The Best Cultural Heritage Biographies & Memoirs 2024

1. Pre-Owned, Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America, (Paperback)

Pre-Owned - NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Finalist for the PEN/USA Award in Creative Nonfiction, the Thurber Prize for American Humor, and the Audie Award in Biography/Memoir This Random House Reader's Circle edition includes a reading group guide and a conversation between Firoozeh Dumas and Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner Remarkable . . . told with wry humor shorn of sentimentality . . . In the end, what sticks with the reader is an exuberant immigrant embrace of America.--San Francisco Chronicle In 1972, when she was seven, Firoozeh Dumas and her family moved from Iran to Southern California, arriving with no firsthand knowledge of this country beyond her father's glowing memories of his graduate school years here. More family soon followed, and the clan has been here ever since. Funny in Farsi chronicles the American journey of Dumas's wonderfully engaging family: her engineer father, a sweetly quixotic dreamer who first sought riches on Bowling for Dollars and in Las Vegas, and later lost his job during the Iranian revolution; her elegant mother, who never fully mastered English (nor cared to); her uncle, who combated the effects of American fast food with an army of miraculous American weight-loss gadgets; and Firoozeh herself, who as a girl changed her name to Julie, and who encountered a second wave of culture shock when she met and married a Frenchman, becoming part of a one-couple melting pot. In a series of deftly drawn scenes, we watch the family grapple with American English (hot dogs and hush puppies?--a complete mystery), American traditions (Thanksgiving turkey?--an even greater mystery, since it tastes like nothing), and American culture (Firoozeh's parents laugh uproariously at Bob Hope on television, although they don't get the jokes even when she translates them into Farsi). Above all, this is an unforgettable story of identity, discovery, and the power of family love. It is a book that will leave us all laughing--without an accent. Praise for Funny in Farsi Heartfelt and hilarious--in any language.--Glamour A joyful success.--Newsday What's charming beyond the humor of this memoir is that it remains affectionate even in the weakest, most tenuous moments for the culture. It's the brilliance of true sophistication at work.--Los Angeles Times Book Review Often hilarious, always interesting . . . Like the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, this book describes with humor the intersection and overlapping of two cultures.--The Providence Journal A humorous and introspective chronicle of a life filled with love--of family, country, and heritage.--Jimmy Carter Delightfully refreshing.--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Funny in Farsi] brings us closer to discovering what it means to be an American.--San Jose Mercury News

Pre-Owned, Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America, (Paperback)

2. Angels along the Way, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

Pre-Owned -

Angels along the Way, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

3. The Face: A Time Code, Pre-Owned (Paperback)

Pre-Owned - Ruth Ozeki, a Zen Buddhist priest, sets herself the task of staring at her face in a mirror for three full, uninterrupted hours; her ruminations ripple out from personal and familial memories to wise and honest meditations on families and aging, race and the body. --Minneapolis Star Tribune What did your face look like before your parents were born? In The Face: A Time Code, bestselling author and Zen Buddhist priest Ruth Ozeki recounts, in moment-to-moment detail, a profound encounter with memory and the mirror. According to ancient Zen tradition, your face before your parents were born is your true face. Who are you? What is your true self? What is your identity before or beyond the dualistic distinctions, like father/mother and good/evil, that define us? With these questions in mind, Ozeki challenges herself to spend three hours gazing into her own reflection, recording her thoughts, and noticing every possible detail. Those solitary hours open up a lifetime's worth of meditations on race, aging, family, death, the body, self doubt, and, finally, acceptance. In this lyrical short memoir, Ozeki calls on her experience of growing up in the wake of World War II as a half-Japanese, half-Caucasian American; of having a public face as an author; of studying the intricate art of the Japanese Noh mask; of being ordained as a Zen Buddhist priest; and of her own and her parents' aging, to paint a rich and utterly unique portrait of a life as told through a face. Alternately philosophical, funny, personal, political, and poetic, the short memoirs in The Face series offer unique perspectives from some of our favorite writers. Find out more at www.restlessbooks.com/the-face.

The Face: A Time Code, Pre-Owned (Paperback)

4. African American Biographies : Profiles of 558 Current Men and Women, Used [Hardcover]

Civil rights leaders, scientists, sports heroes, and government, business and military leaders: each person in this book has played a major role in 20th-century America.The one-page biographies provide detailed, career-oriented summaries. Criteria for inclusion include career accomplishments, being the first African American in the field or profession, individual awards (Hall of Fame, Olympic medal, etc.) and overall leadership. Includes occupational and geographical indexes.

African American Biographies : Profiles of 558 Current Men and Women, Used [Hardcover]

5. Famous Blacks give secrets of success (The Ebony success library), Used [Hardcover]

Famous Blacks give secrets of success (The Ebony success library) by Ebony Editors

Famous Blacks give secrets of success (The Ebony success library), Used [Hardcover]

6. African American Biography, Used [Hardcover]

African American Biography (six volumes) profiles 351 African Americans, both living and deceased, prominent in a variety of fields, from civil rights to athletics, politics to literature, entertainment to science, religion to the military. Black-and-white photos accompany each entry, and a list of African Americans by their field of specialization provides an alternative access point for readers. Book jacket.

African American Biography, Used [Hardcover]

7. Interesting People: Black American History Makers [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. Cameo biographies along with Lee's famous pen-and-ink portraits make this book an inviting and inspiring browser for students as well as a useful reference to teachers, writers, librarians, black community leaders and the general reader.Both major achievements and little-known interesting facts are given on over 200 Americans. The coverage is broad: past and present leaders, performers, musicians and sports greats, scientists, writers and military men and women.The material is drawn from a newspaper feature which the author created in 1945. The feature continued until 1986 and has appeared in most of the major black newspapers in the United States.

Interesting People : Black American History Makers, Used [Hardcover]

8. Notable Black American Scientists [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. This reference source provides entries recording the achievements, importance and impacts of the most significant 250 black American scientists throughout time.

Notable Black American Scientists, Used [Hardcover]

9. Malcolm X for Beginners (Writers and Readers) [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. Malcolm X For Beginners reveals the teacher, the leader, and the revolutionary voice of change that Malcolm X was and continues to be. Powerful narrative and graphics tell the story of Malcom X's life, his journey of self-discovery, his far-reaching ideas, his martyrdom, and his impact on an era. Embraced as a righteous prophet of Black power and pride, demanded as the voice of violence, Malcolm X emerges as a complex, brave and brilliant figure with much to teach about the struggle for dignity.

Malcolm X for Beginners (Writers and Readers) [Hardcover - Used]

10. The Early Years [Paperback - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. A KHA BOOK

The Early Years, Used [Paperback]