Inspiring Biographies

The Motorcycle Diaries is, as its title suggests, a record of a motorcycle journey, based on a diary by its author – a young Argentinian medical student – kept during the trip. What makes it remarkable isthat the young medical student who wrote it was Ernesto “Che” Guevara de la Serna, now known as a leader of the Cuban revolution, a guerrilla strategist, a Cuban government official, and a fomenter of revolution in the Congo... Read The Motorcycle Diaries Summary

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The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is the 2016 sequel to John Perkins’s best-selling Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (2004), which reveals how American corporations and the US government use major development contracts to control third-world nations. Though autobiographical in nature, The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is an easy read with the feel of an adventure or spy novel. The book includes chapters on how Americans can act against... Read The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man Summary

In The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, author Jeffrey Toobin begins the Prologue near the end of the story with the funeral of Chief Justice William Rehnquist in 2005. This is a nonfiction book about the transformation of the Supreme Court from liberal to conservative over a period of roughly 35 years, and the transformation was complete upon the death of Rehnquist. Toobin, an American lawyer and legal analyst, published The... Read The Nine Summary

The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism and Treachery, written by Steven Sheinkin and published in 2010, is a biography for young readers about one of America's notable war heroes who was also her most famous traitor—Benedict Arnold. How this startling reversal came about is traced in the book, which is rigorously researched yet presented in the manner of an adventure novel. Sheinkin confronts the moral ambiguities that lie at the heart... Read The Notorious Benedict Arnold Summary

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The Orchid Thief is a nonfiction book by Susan Orlean, originally published in 1998. It is a narrative nonfiction account of the crimes and trial of John Laroche, accused of stealing endangered orchid species from the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve in Florida. The basic story of Laroche and his crimes originally ran as an article in The New Yorker, entitled “Orchid Fever” and published in 1995. The book expands the story and also details Orlean’s... Read The Orchid Thief Summary

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates (2010) is a narrative nonfiction story that chronicles the lives of two young black men who share the same name: Wes Moore. The author was inspired to write this story because of this fact and their similar start in Baltimore, Maryland. While one Wes Moore was sentenced to life in prison, the writer Wes Moore became a Rhodes Scholar and a best-selling author. Moore’s purpose in writing... Read The Other Wes Moore Summary

The Perfect Storm is a 1997 nonfiction book by Sebastian Junger, who writes for numerous magazines, including Outside, American Heritage, and Men’s Journal. He has lived most of his life on the Massachusetts coast.In late September of 1991, the swordfishing boat Andrea Gail departs the town of Gloucester, Massachusetts with six men aboard, for a month-long fishing trip. In late October, as a powerful storm begins to build in the fishing waters of the North... Read The Perfect Storm Summary

Władysław Szpilman writes his 1946 memoir, The Pianist, about his experiences in Poland during World War II. Before the war, he is a well-known pianist and composer who works with Radio Poland. When the Germans invade Poland in September 1930, Władysław and his family are relegated to the Warsaw ghetto. Though not as wealthy as some of the other inhabitants of the ghetto, Władysław is part of the intelligentsia, a class of artists and intellectuals... Read The Pianist Summary

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In The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights, historian Steve Sheinkin traces the story of the Port Chicago 50, a group of African-American sailors charged with mutiny for disobeying orders during World War II. Sheinkin’s history opens, however, with the story of Dorie Miller, a black mess attendant stationed at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attack in 1942. Though not trained for battle, Miller courageously begins fighting with an anti-aircraft... Read The Port Chicago 50 Summary

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York is a 1974 biography of American urban planner Robert Moses, written by journalist Robert Caro. The book charts the rise of Moses in the New York political system, illustrating how he came to shape the city according to his own designs. The book was widely praised by critics and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975, though Moses and his associates disagreed with several points... Read The Power Broker Summary

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The Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood is a memoir published in 2014 by Richard Blanco, President Barack Obama’s inaugural poet, whose works include “América” (1998), “The Island Within” (2012), and “One Today” (2013). Blanco describes his childhood living in Miami with parents and grandparents who’d immigrated to America from Cuba. It offers a picture of his family’s nostalgia for Cuba and his simultaneous struggle to relate to a world he’s never seen. His... Read The Prince of Los Cocuyos Summary

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary is a 1998 work of nonfiction by British-American journalist Simon Winchester. Originally titled The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness, and the Love of Words upon its release in the United Kingdom, the book follows the story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and the connection that developed between James Murray, the... Read The Professor And The Madman Summary

Chris Gardner’s memoir, The Pursuit of Happyness, details his pursuit of the American Dream and desire to rise against the challenging circumstances of his birth and attain success. From the outset, life is difficult for Gardner, a poor black child growing up in the Milwaukee ghetto with his mother, sisters and violent, abusive stepfather, Freddie. Gardner’s mother, Bettye Jean, had her own dreams taken away from her, when her father refused to pay for her... Read The Pursuit of Happyness Summary

The Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness is a 1994 memoir that chronicles the years-long struggle of Lori Schilling, a bright, promising, high-achieving Jewish woman, born to affluent parents and afflicted with schizophrenia. Ultimately, Schilling will emerge triumphant from her journey, which includes many stints, both voluntarily and involuntarily, in mental hospitals, several suicide attempts, and a constant battle with hallucinated voices that viciously assail Lori and bid her to kill... Read The Quiet Room Summary