Classic American Autobiographies

Classic American Autobiographies

<b>The true diversity of the American experience comes to life in this superlative collection of autobiographies—including those of Benjamin Franklin, Frederick Douglas, Mark Twain, and more... </b><br><br><i>A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson</i> (1682), perhaps the first American bestseller, recounts this thirty-nine-year-old woman’s harrowing months as the captive of Narragansett Indians.<br><br><i>The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin</i> (1771–1789), the most famous of all American autobiographies, gives a lively portrait of a chandler’s son who became a scientist, inventor, educator, diplomat, humorist—and a Founding Father of this land.<br><br><i>Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass </i>(1845), the gripping slave narrative that helped change the course of American history, reveals the true nature of the black experience in slavery.<br><br><i>Old Times on the Mississippi </i>(1875), Mark Twain’s unforgettable account of a riverboat pilot’s life, established his signature style and shows us the metamorphosis of a man into a writer.<br><br><i>Four Autobiographical Narratives</i> (1900–1902), published in the <i>Atlantic Monthly</i> by Zitkala-Sa (Red Bird), also known as Gertrude Bonnin, provide us with a voice too seldom heard: a Native American woman fighting for her culture in the white man’s world.<br><br><b>Edited and with an Introduction by William L. Andrews <br>and an Afterword by Paul John Eakin</b>