Join BookitisSave favorites, build lists, and follow creators.

Classic American autobiographies

Work detail

Bookitis Pick
Cover for Classic American autobiographies
CA
Image source: Open Library
William L. AndrewsPaul John Eakin1 editions

A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson (1682), perhaps the first American bestseller, recounts this thirty-nine-year-old woman's harrowing months as the captive of Narragansett Indians. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (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. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845), the gripping slave narrative that helped change the course of American history, reveals the true nature of the black experience in slavery. Old Times on the Mississippi (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. Four Autobiographical Narratives (1900-1902), published in the Atlantic Monthly 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.

Overview

Shared work-level identity and catalog context.

2 credited authorsSearch language english

Bookitis keeps work pages focused on the shared book identity and the editions that actually belong to it. Unrelated books should not appear here as primary content.

Contributors

People credited with this work in the active catalog.

  • William L. Andrews

    Author profile in the active Bookitis catalog

    Open Author
  • Paul John Eakin

    Author profile in the active Bookitis catalog

    Open Author

Editions

Publication-specific versions linked to this work only.