Chicago Literature Index

Memoirs and Autobiographies

	Title	Links	Published
1.	*Culture’s Garland*	Eugene Field Eugene Field Link	1887
2.	*Twenty Years at Hull House*	Jane Addams Jane Addams Link	1909
3.	*My Chicago*	Anna Morgan Anna Morgan Link	1918
4.	*The Autobiography of an Idea*	Louis Sullivan	1924
5.	*My 30 Years War: The Autobiography*	Margaret Anderson Margaret Anderson Link	1930
6.	*My Thirty Years’ War*	Margaret Anderson Margaret Anderson Link	1930
7.	*The Second Twenty Years at Hull House*	Jane Addams Jane Addams Link	1930
8.	*Homecoming: An Autobiography*	Floyd Dell Floyd Dell Link	1933
9.	*Across Spoon River*	Edgar Lee Masters Edgar Lee Masters Link	1936
10.	*A Poet’s Life: Seventy Years in a Changing World*	Harriet Monroe Harriet Monroe Link	1938
11.	*Black Boy*	Richard Wright Richard Wright Link	1945
12.	*Reporter: A Memoir*	Seymour Hersh Seymour Hersh Link	1951
13.	*Always the Young Stranger*	Carl Sandburg Carl Sandburg Link	1953
14.	*Fabulous Chicago*	Emmett Dedmon Emmett Dedmon Link	1953
15.	*A Child of the Century: The Autobiography of Ben Hecht*	Ben Hecht Ben Hecht Link	1954
16.	*Chicago, With Love: A Polite and Personal History*	Arthur Meeker, Jr. Arthur Meeker Link	1955
17.	*A Touch of Innocence*	Katherine Dunham Katherine Dunham Link	1959
18.	*The Strange Necessity: The Autobiography*	Margaret Anderson Margaret Anderson Link	1962
19.	*The Unknowable Gurdjieff* A memoir dedicated to her partner, Jane Heap.	Margaret Anderson Margaret Anderson Link	1962
20.	*Many Lives, One Love*	Fanny Butcher Fanny Butcher Link	1972
21.	*Report from Part One*	Gwendolyn Brooks Gwendolyn Brooks Link	1972
22.	*American Hunger*	Richard Wright Richard Wright Link	1977
23.	*The Diaries of Willard Motley*	Jerome Klinkowitz (editor)	1978
24.	*The Secrets of Grown-Ups*	Vera Caspary Vera Caspary Link	1979
25.	*On Assignment*	Bill Kurtis Bill Kurtis Link	1983
26.	*Confessions of a Parish Priest: An Autobiography*	Andrew Greeley Father Andrew Greeley Link	1986
27.	*Kup: A Man, an Era, a City*	Irv Kupcinet Irv Kupcinet Link	1988
28.	*I Came A Stranger: The Story of a Hull-House Girl*	Hilda Satt Polachek Hilda Satt Polachek Link	1989
29.	*It’s Always Something*	Gilda Radner Gilda Radner Link	1989
30.	*Making Trouble: Essays on Gay History, Politics, and the University*	John D'Emilio John D’Emilio Link	1992
31.	*Dreams From My Father*	Barrack Obama Barrack Obama Link	1995
32.	*Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King*	B.B. King and David Ritz B.B. King Link	1996
33.	*Report from Part Two*	Gwendolyn Brooks Gwendolyn Brooks Link	1996
34.	*Girl in the Mirror: Three Generations of Black Women in Motion*	Natasha Tarpley Natasha Tarpley Link	1998
35.	*Furthermore: Memories of a Parish Priest*	Andrew Greeley Father Andrew Greeley Link	1999
36.	*Light My Fire: My Life With The Doors*	Ray Manzarek Ray Manzarek Link	1999
37.	*Orphan Girl: The Memoir of a Chicago Bag Lady*	Marie James and Jane Hertenstein Jane Hertenstein Link	1999
38.	*The Soup Has Many Eyes: From Shtetl to Chicago: a Memoir of One Family’s Journey Through History*	Joann Rose Leonard Joann Rose Leonard Link	2000
39.	*Days and Nights at The Second City*	Bernard Sahlins Bernard Sahlins Link	2001
40.	*Lake Effect*	Rich Cohen Rich Cohen Link	2002
41.	*Chaka! Through the Fire*	Chaka Khan and Tonya Bolden Chaka Khan Link	2003
42.	*Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion’s World Series of Poker*	James McManus James McManus Link	2003
43.	*Physical: An American Checkup,*	James McManus James McManus Link	2005
44.	*A Theater of Our Own: A History and a Memoir of 1,001 Nights in Chicago*	Richard Christiansen Richard Christiansen Link	2006
45.	*I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This: And Other Things That Strike Me as Funny*	Bob Newhart Bob Newhart Link	2006
46.	*Sox and the City: A Fan’s Love Affair with the White Sox from the Heartbreak of ’67 to the Wizards of Oz*	Richard Roeper Richard Roeper Link	2006
47.	*Touch and Go: A Memoir*	Studs Terkel Studs Terkel Link	2007
48.	*Drunkard: A Hard Drinking Life*	Neil Steinberg Neil Steinberg Link	2008
49.	*P.S. Further Thoughts From a Lifetime of Listening*	Studs Terkel Studs Terkel Link	2008
50.	*Talk Thai*	Ira Sukrungruang Ira Sukrungruang Link	2010
51.	*The Cooked Seed*	Anchee Min	2013
52.	*Song of My Life*	Harry Mark Petrakis Harry Mark Petrakis Link	2014
53.	*Romantic Violence: Memoirs of an American Skinhead*	Christian Picciolini Christian Piccolini Link	2015
54.	*My Cubs: A Love Story*	Scott Simon Scott Simon Link	2017
55.	*The Boy Who Really, Really Wanted to Have Sex: The Memoir of a Fat Kid*	John McNally John McNally Link	2017
56.	*Once I Was You*	Maria Hinojosa Maria Hinojosa Link	2020
57.	*Blow Your House Down: A Story of Family, Feminism, and Treason*	Gina Frangello Gina Frangello Link	2021
58.	*Three Girls From Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood*	Dawn Turner Dawn Turner Link	2021
59.	*Memories of a Gay Catholic Boyhood: Coming of Age in the Sixties*	John D'Emilio John D’Emilio Link	2022
60.	*The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER*	Thomas Fisher Thomas Fisher Link	2022
61.	*Lilacs of Douglas Park*	Sheryl L. Fuller	2024
62.	*Swimming to the Horizon: Crack, Psychosis, and Street-Corner Social Work*	Zak Mucha Zak Mucha Link	2024
63.	*And You Will Call It Fate*	Timothy J. Hillegonds Timothy J. Hillegonds Link	2026