There's something deeply personal and universalistic about Ian Buruma's writing. He acknowledges the multiplicity of possible perspectives without sliding into the rudderless waters of postmodernism.
Using techniques applied in his work, an Iraqi beekeeper rescued Yazidi and Christian minority women and children from Daesh during the recent Sinjar massacres.
Ryan H. Walsh's Astral Weeks beautifully captures a not-so-distant era of free-form radio playing the "boss-town sound", people living communally, thriving underground newspapers -- and a 22-year-old Van Morrison coming into his own.
Shoba Narayan's memoir of creating a new life in Bangalore after two decades in the US centers on an unlikely friendship with her milk lady and their quest to buy a cow.
These women are not simply simulating scenes of poverty for the reader; they experienced it and now they own it as one constant facet of their diverse identities.
With Vacationland John Hodgman moves away from comedy and tries a new approach: humble reality.
Georges Didi-Hubermann's Bark considers the implications of truth in images from living pieces of the Holocaust.
Linda Greenhouse, one of America's top journalists takes aim at some of the field's worst and most outdated habits in Just a Journalist.
Le Guin's understanding of aliens, or others of any stripe, is more evolved than ours.
Julie Lythcott-Haims gives a voice to the internal dialogue—the self-loathing, really—of living a life as a biracial woman who, for most of her life, wasn't quite sure if she was allowed to call herself black.
Hodgman makes no secret that the relatively inconsequential, real-life stories of an artistically and financially successful white middle-aged man are hardly what the world needs right now. But his humor sure helps in these times.
Sujatha Gidla's memoir is an example of history as told from down below, by the people who were involved in the labour and caste protests and the women who did the reproductive labour for the revolutionaries.
Applying for a public service job? Put "sense of humor" at the top of your resume.
"[While] the rest of us were toying with chemistry sets [Tommy Wiseau] was lighting the lab on fire," says Greg Sestero in his film memoir about The Room.
Patty Schemel's Hit So Hard is one of the most honest -- but moreover, one of the most useful -- addiction memoirs in recent history. Courtney Love should read.
Writing a pop song might entail skipping easily across the surface of a subject, but depth and purpose is critical for a memoir.
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