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Free Online Autobiographies – Biographies I, J, K, L

Free online autobiographies - biographies I, J, K, L

Free online autobiographies, biographies I, J, K, L. One webpage of more than a dozen with many free online biographies and memoirs.

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Biographies of Subjects I, J, K and L

Iacocca: An Autobiography – Free Online Autobiographies

Iacocca, Lee
Dell 1984

Iacocca grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, going to work for Ford Motor Co. in 1946. He transferred to the company’s Dearborn, MI headquarters about 1956, where he move up the ranks to President in 1970. However, he was fired by owner Henry Ford II in 1978. He was then hired by Chrysler to save that company, as it was nearly bankrupt. He brought Chrysler back from the brink and became a national celebrity in the process. His autobiography was a huge best-seller. Free online autobiographies.

Iacocca, Lido Anthony (1924-2019)

Ibsen (Literary lives)

Gosse, Edmund William
Scribner 1908 Dewey Dec. Biography

“A temperate but appreciative study of Ibsen’s peculiar genius, the influence molding it and its significance in the development of Norwegian literature and culture.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926

Ibsen, Henrik (1828-1906)

Life and letters of Washington Irving, Vol 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

Irving, Pierre Munroe
Putnam 1883 Dewey Dec. Biography

“The standard complete life.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926

Irving, Washington (1783-1859)

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Recollections of a Foreign Minister – Free Online Autobiographies

Iswolsky, Alexander Petrovich
Doubleday 1921 Dewey Dec. Biography

Careful pictures of men and events in Russia from 1905 to 1917 as seen by the minister of foreign affairs, a moderate liberal who saw his country the unhappy victim of the extremes.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1912-1921. Free online autobiographies.

Iswolsky, Alexander Petrovich (1856-1919)

Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of Mantua, 1474-1539, A Study of the Renaissance, Vol 1

Volume 2

Ady, Julia Mary (Cartwright)
Dutton 1923 Dewey Dec. Biography

“Records the brilliant life and achievements of “a typical child of the Renaissance,” a woman remarkable for her beauty, her promotion of art and letters, and her statesmanship. “Isabella will be long remembered as the fairest and most perfect flower of womanhood which blossomed in the immortal days of the Italian Renaissance.””
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926

Isabella d’Este, Consort of Giovanni Francesco II, Marquis of Mantua (1474-1539)

Andrew Jackson (American statesmen)

Sumner, William Graham
Houghton 1917 Dewey Dec. Biography

“An able critical treatment of Jackson’s part in the political and financial history of the United States from 1824 to 1840. An excellent brief life.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926

Jackson, Andrew, U.S. President (1767-1845)

Stonewall Jackson (American crisis biographies)

White, Henry Alexander
Macrae-Smith 1909 Dewey Dec. Biography

“An excellent biography, based on original sources, earlier lives and the official records. Valuable on the military side.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926

Jackson, Thomas Jonathan (1824-1863)

The Letters of William James, Vol 1 – Autobiographies Online

Volume 2 – Autobiographies Online

James, Henry, ed.
Atlantic monthly 1920 Dewey Dec. Biography

“The whole man, with his wide interests in philosophy, medicine, painting, and writing, as well as the home and Harvard life, is admirably disclosed in his letters, pencil sketches and in the biographical sketch by his son.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
“What letters! The letters of Lamb, of Edward Fitzgerald, are not more delightful. The best of them, naturally, are to philosophers and men of letters, who evoked from him an amazing multiplicity of ideas and to whom he let fly a delicious compound of sound reason and jocularity.”
“In what other collection of letters shall we find a writer so swift, so vivid, so varied and so spontaneous? James reveals to us all his moods. his likes and dislikes, his communing with the universe, his fun. Unintentionally, he writes his autobiography, in which we trace his intellectual development.”
– The Book Review Digest. Free online autobiographies.

James, William (1842-1910)

Jean Jaures, Socialist and Humanitarian

Pease, Margaret
Huebsch 1917 Dewey Dec. Biography

This book has been written to acquaint English readers with the socialist editor, author, orator and parliamentary leader whom J. Ramsay Macdonald, in his introduction, calls “the greatest democratic personal force in Europe – even in the world,” and who, after having spent the last day of his life in a vain effort to avert the war, was assassinated on July 31, 1914. Chapter 1 gives “a. short sketch of the man and his career.” Succeeding chapters on Socialism, Jaures and the Dreyfus case, Socialist methods, “The new army,” and International peace, while giving Jaures’s views and actions, necessarily also contribute much to the history of French socialism.
“Many hoary old calumnies are brought forward against Catholicism.”
– The Book Review Digest

Jaures, Jean (Auguste Marie Joseph Jean Léon Jaurès) (1859-1914)

John Jay (American statesmen)

Pellew, George
Houghton 1917 Dewey Dec. Biography

“An unusually clear picture of the Revolutionary period and the two succeeding decades, which abounds in excerpts from Jay’s correspondence.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926

Jay, John (1745-1829)

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Maid of France. Being the story of the life and death of Jeanne D’Arc

Lang, Andrew
Longmans 1908 Dewey Dec. Biography

“An exhaustive, scholarly work, the most complete and critical biography in English. The author’s issue with Anatole France’s conception of the Maid in Vie de Jeanne d’Arc gives the narrative a controversial tone that detracts from its interest for general reading.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
“Mr Lang’s own conception of Jeanne is very simple and uncompromising: she was gifted with ‘genius’ which should be the marvel of the world while the world stands’; she was not only brave, saintly and a natural leader of men, but of a high intelligence. … He will have nothing to do with the theory of clerical inspiration; he holds that . . . she was as far as possible from the ordinary type of the mystic or hysteric.”
– Standard Catalog for Public Libraries : Biography Section (1927)

Jeanne d’Arc, Saint (1412-1431)

Joan of Arc

Lowell, Francis Cabot
Houghton 1896 Dewey Dec. Biography

Distinctly the best thing in the English language on the life and career of the Maid of Orleans. Based on latest French authorities.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1904
“Mr Lowell’s design is to exclude the legendary element by stating just what is known of Joan’s actual life and achievements. The result is that her personality stands out pure, strong and simple without artificial light.”
– Standard Catalog for Public Libraries : Biography Section (1927)

Jeanne d’Arc, Saint (1412-1431)

Thomas Jefferson (American statesmen)

Morse, John Torrey
Houghton 1917 Dewey Dec. Biography

“Chiefly devoted to Jefferson’s official career after 1790 – his relations to Washington, Hamilton, Randolph, and Burr, to the Louisiana purchase, and to the embargo – receiving particular attention. Based on Randall’s Life and Jefferson’s Works.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926

Jefferson, Thomas, U. S. President (1743-1826)

Thomas Jefferson (Figures from American History)

Muzzey, David Saville
Scribner 1918 Dewey Dec. Biography

“This book is pleasing because it is a smooth-flowing narrative stressing fairly all of the outstanding events in the career of America’s first great party leader.”
“A brief, lucid, impartial résumé. The author combines enthusiasm for the merits of his subject, without which a good biography cannot be written, with a keenly critical judgment of Jefferson’s limitations.”
“Long familiarity with American political history with its shifting perspective, has given Dr Muzzey an excellent background for this scholarly and useful work.”
– The Book Review Digest

Jefferson, Thomas, U. S. President (1743-1826)

Along This Way; the Autobiography of James Weldon Johnson – Free Online Autobiographies

Johnson, James Weldon
Viking 1933 Dewey Dec. 973.91

Autobiographies online free.

Johnson, James Weldon (1871-1938)

Sir William Johnson and the Six Nations (Makers of America)

Griffis, William Elliot
Dodd 1891 Dewey Dec. Biography

Practically Indian history of Mohawk valley. Dwells longest on earlier and less generally known portion of Johnson’s life and gives but cursory review of later and more active years.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1904

Johnson, William, 1st Baronet (1715-1774)

Life and Letters of John Paul Jones, Vol 1

Volume 2

De Koven, Anna (Farwell)
Scribner 1913 Dewey Dec. Biography

“A most thorough biography based on extended research and original sources. It is interesting and though not impartial is in the main convincing.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926

Jones, John Paul (1747-1792)

Letters of a Javanese Princess – Autobiographies Free Online

Kartini, Raden Adjeng
Knopf 1920 Dewey Dec. Biography

A fine-spirited vigor pervades this record of the struggles of a regent’s daughter against traditional restrictions in obtaining her education and in working for the emancipation of her country-women. Pictures oriental social life and attitudes.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1912-1921. Autobiographies online free.

Kartini, Raden Adjeng (1879-1904)

John Keats, his Life and Poetry, his Friends, Critics and After-fame

Colvin, Sir Sidney
Scribner 1917 Dewey Dec. Biography

“This careful, thorough, tactful, and exhaustive work renders obsolete all previous expressions of opinion upon Keats; it deserves, indeed, to be labelled with the final word, ‘definitive.’”
“It is a book to read with delight; better still, it is a book that compels one to turn back and reread the poet himself.”
“Manifestly a labour of love, this admirable work illuminated throughout with thorough knowledge and fine critical acumen, deserves to take high rank in the select company of kindred classics. But the book is not only of absorbing interest as a masterly presentment of the poet and his work; it also teems with vivid studies of the circle in which he lived.”
– The Book Review Digest

Keats, John (1795-1821)

The Story of My Life, by Helen Keller – Autobiographies Online

with her letters (1887-1901) and a supplementary account of her education, including passages from the reports and letters of her teacher, A. M. Sullivan

Keller, Helen Adams
Doubleday 1914 Dewey Dec. Biography

“Letters and experiences of the courageous girl, blind and deaf from infancy, who educated herself despite these handicaps.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
“The book is indeed unique. The story itself and the years of effort which have made its telling possible, the personality which it reveals, and the creation of that personality,—these are things which seem little short of miraculous. The narrative of a young woman who has been deaf and blind from infancy is written in a style which is not only idiomatic, but individual and rhythmical. As one reads, one forgets to make allowances for limitations which are apt to slip out of sight, until a chance phrase recalls one with a start to the realization that the mind which deals so freely and normally with the ordinary factors of human life dwells forever in silence and the dark.”
– Standard Catalog for Public Libraries : Biography Section (1927). Autobiographies online free.

Keller, Helen Adams (1880-1968)

Memoirs of an American Prima Donna – Autobiographies Online Free

Kellogg, Clara
Putnam 1913 Dewey Dec. Biography

“A volume of entertaining reminiscences presenting ‘vivid pictures of her life on the operatic stage of America and Europe from the year 1861, when she made her debut to the time of her retirement from the stage. . . . in 1887.”
– Standard Catalog for Public Libraries: Biography Section (1927)
“This story of the first American prima donna presents an interesting picture of operatic life in Europe and America and introduces many noted singers and men of letters.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926. Autobiographies online free.

Kellogg, Clara Louise (1842-1916)

George Kennan: A Writing Life

Congdon, Lee
ISI 2008

“In this wise and penetrating book, Lee Congdon takes us on a wonderfully engaging journey through Kennan’s life, writing, and mind. He not only demonstrates that Kennan had a profound European sensibility and sense of tragedy, but he also demonstrates that Kennan represented the very best of American character and integrity. Congdon concludes that in wisdom and character, Kennan was the greatest American of the twentieth century.” – James Kurth, Swarthmore College

Kennan, George Frost (1904-2005)

Simon Kenton; His Life and Period 1755-1836

Kenton, Edna
Garden City: Doubleday, Doran 1930

Simon Kenton was a living legend on the frontier in Kentucky and the Ohio country, as famous in his time as Daniel Boone and George Rogers Clark; both of whom he knew well. He was an army scout, soldier, hunter, Indian fighter, farmer, and land speculator, and a friend to numerous families on the frontier. This biography was written from an enormous collection of documents, letters and interviews assembled for decades by the 19th century historian Lyman Draper, who never got around to writing the biography of Kenton that he planned.

Kenton, Simon (1755-1836)

Between the Dying and the Dead: Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s Life and the Battle to Legalize Euthanasia

Nicol, Neal and Wylie, Harry
University of Wisconsin 2006

“Dr. Kevorkian gained international notoriety in the 1990s for his passionate advocacy of choice for terminal patients, who have increasingly won the right to decide the time, place, and method of their own death in several Western countries. In 1998 he assisted Thomas Youk, a terminally ill patient suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease, with a lethal injection that was broadcast on CBS’s ’60 Minutes’. Immediately thereafter, Kevorkian was arrested, charged with second-degree murder, tried, and sentenced to 10-25 years in Michigan’s maximum-security prison system… Here, finally, is his own life story, as told to Neal Nicol and Harry Wylie.” – Book jacket

Kevorkian, Jacob (1928-2011)

Let the Trumpet Sound: the Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Oates, Stephen B.
New American Library 1984 Dewey Dec. 973.91

King, Martin Luther (1929-1968)

Memoirs of a Revolutionist, Vol 1 – Autobiographies Online Free

Volume 2 – Free Online Autobiographies

Kropotkin, Peter
Houghton 1899 Dewey Dec. Biography

Published in Atlantic monthly Sep. 1898-Sep. 1899 under title The autobiography of a revolutionist. Graphic details of Russian conditions and of an eventful life.
— A.L.A. Catalog 1904
“Kropotkin’s story is a singularly rich, diversified, and romantic one, and it is attractively told. Nothing more interesting in its way has ever been written than the chapters relating his prison life and escape. The book abounds in instructive pictures of Russian life and character, done with unconscious art.”
– Standard Catalog for Public Libraries : Biography Section (1927). Autobiographies online free.

Kropotkin, Pyotr Alexeyevich, Prince (1842-1921)

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The True La Fayette

Morgan, George
Lippincott 1919 Dewey Dec. Biography

“The book describes not only the life of La Fayette, but the France of his time and the French revolution. The contents are: At Chavaniac—a lordling of Auvergne; College, court, camp; For human rights—the American revolution: Campaigning in America; Before the outbreak; La Fayette in the French revolution; His crisis and his critics; Five years in dungeon depths; In Napoleon’s time; The great tour—5000 miles in America; His last revolution (1830); At La Grange — last days.”
“Mr Morgan’s interesting book paints for us a vivid and living picture of this hero’s career.”
– The Book Review Digest

Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Roch Yves Gilbert de Motier, Marquise de (1757-1834)

Ring Lardner: A Biography

Elder, Donald
NY: Doubleday 1956

An American sports columnist and short story writer widely known for his satirical writings about sports, marriage and the theatre. The author grew up with Lardner in Niles, MI.

Lardner, Ringgold “Ring” Wilmer (1885-1933)

Life and Letters of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Vol 1

Volume 2

Skelton, Oscar Douglas
Toronto: Oxford University 1921 Dewey Dec. Biography

The official biography, the work of a partisan admirer, of one of the greatest statesmen in Canada.

Laurier, Wilfrid (1841-1919)

Robert E. Lee and the Southern Confederacy, 1807-1870 (Heroes of Nations)

White, Henry Alexander
Putnam 1902 Dewey Dec. Biography

Lee, Robert Edward (1807-1870)

Iron Eagle: The Turbulent Life of General Curtis LeMay

Coffey, Thomas M.
Crown 1986

“In World War II he was so daring, ingenious, and effective, first against the Germans and then the Japanese, that he became America’s most famous air commander – in the minds of most experts the greatest this country has ever produced… He devised some of the most innovative aerial strategies of the Second World War, including the low-level B-29 attacks that devastated Japan. After the war LeMay instituted the Berlin Airlift … And later he developed the Strategic Air Command, America’s first line of defense and deterrence.” -Book jacket

LeMay, Curtis Emerson (1906-1990)

Of Things Natural, Wild, and Free: a story about Aldo Leopold

Lorbiecki, Marybeth
1993

A biography of the pioneer in wildlife conservation and author of “A Sand County Almanac.”

Leopold, Aldo (1886-1948)

David Letterman

Lefkowitz, Frances
Chelsea House 1997

A biography of the late-night television talk show host, comedian, and comedy writer who first appeared nationally in 1978 on the Tonight Show.

Letterman, David M. (1947 – )

Liberace: An American Boy

Pyron, Darden Asbury
University of Chicago 2000

“Arguably the most popular entertainer of the twentieth century, this very public figure nonetheless kept more than a few secrets. Born in the Midwest to Polish-Italian immigrant parents, he was a child prodigy who, by the age of twenty, had performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Abandoning the concert stage for the lucrative and glittery world of nightclubs, celebrities, and television, Liberace became America’s most popular entertainer. While wildly successful and good natured outwardly, Liberace, Pyron reveals, was a complicated man whose political, social, and religious conservativism existed side-by-side with a lifetime of secretive homosexuality. Even so, his swishy persona belied an inner life of ferocious aggression and ambition.” -Publisher

Liberace (1919-1987)

Abraham Lincoln. (American statesmen), Vol 1

Volume 2

Morse, John Torrey
Houghton 1917 Dewey Dec. Biography

“A condensed but clear presentation, careful of facts and inviting confidence.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926

Lincoln, Abraham, U. S. President (1809-1865)

A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln Condensed from Nicolay & Hay’s Abraham Lincoln: A History

Nicolay, John George
Century 1903 Dewey Dec. Biography

[The Nicolay & Hay book is] “… the standard authoritative life of Lincoln, by two men who knew and served Lincoln in an official capacity. Nicolay’s Short life of Abraham Lincoln is an excellent abridgment.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
“The authors, as private secretaries to President Lincoln, stood in most intimate and confidential relations with him, and had his approval of this history for which they began to prepare during the war. Their work is really a history of the period with Lincoln as the central figure, particular attention naturally being given to the political struggle preceding the war, and to the narrative of military events.”
– Standard Catalog for Public Libraries : Biography Section (1927)

Lincoln, Abraham, U. S. President (1809-1865)

For much more on Abraham Lincoln, see the Lincoln page on this website, containing free online biographies, works by Lincoln, speeches, historical analysis and fiction.

Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography

Baker, Jean H.
Norton 1987 Dewey Dec. 000

Lincoln, Mary Ann Todd (1818-1882)

Liszt and his Music

Hervey, Arthur
Lane 1911 Dewey Dec. Biography

“An admirable account of Liszt the man, the composer, conductor and teacher, giving most space to his compositions and the influence of his personality.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926

Liszt, Franz (1811-1886)

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My Story of the War: a Woman’s Narrative of Four Years Personal Experience as Nurse in the Union Army … – Free Online Autobiographies

and in relief work at home, in hospitals, camps, and at the front, during the war of the rebellion. With anecdotes, pathetic incidents, and thrilling reminiscences portraying the lights and shadows of hospital life and the Sanitary Service of the War

Livermore, Mary A.
Hartford, CT: Worthington 1889 Dewey Dec. 973.7

The title suggests this is a 1st person account by a Civil War nurse, but it goes well beyond that. When Mary Livermore prepared to write this book, two decades after the war, she draw upon a large personal archive of her correspondence and articles she had written for publication. Besides being a volunteer nurse she was a highly skilled writer and apparently also served in important administrative roles in the Sanitary Commission that ran the Union hospitals. In addition to stories of nursing experiences, the book contains, at minimum, pen portraits of soldiers and other personalities, military history, and considerable information about the operations of the Sanitary Commission. Autobiographies online free.

Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1820-1905)

The Life of David Livingstone

Blaikie, William Garden
London: Murray 1911 Dewey Dec. Biography

Livingstone, David (1813-1873)

The Life and Labors of David Livingstone, LL.D, D.C.L.

Covering His Entire Career in Southern and Central Africa. Carefully prepared from the most authentic sources … A thrilling narrative of the adventures, discoveries, experiences and achievements of the greatest explorer of modern times in a wild and wonderful country

Grandgent, Charles Hall
Jones 1918 Dewey Dec. Biography

Livingstone, David (1813-1873)

Mr. Lloyd George

Raymond, Edward Thompson
Doran 1922 Dewey Dec. Biography

“A careful and searching study animated by a desire to understand the statesman and the man. It is kept constantly interesting by the author’s lightness of touch, swift irony, and power of keen analysis.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926

Lloyd George, David (1863-1945)

Lombardi: His Life and Times

Wells, Robert W.
Prairie Oak: 1997

Biography of football coach Vince Lombardi, who became famous in Wisconsin as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s.

Lombardi, Vince (1913-1970)

Book of Jack London, Vol 1

Volume 2

London, Charmian
Century 1921 Dewey Dec. Biography

“London’s early life, his struggle to find self-expression in writing, and his varied and adventurous experiences as man and author portrayed in part through his letters.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
“Those of us who knew Jack London ever so slightly feel that in her book Charmian London has given us a life-sized portrait of the man. More than that, as his wife she has held herself up to him as the mirror for his personality; and in her love, her devotion, her understanding, we see Jack London as it would have been impossible for us to see him through any other medium. ‘The Book of Jack London’ will be an inexhaustible source for other studies of Jack London that may come.”
– Standard Catalog for Public Libraries : Biography Section (1927)

London, Jack (1876-1916)

Joe Louis: Heavyweight Champion

Jakoubek, Robert E.
Chelsea House 1990

A biography of Joe Louis describing his youth in a Detroit ghetto, his rise to heavyweight champion and major sports hero, and his role in destroying the myth of racial inferiority. (Real name: Joseph Louis Barrow)

Louis, Joseph (1914-1981)

Autobiography of St Ignatius – Free Online Autobiographies

Loyola, Ignacio de, St., ed. by J.F.X. O’Conor
Benziger 1900 Dewey Dec. Biography

The founder of the Roman Catholic Jesuit order (Society of Jesus). Autobiographies online free.

Loyola, Ignacio de, St (1491-1556)

Ignatius Loyola; an Attempt at an Impartial Biography

Sedgwick, Henry Dwight
Macmillan 1923 Dewey Dec. Biography

“An English biography by a non-Catholic who has ignored traditions and sought his material from original sources. He tells of Loyola’s youth, his conversion, his education in Spain and France, and his ascetic life in Venice and Rome. After the founding of the Society of Jesus, in 1539, the book deals largely with the history of that body, with closing chapters on the character and last days of Loyola.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926

Loyola, Ignacio de, Saint (1491-1556)

Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther

Bainton, Roland H.
New American Library 1950 Dewey Dec. 000

Luther, Martin (1483-1546)

Martin Luther, The Man and his Work

McGiffert. Arthur Cushman
Century 1911 Dewey Dec. Biography

“A convenient and trustworthy treatment of Luther for the general reader.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
“A ‘plain and literal tale’ of Luther as a man and as an influence upon his times. In dealing objectively with his personality and his work the study becomes purely historical and offers no theological contentions to arouse religious animosity. . . All the light that modern research can throw on the great reformer has been employed.”
– Standard Catalog for Public Libraries : Biography Section (1927)

Luther, Martin (1483-1546)

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