“Writing memoir is a way to figure out who you used to be
and how you got to be who you are.” (Abigail Thomas, Thinking
About Memoir)
Over the last decade or so, I have taken a particular liking
to memoirs. Intrigued by a few historians’ memoirs during the first few years
of Ph.D. work—namely those of William McNeill and Philip Curtin—around the same
time I was developing research and teaching fields in world history and African
history, interest in the genre stuck. At the same time, as I was attempting to fashion
myself into a historian of American religion, I came across John Boles’ edited
collection Autobiographical Reflections
on Southern Religious History as well as Albert Raboteau’s memoir A Sorrowful Joy, a gripping account of
his journey into the Russian Orthodox faith. In the ensuing years, I found
Randall Stephens’ recent
thoughts (and blog post comments) on historians and memoirs illuminating. An
abiding interest in historical memory and the act of commemoration has also
oriented me in the direction of memoir. After reading Anthony Pinn's memoir this weekend and seeing John Fea's blog post about possibly writing a memoir of his speaking tours (which I really hope he publishes), I decided to put some thoughts in writing.
I’ve not studied memoirs from the perspective of literary
criticism or the historical development of documenting one’s life. Simply put,
I like a good story. And I suppose all along I secretly hoped reading memoirs
would help to make me a better writer.
Since I found that I routinely recommend memoirs to people, a
few years back I decided to start compiling a list of all the memoirs I’ve read
over the last 10 years. You’ll find that list below.
As it happened, I had the good fortune to meet some of these
memoirists—I spent some time with Albert Raboteau while in Princeton for a
Jonathan Edwards conference way back in 2003 and I heard Alex Lemon speak a few
years ago when I was on faculty at Sam Houston State University. Around the
time I read Vinson Synan’s memoir I was able to conduct an interview with him
on campus at Regent Divinity School to discuss John Osteen and the history of
neopentecostalism in preparation for my book on Lakewood Church. Also, I’ve
assigned some of these memoirs in my college classes the last couple of years.
As I recall, students responded quite favorably to the books. In a class on
American religion students read G. Willow Wilson’s transformation from atheist
to Muslim in The Butterfly Mosque and
in a world history course Samuel Broadnax’s account of his role as a WW 2 aviator
provided insight into the Tuskegee Airmen. Last semester I assigned John Carlos’s
memoir in a world history course; it was useful for understanding the politics
of race, sports, and the Cold War era.
Here they are the memoirs in no particular order.
William McNeill, The
Pursuit of Truth: A Historian’s Memoir
Philip Curtin, On
the Fringes of History: A Memoir
Wilbert Rideau, In
the Place of Justice
Donald Miller, Blue
Like Jazz
G. Willow Wilson, The
Butterfly Mosque
Alex Lemon, Happy:
A Memoir
Terese Svoboda, Black
Glasses Like Clark Kent: A GI’s Secret from Postwar Japan
Albert Raboteau, A
Sorrowful Joy
Sara Miles, Take
This Bread: A Radical Conversion
Vinson Synan, An
Eyewitness Remembers the Century of the Holy Spirit
Gary Smith, SJ, Radical
Compassion: Finding Christ in the Heart of the Poor
Nicholas Wolterstorff, Lament
for a Son
Cornel West, Brother
West: Living and Loving Out Loud, A Memoir
Mishna Wolff, I’m
Down: A Memoir
Timothy Tyson, Blood
Done Sign My Name
Clayborne Carson, Martin’s
Dream: My Journey and the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Oliver Harrington, Why
I Left America and Other Essays
Bettina Aptheker, Intimate
Politics: How I Grew Up Red, Fought for Free Speech, and Became a Feminist
Rebel
Samuel L. Broadnax, Blue
Skies, Black Wings: African American Pioneers of Aviation
Shirley Graham Du Bois, His
Day is Marching On: A Memoir of W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois, In
Battle for Peace: The Story of My 83rd Birthday
Kevin Jennings, Mama’s
Boy, Preacher’s Son: A Memoir of Growing Up, Coming Out, and Changing America’s
Schools
William Stringfellow, My People is the Enemy
William Stringfellow, My People is the Enemy
David McGlynn, A
Door in the Ocean: A Memoir
Francis Bok, Escape
from Slavery
Ishmael Beah, A
Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Benjamin Ajak, Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng, They
Poured Fire On Us From the Sky: The Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan
Mende Nazar, Slave:
My True Story
Tupac Shakur, The
Rose that Grew from Concrete
Lamin Sanneh, Summoned
from the Margin: Homecoming of an African
Michael Muhammed Knight, Impossible
Man
Michael Muhammad Knight, Why
I am a Five Percenter
Jane Lazarre, Beyond
the Whiteness of Whiteness
Robert S. Graetz, A
White Preacher’s Memoir: The Montgomery Bus Boycott
John Hope Franklin, Mirror
to America
Preston Jones, ed., Is
Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant: A Professor and a Punk Rocker Discuss,
Science, Religion, Naturalism & Christianity
Junius Irving Scales, Cause
at Heart: A Former Communist Remembers
Harry Belafonte, My
Song: A Memoir of Art, Race, and Defiance
Julia Sheeres, Jesus
Land: A Memoir
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgove, Free
to be Bound
Horace A. Porter, The
Making of a Black Scholar: From Georgia to the Ivy League
John Perkins, Let Justice Roll Down
John Perkins, Let Justice Roll Down
A.J. Jacobs, The
Year of Living Biblically
William Pickens, Bursting
Bonds
Mark Naison, White
Boy: A Memoir
Rachel Held Evans, A
Year of Biblical Womanhood
Patton Dodd, My
Faith So Far: A Story of Conversion and Confusion
Jan Vansina, Living
with Africa
Megan Hustad, More
Than Conquerors: A Memoir of Lost Arguments (h/t: Michael
Hammond)
Robert Paul Wolffe, Autobiography
of an Ex-White Man
Anna Arnold Hedgman, The
Trumpet Sounds: A Memoir of Negro Leadership
Jesmyn Ward, Men
We Reaped: A Memoir
Jonathan Scott Holloway, Jim
Crow Wisdom: Memory and Identity in Black America Since 1940
Randall Balmer, Growing
Pains: Learning to Love My Father’s Religion
W. E.
B. Du Bois, The
Autobiography of W. E. B. Du Bois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last
Decade of Its First Century
What
memoirs have you read and enjoyed? What memoirs would you recommend? What
memoirs have you assigned for classes or in a teaching setting?
