Memoir

Conway grew up in Australia and was home-schooled until college. Her new memoir, The Road from Coorain, looks at how her academic pursuits eventually led her to become Smith College's first woman president.

Bob Elliott was half of the comedy team Bob and Ray; his son Chris appears regularly on the Late Show with David Letterman. They've written a joint memoir called Daddy's Boy, in which Chris recounts a childhood memory, and Bob offers his rebuttal.

Before starting his anarchic, avant-garde band the Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa wrote chamber music and played in lounge bands. His new memoir explains how he went from a freelance guitarist to an unwitting rock star.

Baker's new memoir, a sequel to his book Growing Up, chronicles his career as a reporter during his twenties and thirties. Book critic John Leonard says that the story, like Baker's New York Times columns, twists and turns to explore the fraught inner workings of journalism.

Author and poet Al Young reads some of his autobiographical writing about the African American experience in the 1930s, and the cultural impact Coleman Hawkins' recording of "Body and Soul" had on his family.

Colonel David Hackworth was the model for the character of Kurtz in the film Apocalypse Now. He served in the Vietnam War, and grew frustrated by what he saw as a failure of leadership. Hackworth is currently the most decorated soldier in U.S. history. His new memoir, about his experience on the battlefield and his eventual retirement from the Army, is called About Face.

John Leonard reviews fellow book critic Jonathan Yardley's new memoir, Our Kind of People. Leonard disagrees with Yardley's world view, but his real criticism lies in how the author glosses over the enduring literary and cultural legacy of WASPs in the United States.

Carl Bernstein, who broke the Watergate story with his colleague Bob Woodward, has a new memoir about his parents, called Loyalties. Bernstein's mother and father were communist activists during the McCarthy era, and were monitored by the FBI.

Peter Conrad studied in Englad on a Rhodes scholarship, but grew up in Tasmania -- an island once used as an Australian penal colony. His new memoir, about his return to his home country, is called Behind the Mountain.

Award-winning book reviewer Jonathan Yardley has recently published a memoir called Our Kind of People, about his family, his parents' marriage, and WASP culture. He says that, at the age of 47, he was finally able to see his mother and father as people -- not just his parents. He joins Fresh Air to talk about his book, as well as his work as a critic.