Example of Autobiography

Review example of autobiography from some successful life stories. Autobiographies do more than tell the author’s life story. They provide documentary records of historical events and provide a family record for future generations.

Read some of these pretty amazing experiences below extracted from famous autobiographies, to jumpstart your own.

Example of Autobiography # 1 - Autobiography of Frank McCourt (From Angela’s Ashes)

“My father and mother should have stayed in New York where they met and married and where I was born. Instead, they returned to Ireland when I was four, my brother, Malachy, three, the twins, Oliver and Eugene, barely one, and my sister, Margaret, dead and gone.

When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.”

Example of Autobiography # 2 - Autobiography of Allan Donald (From White Lightning)

“As usual the handshake was firm, the smile warm and the gratitude sincere. Again it struck me how bizarre that the man thanking me for being a decent cricketer was the most admired statesman in the world, that it should be me expressing appreciation to him for what he had done for South Africa. President Nelson Mandela prefers to encourage South Africans to be leaders in their own personal fields, rather than have the spotlight turned on him and that’s why he was so gracious to me on the night of 15 August 1997. I had flown back to South Africa for a special moment in my career and my life.”

Example of Autobiography # 3 - Autobiography of Alex Ferguson (From Managing My Life)

“Among all my bright memories of the most dramatic climax ever produced by a European Cup final, there is an equally vivid recollection of a quiet moment a few hours before the Nou Camp exploded into delirium. I was making my way to the team coach at Manchester United’s hotel in the coastal resort of Sitges, about to begin the short journey into Barcelona for the biggest night of my professional life, when my son Jason said to me,’ Dad, if you don’t win tonight it won’t change things. You will still be a great manager and we all love you.’ Who could fear anything after hearing words like those?”

Use the extracts above as a starting point to trigger memories and past experiences which you can record in your own autobiography, you might also find some of the journaling prompts below useful.

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