Anne Frank was given a diary for her 13th birthday as the threat of WWII loomed over her head. She had no idea that she would spend the next two years in hiding with her parents and sister, documenting every daring, terrifying, and beautiful moment they had. It was first written in Dutch and afterward translated into English to great acclaim.

“It’s difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart”, she writes.

Later, Anne and her family were caught and sent to a concentration camp and she sadly died of typhus. But her insights and her words in The Diary of a Young Girl continued to touch hearts long after her last breath.

Detailed information:

Author: Anne Frank

First Published: 1947
Subjects: Netherlands in World War II, Otto Frank, World War II, Hannah Pik-Goslar, Sol Kimel

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"When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: a happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood".

So begins the Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank's mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank's father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy - exasperating, irresponsible and beguiling - does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story. Frank lives for his father's tales of Cuchulain, who saved Ireland, and of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies.

Perhaps it is a story that accounts for Frank's survival. Wearing rags for diapers, begging a pig's head for Christmas dinner, and gathering coal from the roadside to light a fire, Frank endures poverty, near-starvation and the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors - yet lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance and remarkable forgiveness. Angela's Ashes, imbued on every page with Frank McCourt's astounding humor and compassion, is a glorious book that bears all the marks of a classic.

Detailed information:

Author: Frank McCourt
First Published: 1996-09-05
Subjects: Frank McCourt

Link to buy: https://cutt.ly/1A9mThu

Mahatma Gandhi made scrupulous truth-telling a religion and his Autobiography inevitably reminds one of the other saints who have suffered and burned for their lapses. His simply narrated account of boyhood in Gujarat, marriage at age 13, legal studies in England, and growing desire for purity and reform has the force of a man extreme in all things. He details his gradual conversion to vegetarianism and ahimsa (non-violence) and the state of celibacy (brahmacharya, self-restraint) that became one of his more arduous spiritual trials. In the political realm, he outlines the beginning of Satyagraha in South Africa and India, with accounts of the first Indian fasts and protests, his initial errors and misgivings, his jailings, and continued cordial dealings with the British overlords.

Gandhi was a fascinating, complex man, a brilliant leader, and guide, a seeker of truth who died for his beliefs but had no use for martyrdom or sainthood. His story, the path to his vision of Satyagraha and human dignity, is a critical work of the twentieth century, and timeless in its courage and inspiration.

Detailed information:

First Published: 1927
Subjects: Nonviolent resistance

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Through a life of passion and struggle, Malcolm X became one of the most influential figures of the 20th Century. In this riveting account, he tells of his journey from a prison cell to Mecca, describing his transition from hoodlum to Muslim minister. Here, the man who called himself "the angriest Black man in America" relates how his conversion to true Islam helped him confront his rage and recognize the brotherhood of all mankind.

An established classic of modern America, "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" was hailed by the New York Times as "Extraordinary. A brilliant, painful, important book". Still extraordinary, still important, this electrifying story has transformed Malcolm X's life into his legacy. The strength of his words, the power of his ideas continue to resonate more than a generation after they first appeared.

Detailed information:

Author: Alex Haley, Malcolm X
First Published: 1965
Subjects: Security, African American, African American studies, Black, Islam

Link to buy: https://cutt.ly/LA9mJmb

When she was 19 months old, Helen Keller (1880–1968) suffered a severe illness that left her blind and deaf. Not long after, she also became mute. Her tenacious struggle to overcome this handicaps-with the help of her inspired teacher, Anne Sullivan-is one of the great stories of human courage and dedication.

In this classic autobiography, first published in 1903, Miss Keller recounts the first 22 years of her life, including the magical moment at the water pump when recognizing the connection between the word "water" and the cold liquid flowing over her hand, she realized that objects had names. Subsequent experiences were equally noteworthy: her joy at eventually learning to speak, her friendships with Oliver Wendell Holmes, Edward Everett Hale and other notables, her education at Radcliffe (from which she graduated cum laude), and-underlying all-her extraordinary relationship with Miss Sullivan, who showed a remarkable genius for communicating with her eager and quick-to-learn pupil.

Detailed information:

Author: Helen Keller
Subjects: Special education, Helen Keller, Education, Women, Public policy

Link to buy: https://cutt.ly/bA9mMlB

Long Walk To Freedom highlights Nelson Mandela's early years and the 27 years he spent in jail in South Africa, making him the face of peace for numerous generations. He is one of the most outstanding personalities of our time, having won hearts all around the world, a Nobel Peace Prize, and the presidency of South Africa.

“I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there is mercy and generosity. No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite”, he writes. “Even in the grimmest times in prison, when my comrades and I were pushed to our limits, I would see a glimmer of humanity in one of the guards, perhaps just for a second, but it was enough to reassure me and keep me going. Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished”. Long Walk To Freedom is a novel that everyone should read at least once, despite its length of 700 pages.

Detailed information:

Author: Nelson Mandela
First Published: 1994
Subjects: Human rights, World, Nelson Mandela, Politics, International relations

Link to buy: https://cutt.ly/jA9QiDs

From the Western frontier to the battlefields of Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Franklin, Petersburg, and Richmond, Grant saw the war from the front lines and made the decisions that affected lives on a day-to-day basis. His writings provide a revealing look into the life of the commander in chief of the Union army as well as the seminal eyewitness account of the War between the States.

The Civil War Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant is a popular abridgment of his two-volume Personal Memoirs, which he arranged to have published to provide for his family after his death. (It was a huge bestseller and broke all records in American publishing at the time). He died less than one week after completing his writing. This abridgment covers Grant's experiences in the Civil War, from the first shot at Sumter to Appomattox, giving the reader a front-line seat next to the greatest Union general of the war.

Detailed information:

Author: Ulysses S. Grant
Subjects: United States of America, United States Army, History of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, History

Link to buy: https://cutt.ly/WA9QE0k

The Autobiography, published in 1790, was not a chronicle of Franklin’s brilliance; the idea was to show how a person’s life and character could become a noble one through constant self-assessment. Franklin, as a scientist, wrote it almost as if it were a report on the failures and successes of experiments in living.

At no point did he claim any special mastery over how to live life, but he was committed to finding a formula that could assure a person of some success. This motivation makes The Autobiography one of the original self-help classics. Through Writing, Franklin creates a place where his memories can live on in perpetuity, separate from his physical body, as part of collective memory.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is an intentional attempt to rewrite his past in a way that readers – including his son and American society – will understand, even if he did not fully live it. Franklin’s lifelong pursuit of self-improvement began at a young age. Franklin’s desire for perfection led him to devise a plan to achieve it in just 13 weeks by eliminating bad habits and acquiring the 13 virtues he considered most important.

Detailed information:

Author: Benjamin Franklin
First Published: 1791
Subjects: Philosophy, Pennsylvania, Education, World, Biography

Link to buy: https://cutt.ly/ZA9QSL5

The true and harrowing account of Primo Levi’s experience at the German concentration camp of Auschwitz and his miraculous survival; hailed by The Times Literary Supplement as a “true work of art, this edition includes an exclusive conversation" between the author and Philip Roth.

In 1943, Primo Levi, a twenty-five-year-old chemist and “Italian citizen of the Jewish race”, was arrested by Italian fascists and deported from his native Turin to Auschwitz. Survival in Auschwitz is Levi’s classic account of his ten months in the German death camp, a harrowing story of systematic cruelty and miraculous endurance. Remarkable for its simplicity, restraint, compassion, and even wit, Survival in Auschwitz remains a lasting testament to the indestructibility of the human spirit.

Detailed information:

Author: Primo Levi
First Published: 1956
Subjects: Literary, Poland, Judaism, Italy, Modern history

Link to buy: https://cutt.ly/CA9QXb4

An autobiography that is both intriguing and disturbing comes from one of the most talented persons to ever set foot on a tennis court. His accomplishment did not come without a price. His training began when he was a small child, and at the age of 13, he was attending a Florida tennis camp, which he loathed. Before winning Wimbledon in 1992, the bright youth became a pro at the tender age of 16, and he writes about his career and personal heartbreaks. He talks openly about his romance with Brooke Shields and later his loss of confidence, and he is a force of energy both on and off the court.

“Life will throw everything but the kitchen sink in your path, and then it will throw the kitchen sink. It's your job to avoid the obstacles”, he writes. “If you let them stop you or distract you, you're not doing your job, and failing to do your job will cause regrets that paralyze you more than a bad back". But Open: An Autobiography is a tale of resurrection—he made a comeback to tennis as the eldest number one player in history.

Detailed information:

Author: Andre Agassi, J.R. Moehringer

First published: 2009

Link to buy: https://cutt.ly/JA9Q2AS