A central figure in the Harlem Renaissance, the members of ABBA, and the outlaw Belle Starr are among the subjects of this month's key life stories.
Bundles, A’Lelia. Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance. Scribner. Jun. 2025. ISBN 9781416544425. 288p. $28.99. BIOGRAPHY
Bundles (On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker) is Walker’s biographer and great-great-granddaughter. She writes a biography of Walker’s daughter, a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance and the United States’ first high-profile Black heiress.
Gradvall, Jan. The Story of ABBA: Melancholy Undercover. St. Martin’s. Jun. 2025. ISBN 9781250379856. 304p. $30. BIOGRAPHY
Award-winning Gradvall, who was instrumental in founding the Swedish Music Hall of Fame and is close with ABBA, writes a musical biography of the band, its music, and its members’ personal lives and upbringings.
Jong-Fast, Molly. How To Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir. Viking. Jun. 2025. ISBN 9780593656471. 256p. $28. MEMOIR
Jong-Fast, a writer at Vanity Fair and host of the podcast Fast Politics, offers a memoir about her famous mother (the author Erica Jong), their intense relationship, and her complicated childhood.
Moennig, Kate & Leisha Hailey. So Gay for You: Friendship, Found Family, and the Show That Started It All. St. Martin’s. Jun. 2025. ISBN 9781250361363. 256p. $32. MEMOIR
Moennig and Hailey, stars of The L Word, write a performing-arts memoir that also focuses on their personal lives, covering topics like finding family and creating groundbreaking TV. With a 350K-copy first printing.
Randall, Willard Sterne. John Hancock: First To Sign, First To Invest in America’s Independence. Dutton. Jun. 2025. ISBN 9780593472149. 288p. $34. BIOGRAPHY
Randall (distinguished scholar in history and professor emeritus, Champlain Coll.) offers a biography of John Hancock that focuses particularly on his role in the American Revolution.
Tameez, Zaakir. Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation. Holt. Jun. 2025. ISBN 9781250362551. 640p. $35.99. BIOGRAPHY
Tameez (a third-year student at Yale Law School, where he is an editor of the Yale Law Journal) writes a biography of Charles Sumner, the author of the 14th Amendment and one of the key figures who championed the end of enslavement.
Wallis, Michael. Belle Starr: The Truth Behind the Wild West Legend. Liveright. Jun. 2025. ISBN 9781631494772. 544p. $32.99. BIOGRAPHY
Bestselling Wallis (Billy the Kid) focuses on Belle Starr, the infamous outlaw known as the Bandit Queen, star of “wanted” posters. Wallis challenges accepted history and offers a nuanced view of Starr’s life and choices.
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