51 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
Tony Blair's autobiography — covering his political career from Labour leadership to his decade as Prime Minister, including the Iraq War and Northern Ireland peace process.
Ishmael Beah's 2007 memoir of being recruited as a child soldier in Sierra Leone's civil war at age 12 — his experiences of violence and rehabilitation — the most widely read account of child soldier experience.
A Moth-associated memoir or story collection referenced in the Moth podcast context.
Catherine Burns's 2017 anthology of 45 stories from The Moth — curated from 10 years of performances — covering themes of transformation, courage, and connection — the definitive Moth anthology.
Xenophon's account of the march of the Ten Thousand — Greek mercenaries who fought for Cyrus the Younger's attempt on the Persian throne, then had to fight their way back to the sea after Cyrus's death.
American tennis player — 8 Grand Slam singles titles — Career Golden Slam — author of Open (2009) — whose memoir is considered the most honest autobiography ever written by a major athlete.
Newman's spiritual autobiography — written to defend his integrity against Charles Kingsley's charge of dishonesty, tracing his intellectual and spiritual journey from Evangelical Anglican to Catholic.
David Goggins's 2018 memoir — recounting his transformation from abused, overweight underachiever to Navy SEAL, ultramarathon runner, and world record holder — built around the concept that most people operate at 40% capacity and mental toughness is built through deliberate suffering.
American memoirist and essayist — author of Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things — who hiked the Pacific Crest Trail alone in grief after her mother's death and wrote the most widely read hiking memoir — also the anonymous author of the Dear Sugar advice column.
Quentin Tarantino's 2022 book combining memoir with film criticism — examining the 1970s American cinema that shaped him (Dirty Harry, Deliverance, Bullitt, etc.) — and making the case that this was the greatest era in American film.
A memoir or exploration of chess culture and its psychological dimensions — exploring the intense mental world of competitive chess, the obsession it creates, and its relationship to mental health.
Elizabeth Gilbert's 2006 memoir of a year spent in Italy, India, and Indonesia after a painful divorce and depression — eating in Italy, meditating in an ashram in India, and finding love in Bali — one of the bestselling memoirs of the 21st century.
Tucker Carlson's memoir and political account of his journalism career and his evolving view of Washington political culture.
Ernest K. Gann's 1961 memoir of his years as a commercial airline pilot — examining accidents, close calls, and the irreducible role of chance (fate) in aviation — considered the greatest aviation memoir ever written.
Timothy Leary's autobiography — covering his Harvard years, his transformation into a psychedelic guru, his imprisonment, escape from prison (aided by the Weather Underground), and exile in Algeria and Switzerland.
Tucker Max's third and final 'fratire' collection — stories from the later period of his hard-drinking misadventure career.
Michael Lewis's memoir about his experience as a father of three, written with comic honesty about the gap between idealized parenthood and the actual experience.
Tucker Max's collection of stories about his sexual misadventures and hard-drinking lifestyle — one of the first and most successful blog-to-book transitions, founding the 'fratire' genre.
Maya Angelou's 1969 memoir of childhood in the American South — covering racism, sexual abuse, and self-discovery — the first widely published memoir by an African-American woman and the model for the modern American memoir dealing with race.
Tamara Mellon's 2013 memoir about co-founding and building Jimmy Choo — covering her difficult childhood, the building of the brand, and the contentious relationship with the Choo family that ultimately led to her departure.
Bill Hayes's 2017 memoir about moving to New York City after his partner's death and falling in love with the city (and with Oliver Sacks) — a meditation on loss, beauty, and the life of a great city.
Sierra Leonean-American author — former child soldier — author of A Long Way Gone (memoir) and Radiance of Tomorrow — whose memoir of being a child soldier in Sierra Leone is the most widely read firsthand account of child soldiers.
Vice President of the United States (2025–) — Republican Senator from Ohio (2023–25) — author of Hillbilly Elegy — Marine veteran — Yale Law graduate — who transformed from a Trump critic (calling him 'America's Hitler' privately) to one of his most prominent supporters.
Chinese-British author — author of Wild Swans (on her family's three generations through 20th century China) and Mao: The Unknown Story (with Jon Halliday) — who produced the most widely read account of the Cultural Revolution from a survivor's perspective.
Jimmy Carter's presidential memoir — a detailed account of his White House years including Camp David, the Iran hostage crisis, and the energy crisis.
Michael Lewis's 1989 memoir of his years as a bond trader at Salomon Brothers — the most widely read insider account of 1980s Wall Street culture — which Lewis intended as a warning but which inspired a generation of young graduates to pursue finance careers.
Marcus Luttrell's account of Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan — the 2005 mission in which three of his four-man SEAL team were killed, and his survival over days of evading the Taliban.
Dan Kennedy's 2003 memoir — essays about failure, family, and survival in Cleveland — a dark comic memoir that emerged from his Moth storytelling.
American poet and memoirist — author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings — Civil Rights activist — Presidential Medal of Freedom — who created the modern African-American memoir and is the most quoted American poet.
Colin Powell's 1995 autobiography — from his childhood in the South Bronx through Vietnam, the Reagan White House, the Gulf War as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and his principles of leadership.
Henry Ford's autobiography and business philosophy — presenting his system of mass production and high wages as a social and economic philosophy.
Stephen King's 2000 part-memoir, part-writing guide — combining an autobiography of his early life with practical advice on the craft of fiction — the most widely read and recommended book on writing craft.
Andre Agassi's 2009 autobiography (written with J.R. Moehringer) — revealing his hatred of tennis, crystal meth use, lying to drug testers, and eventual transformation — considered the most honest autobiography by a major athlete.
Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant's account of resilience in the face of catastrophic loss — written after Sandberg's husband Dave Goldberg died suddenly.
Jimmy Carter's controversial account of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — arguing that Israel's policies in the occupied territories constitute apartheid and that peace requires a two-state solution on specific terms.
Vannevar Bush's 1970 memoir documenting his role directing American science during World War II — including the coordination of the Manhattan Project and radar development — and making the case for the OSRD model of government-funded university research.
John D. Rockefeller's memoir — a carefully managed self-presentation by the world's richest man, emphasizing his religious values, his philanthropy, and his view of Standard Oil as a beneficial force.
Ben Rich's 1994 memoir of his years at Lockheed's Skunk Works advanced development program — covering the U-2, SR-71, and F-117 projects with remarkable technical and organizational detail.
Japanese actress, television personality, and author — author of Totto-Chan — UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador — host of Tetsuwan! Dash — whose memoir of her progressive childhood schooling became the best-selling Japanese book.
Malcolm X's 1965 autobiography as told to Alex Haley — covering his childhood poverty, criminal life, conversion to Islam in prison, rise in the Nation of Islam, break with Elijah Muhammad, pilgrimage to Mecca, and evolving views on race before his assassination.
Alistair Urquhart's 2010 memoir of his WWII experience — falling of Singapore, Japanese POW camps, Death Railway, hellship sinking, Nagasaki atomic bomb aftermath — which presents the most extreme accumulation of survival ordeals in any single first-person account.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's 1973 account of the Soviet prison camp system — reconstructed from hundreds of survivor testimonies and his own experience — the most comprehensive document of the gulag and the text that more than any other delegitimized Soviet communism in the Western left.
Corrie ten Boom's memoir of her family's hiding of Jews in Nazi-occupied Holland, her imprisonment in Ravensbrück concentration camp, and her post-war ministry of forgiveness.
Joe McMoneagle's full autobiography — tracing his life from near-death experience through his Army career as a remote viewer to his post-military work.
Churchill's six-volume history of WWI — combining personal memoir with political and military history, and including his defense of the Gallipoli campaign.
Annie Dillard's 1989 meditation on the writing process — covering the isolation, difficulty, and strange demands of sustained creative work — written in her characteristically intense, observational prose and containing some of the most quoted passages about creative labor in American literature.
Cheryl Strayed's 2012 collection of her Dear Sugar advice columns — combining personal memoir with frank advice — which became the most emotionally resonant advice anthology in contemporary American literature.
Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's 1981 memoir of her unconventional childhood at Tomoe Gakuen school in WWII Japan — run by the progressive educator Sosaku Kobayashi — one of the best-selling Japanese books of all time (10M copies).
Jimmy Carter's pre-presidential autobiography and campaign book — laying out his background, values, and vision for the United States.
This memoir offers a profoundly personal and raw account of Irvin D. Yalom and his wife Marilyn Yalom's shared experience as Marilyn faced a terminal illness and chose physician-assisted death, marking a departure from Yalom's earlier clinical explorations of death.
Patti Smith emerged from the New York City punk rock scene of the 1970s, blending poetry and rock music to create a raw, intellectual, and deeply influential artistic persona that redefined the boundaries of genre and gender expression.