I'd never really thought about biographies before taking a class in grad school about them as a subject and I'll admit, I became super interested in them. I thought I'd make a space to list and talk about autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs people are reading or interested in. I've listed a few of my favorites below. Anybody else interested in reading biographies or read a really great one lately?
Nixon's memoirs (RN, not In The Arena) are mind blowing. I never grasped how big a deal Watergate was until it dawned on me through his day to day recollections that it was the equivalent of every modern political scandal all rolled into one, and it was the first of its kind. Nixon's rise through the US political system over four decades as seen through his eyes completely changed my understanding of American history.
My FBI by Louis Freeh, a look inside what goes on in the head of an FBI director. Also gives good insight on what it takes to be a good law enforcement officer.
The Real Fidel Castro - Never gave much thought to Castro before, I usually just dismissed him as being a bygone relic from the Cold War who wasn't even of much relevance then. Turns out he's a total badass. He's had 638 attempts on his life over the past 87 years and once crossed into the US illegally through Mexico by swimming across the Rio Grande to buy guns and get support for his then-coming revolution.
Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown and Soul On Ice by Eldridge Cleaver, two autobiographies about life as a young black man in an America that would rather they not exist and how without pattern interruption lives of meaningless violence and crime become cyclical.
Nixon's memoirs (RN, not In The Arena) are mind blowing. I never grasped how big a deal Watergate was until it dawned on me through his day to day recollections that it was the equivalent of every modern political scandal all rolled into one, and it was the first of its kind. Nixon's rise through the US political system over four decades as seen through his eyes completely changed my understanding of American history.
My FBI by Louis Freeh, a look inside what goes on in the head of an FBI director. Also gives good insight on what it takes to be a good law enforcement officer.
The Real Fidel Castro - Never gave much thought to Castro before, I usually just dismissed him as being a bygone relic from the Cold War who wasn't even of much relevance then. Turns out he's a total badass. He's had 638 attempts on his life over the past 87 years and once crossed into the US illegally through Mexico by swimming across the Rio Grande to buy guns and get support for his then-coming revolution.
Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown and Soul On Ice by Eldridge Cleaver, two autobiographies about life as a young black man in an America that would rather they not exist and how without pattern interruption lives of meaningless violence and crime become cyclical.
If you are going to impose your will on the world, you must have control over what you believe.
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