Reviews of "Memoir - A History"
"We owe Ben Yagoda such a huge debt of thanks: his witty, comprehensive, and insightful 'biography' of the form reminds us why the memoir matters - and will continue to matter as long as humans think, read, and write. This is literary criticism at its lively best."
David Friedman author of A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis and The Immortalists: Charles Lindbergh, Dr. Alexis Carrel, and Their Daring Quest to Live Forever
"Mr. Yagoda falls on the genre with a Mencken-like relish for the contemporary idiocies he encounters. He brings plenty of verve to the story, and he throws useful light on such themes as the tangled relationship between memoirs and the rise of the novel, or the history of the term "autobiography" itself... Deeply interesting."
John Gross Wall Street Journal
"Groundbreaking"
Dallas Morning News
"A delightful book full of scholarship yet free of the hideous jargon and leaden prose that readers have learned to dread in such works... Learned and witty."
Boston Globe
"Excellent . exemplary . He offers a nimble and nuanced discussion of the nettlesome issue of truth and fiction in autobiography and memoir."
Jonathan Yardley Washington Post
"Yagoda presents a spirited account of a form of writing that since its inception has been one of the most contested and most popular... a mixture of literary criticism, cultural history and just enough trivia."
Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Yagoda's incisive exploration is a worthy study of a genre that even now cannot completely be defined."
Los Angeles Times
"Ben Yagoda's engaging, thoughtful -- and fun -- book provides a way to think about the memoir, from St. Augustine to the recent six-word memoir fashion. (The classic example: for sale: baby shoes, never worn.)"
Chicago Tribune, "Editor's Choice"
"A shrewd and witty history of memoir sweeps us from Julius Caesar to James Frey. Our guide, Ben Yagoda, is always fine company, with just the right word, kindly good judgment, and another great story coming up on the next page. It's a splendid journey."
Richard Ben Cramer Pulitzer Prize-winning author of What It Takes: The Way to the White House
"Ben Yagoda is one of the most subtle - and entertaining - writers about writing one can find. His history of the memoir reads between the lines - and the lies - with illuminating precision."
Ron Rosenbaum author of Explaining Hitler and The Shakespeare Wars
