: An ...more

46 35 38 Me Talk Pretty One Day David Sedaris Me Talk Pretty One Day, published in 2000, is a bestselling collection of essays by American humorist David Sedaris. The book is separated into two parts. The first part consists of essays about ...more

47 26 28 looksharp added Harpo Speaks! Harpo Marx

48 43 35 Notes of a Native Son James Baldwin Notes of a Native Son is a non-fiction book by James Baldwin. It was Baldwin's first non-fiction book, and was published in 1955. The volume collects ten of Baldwin's essays, which had ...more

49 9 11 stubb added Nigger Dick Gregory, Robert Lipsyte Nigger: An Autobiography by Dick Gregory is an autobiography by comedian and social activist Dick Gregory, published in 1964 by E.P. Dutton, and reprinted by Pocket Books from 1965 to present. ...more

50 32 27 Just Kids Patti Smith Just Kids is a memoir by Patti Smith, published on January 19, 2010. In the book, Smith documents her relationship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe.

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