Without a doubt for me: Treason in the Blood. It’s the story of both Kim Philby, and his father St. John Philby, who was an Arabophile, and England hater, who became very close to the Saud family. Among other things he made sure that the petroleum concession for SA went to Standard Oil, and not British Petroleum. It was the largest commercial transaction in human history. Try to imagine what the world would have been like without this person in it.
My Father’s Gun, a 100-year history of the NYPD as seen through the eyes of a family of officers.
Isaac Asimov’s two-volume autobiography/memoir In Memory Yet Green and In Joy Still Felt.
The only biography, or autobiography in this case, that I’ve enjoyed enough to read more than once was Catcher in the Wry by former baseball player Bob Uecker. It’s nothing profound or important, but it was funny.
Witness by Chambers
Angela’s Ashes by McCourt
The Glass Castle by Walls
Boy and Going Solo by Dahl
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. Everyone has read this, but it’s still great, and a fascinating look into the world behind those restaurant kitchen doors.
Don’t underestimate Angela’s Ashes. This story will run you through the entire gamut of emotions. It will disgust and sadden you. It will make you angry. At times it will bring you hope. Most of all, it will move you. There aren’t many books I would say have profoundly changed me after reading them, but this is one.
My favorite all-time biographical/autobiographical work is Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago. Many find the three volumes too long, boring, or otherwise inaccessible, but I found the story fascinating.
I also suggest Hitler’s Mein Kampf. It isn’t well-written, it veers far away from reality, but it is a fascinating glimpse into a megalomanic’s mind.
For scholarly, yet accessible, historical biography, I recommend anything by Robert K. Massie. He has written on a wide range of subjects, but I believe his best work is Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty.
Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman - autobio of Richard Feynman
And I Don’t Want to Live This Life - bio of Nancy Spungen
Angela’s Ashes was good - definitely keep it on your list.
Hitch-22. I watched Christopher Hitchens quite a bit on youtube. Then I watched his battle with cancer. So the read was meaningful to me.
Another vote for Nicholas and Alexandra. I have yet to find a better book on this topic. It’s a bit of an emotionally wrenching read because his writing is very scholarly and yet engaging, but there’s a dark cloud hovering the entire time because of course you know from the start that it’s all going to come a brutal, bloody end.
I was fascinated to learn a few years ago that Robert K. Massie’s son had hemophilia and contracted Hep C and HIV from blood products–however, he eventually got a liver transplant, which cured both the Hep C and the hemophilia (since clotting factors are produced in the liver). And he’s had HIV since 1978 but has some rare genetic resistance to it and has never progressed to AIDS. Crazy stuff.
For some reason, the first memoir that came to mind was Louis Nizer’s My Life In Court, published in 1961.
I found the book well-written (though I’m not a big fan of courtroom drama), especially his account of the Quentin Reynolds libel suit against Westbrook Pegler.
Nizer is the guy I’d hire to represent me in a civil case. If he was still alive, that is.
My Life in France by Julia Child is my pick.
I’m not a big fan of the genre, so take this with a grain of salt.
Anthony Burgess - (2 vol.) Big God and Little Wilson and You’ve Had Your time
George McDonald Fraser - Quartered Safe Out Here
Robert Graves - Goodby To All That
Haven Kimmel - A Girl Named Zippy
The Tender Bar by J. R. Moehringer. Not a celebrity bio, but an engrossing memoir about a young man finding his way in the world, framed by his relationships with the characters populating his neighborhood tavern.
All Over but the Shoutin’, Rick Bragg
Just Kids, Patti Smith (on her relationship with Mapplethorpe)
The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
With regard to Angela’s Ashes: Give it a go! It is such a beautifully written book - one I’ll never forget.
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. An excellent biography. But I’ll admit that when I read it several years ago, I totally missed its potential as the basis for a musical.
The Actor’s Life: Journals, 1956-1976 - Charlton Heston
Fascinating look at the inside of the era of epic film. Along with stage and real life, including marching with Dr. King.
While Palm Sunday by Kurt Vonnegut is not strictly an autobiography, but a rather a collection of essays and speeches linked with autobiographical details, is the one book in this genre I find myself picking up over and over.
In the realm of more traditional biographies, the first ones which come to mind are Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin and Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw.
Giant of the Senate, Al Franken
My Life as an Indian, James Willard Shultz
Lost City of the Incas, Hiram Bingham
A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca, Andre Resendez
The Moon’s a Balloon by David Niven is very good. Niven was a bit of a spinner of tales, but it’s a hugely entertaining read.