War Dances: “I wanted to call my father and tell him that a white man thought my brain was beautiful”. Sherman Alexie doing his thing in The New Yorker, excerpted from his upcoming book (early review; interview 1, 2.)
posted by Non Prosequitur on Oct 5, 2009 - 45 comments

A murderer attempts to explain, justify, and understand his crime (before the fact).
posted by prefpara on Aug 5, 2009 - 527 comments

Robert Beck was a pimp. "I got out of it because I was old. I did not want to be teased, tormented and brutalized by young whores." While working as an insecticide salesman, one of his customers suggested he write an autobiography. "Iceberg Slim" wrote Pimp: The Story Of My Life in 3 months. It was the beginning of a literary career that made him one of the largest selling African-American authors of all time. He died on April 30, 1992 - one day after the start of the Los Angeles riots. (previously)
posted by Joe Beese on Apr 2, 2009 - 40 comments

In 2007, Stuart Godard (alias Adam Ant) published his autobiography in which, among other things, he discussed his lifelong battle with manic depression (bipolar disorder). Our friends at YouTube have posted a tv special about his life: The Madness of Prince Charming Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 [more inside]
posted by wittgenstein on Dec 2, 2008 - 35 comments

Shantaram is the story of a violent man's search for the man of peace within himself. Gregory David Roberts, clip 1, clip 2, 3 and 4, is an ex-junkie, former gun runner; drugs, forged passports and black market currency dealer; was a member of the Bombay Mafia and close with a Mafia don there; acted in Bollywood movies; fought with the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan; imprisoned in an Australian maximum security prison with a 19 year sentence and escaped to the Bombay slums, where he set up a free clinic. His semi-autobiography is called Shantaram, which means man pf peace. Review on Shunya. His website. Movie due out in 2009. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Oct 21, 2008 - 30 comments

When Jamaican-born Mary Seacole, an experienced nurse, volunteered her services to the British Army during the Crimean War, she was rejected. Undaunted, she travelled to Crimea at her own expense and built a "mess-table and comfortable quarters," which she called the "British Hotel," and began taking care of soldiers. Her work was snubbed by Florence Nightingale, who called Seacole "a woman of bad character" and insinuated that the convalescent hotel was little more than a bordello, but Mary was beloved by the men in her care who called her "Mother Seacole." Her autobiography, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands [link goes to full text and illustrations], was published a year after the war ended. Mary, who was feted by high-ranking military men and high-born civilians, went on to other nursing-related pursuits, including a stint as personal masseuse to Alexandra, Princess of Wales. Her work in Crimea was but one highlight in a very interesting life. [more inside]
posted by amyms on Aug 12, 2008 - 11 comments

Oxford Muse - "a foundation to stimulate courage and invention in personal, professional and cultural life". Browse the self-potraits (autobiographies), participate in projects, go universal, or just learn what the Muse is.
posted by divabat on May 6, 2008 - 5 comments

Six word memoirs: too short for
posted by dersins on Feb 6, 2008 - 160 comments

IDP Voices is a site that lets people who are refugess within their own countries tell their life stories – in their own words. "The narratives in these pages are valuable complements to the official information on conflicts which governments and international organisations offer. These stories deal with the real lives of real people. The narrators share their personal experiences, their sensations, hopes and dreams, and the impact for them of being forced from their homes. The first IDP Voices oral testimonies project took place in Colombia. IDP Voices from further countries will be added as the projects progress." The life stories are in English and Spanish and can either be read or listened to. You can download the whole book of life stories here.
posted by Kattullus on Nov 8, 2007 - 7 comments

More fun from the Daily Mail. Apparently Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones has decided to post bits from his upcoming autobiography. 1| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster on Oct 7, 2007 - 29 comments

INTERVOICE (International Network for Training, Education and Research into Hearing Voices) "offers information, publications, research, and good practice on hearing voices and other key issues." Voice hearing is surprisingly common, even normal. Many people find it a pleasurable and positive experience. Find everything from stencil graffiti to a recent New York Times magazine article on the work of the Hearing Voices Movement. (w i k i s)
posted by srs on Mar 29, 2007 - 20 comments

"I have no desire to be a dependent thwarted bitter crip living out decades of boring meagre existence. I have my path mapped out clearly. Artist."

The Thwarting of Dreams, by Hero Joy Nightingale
posted by iffley on Mar 23, 2006 - 15 comments

Kid Congo Powers , noted guitar stylist, teenage president of The Ramones Fan Club, erstwhile member of The Cramps, The Gun Club, and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (also known for his collaborations with Julee Cruise, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, Khan and others) has produced a two part online autobiography of sorts for New York Night Train. It includes oral histories, available as transcriptions or MP3s, pages from his Cramps scrapbook, a vintage Creem article, free MP3s from his back catalogue, and, of course, his recipe for enchiladas.
posted by jack_mo on Feb 12, 2006 - 6 comments

Mapping Margery Kempe Visual, geographical, and cultural context for Margery Kempe's famous autobiography.
posted by thomas j wise on Dec 5, 2005 - 7 comments

One man's real and imagined lives, in pixel art.
posted by Tlogmer on Jan 19, 2005 - 11 comments

Chapter 1. Excerpt from Bob Dylan's autobiographical book, Chronicles, Volume One.
posted by semmi on Oct 20, 2004 - 4 comments

"It was surprising how thick the smoke had become. It seems like the world has always needed a scapegoat --someone to lead the charge against the Roman Empire. But America wasn't the Roman Empire and someone else would have to step up and volunteer. I really was never any more than what I was -- a folk musician who gazed into the gray mist with tear-blinded eyes and made up songs that floated in a luminous haze. Now it had blown up in my face and was hanging over me." -- from Bob Dylan's new autobiography, Chronicles, with a brief interview, via Newsweek
posted by digaman on Sep 26, 2004 - 14 comments

The Condensed Bill Clinton: Slate reads My Life so you don't have to.
posted by reklaw on Jun 23, 2004 - 41 comments

The Spook Who Sat By The Door, a movie pitched and marketed as blaxploitation, was a low budget political science fiction thriller about black revolution in urban black America based upon the novel written by Sam Greenlee. It was withdrawn two weeks after its release in 1973, ostensibly at the behest of the FBI. Some remember it fondly, while others revile it in recollection. Thirty-one years later, it has been released on DVD. Sam Greenlee's an interesting man--another book of his, Baghdad Blues, is evidently an autobiographical novel based upon his first hand experience of the 1958 Baath coup in Iraq. Side notes: Researching this post led me to the intriguing Chicken Bones. And here is Elvis Mitchell's take on The Marginalization of Black Action Films.
posted by y2karl on Jan 20, 2004 - 6 comments

A million lives. Links to thousands of biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, letters, narratives, oral histories and more.
posted by pooligan on Aug 25, 2003 - 3 comments

Olaudah Equiano, or, Gustavus Vassa, the African. 'According to his famous autobiography, written in 1789, Olaudah Equiano (c.1745-1797) was born in what is now Nigeria. Kidnapped and sold into slavery in childhood, he was taken as a slave to the New World. As a slave to a captain in the Royal Navy, and later to a Quaker merchant, he eventually earned the price of his own freedom by careful trading and saving. As a seaman, he travelled the world, from the Mediterranean to the North Pole. Coming to London, he became involved in the movement to abolish the slave trade, an involvement which led to him writing and publishing The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa the African (1789) a strongly abolitionist autobiography ... '
Of interest :- Ignatius Sancho: African Man of Letters; Quobna Ottabah Cugoano: a Former Slave Speaks Out; American Slave Narratives ('From 1936 to 1938, over 2,300 former slaves from across the American South were interviewed by writers and journalists under the aegis of the Works Progress Administration'); Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938; Excerpts from Slave Narratives.
posted by plep on Jul 17, 2003 - 8 comments

Way Lay is the homepage of cartoonist Carol Lay, creator of the strip Story Minute. In addition to being one of the few places one can view the strip without going through Salon's obnoxious free pass system. The site has the best autobiography I've seen for an artist site and images of earlier bizarre parodies of Salvador Dali and the Shroud of Turin.
posted by KirkJobSluder on Apr 24, 2003 - 7 comments

Selections from My Name is Blanket, © 2046 Blanket Jackson

"It was Geller who worked with my father to arrange for the design of the device which became known as the “Soul Harvester,” and who arranged for the shipments of orphans."

An excerpt from Michael Jackson's son's future autobiography.
posted by GriffX on Feb 11, 2003 - 21 comments

"Take good care of them. They are my whole life." A young woman painted her life as an autobiographical series of over 1000 gouaches (in 2 years)--image and text, with planned complementing music and songs--and called it Life? or Theater? Charlotte Salomon's life. more inside
posted by amberglow on Aug 31, 2002 - 13 comments

America's greatest quadrapelegic, recovering alcoholic cartoonist has a home online. John Callahan may be the most hilariously truthful people alive. This page contains animated versions of some of his best. The collection of hate mail he's recieved is a hoot as well, if you enjoy laughing at the sanctimonious. This is one of his best and also the title of his excellent autobiography.
posted by jonmc on Mar 14, 2002 - 20 comments

The Nash equilibrium
So at the present time I seem to be thinking rationally again in the style that is characteristic of scientists. However this is not entirely a matter of joy as if someone returned from physical disability to good physical health. One aspect of this is that rationality of thought imposes a limit on a person's concept of his relation to the cosmos....from John F. Nash Jr.'s autobiography for the 1994 Nobel Prize for Economics.
posted by riley370 on Dec 12, 2001 - 8 comments

Why I Do Porn Even Though I'm Very Bright And Could Have Done Anything I Wanted. Apropos the earlier thread on women and promiscuity, here's an essay by Asia Carrera, Unreal skin maker, webmaster, and porn star, explaining why she chose to make adult films as a career.
posted by wiremommy on Aug 3, 2000 - 8 comments