Maryanne Vollers

Author, Journalist, Ghostwriter, Producer

Books

All In: An Autobiography

By Billie Jean King, Johnette Howard, and Maryanne Vollers 

In the words of Penguin Random House: “In this spirited account, Billie Jean King details her life’s journey to find her true self. She recounts her groundbreaking tennis career—six years as the top-ranked woman in the world, twenty Wimbledon championships, thirty-nine grand-slam titles, and her watershed defeat of Bobby Riggs in the famous “Battle of the Sexes.” She poignantly recalls the cultural backdrop of those years and the profound impact on her worldview from the women’s movement, the assassinations and anti-war protests of the 1960s, the civil rights movement, and, eventually, the LGBTQ+ rights movement….Hers is the story of a pathbreaking feminist, a world-class athlete, and an indomitable spirit whose impact has transcended even her spectacular achievements in sports.”

From Kirkus Reviews: In a candid, vividly detailed memoir, co-authored by journalists Howard and Vollers, King recounts her dazzling 30-year career, from her discovery of tennis when she was 10 to her amazing fame as the top player in the U.S., winner of 39 Grand Slam and 20 Wimbledon titles….A memoir bristling with energy and passion.”

All In – Penguin Random House

Lone Wolf — Eric Rudolph: Murder, Myth and the Pursuit of an American Outlaw 

They thought he was dead. But when the Olympic Park bomber was captured after five years on the run in the mountains of North Carolina, the questions remained: Who was Eric Robert Rudolph, and why did he kill? Maryanne Vollers tells the inside story of this domestic terrorism case through her unique access to all the players: the FBI, the Justice Department, the defense lawyers and the bomber himself. “A standout…a cool, gripping investigation,” said the New York Times. 

Lone Wolf – New York Times Review

Lone Wolf – ABC News-Book Excerpt

Ghosts of Mississippi: The Murder of Medgar Evers, the Trials of Byron de la Beckwith, and the Haunting of the New South

Nearly thirty years after the murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, a state struggles to confront the ghosts of its past in order to bring a cold-blooded assassin to justice. “Vivid…haunting…By isolating a small piece of the civil rights movement, Vollers has made the entire story more accessible and compelling.” –San Francisco Chronicle. Finalist: National Book Award, 1995; Robert F. Kennedy Book Award; Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism.
Availability pending.

Ghosts of Mississippi – National Book Awards

Ghosts of Mississippi ~ E-book Edition 

Revised and reissued as an e-book, the award-winning classic Ghosts of Mississippi tells the inside story of one of the most rankling murder cases of the civil rights era. In this historical page-turner, National Book Award finalist Maryanne Vollers exposes a state’s struggle to confront the ghosts of its violent past in order to bring a killer to justice.


The civil rights movement was just catching fire in Mississippi on the night in 1963 when white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith crouched in the honeysuckle across the street from NAACP leader Medgar Evers’s house and shot him in the back. Three trials and thirty years later, a jury convicted Beckwith of murder and sent him to prison for life. Drawing on her rare access to the prosecutors, the Evers family and Beckwith himself, Vollers recreates the events of Evers’s life and death, weaving together a thrilling tale of racism, murder, courage, redemption, and the ultimate triumph of justice.


In a new epilogue, written on the fiftieth anniversary of Evers’s assassination, Vollers updates the main characters and examines efforts over the past two decades to bring more unpunished killers to trial. Her verdict: The ghosts of Mississippi are still restless.

Kindle – Amazon

Living History

By Hillary Rodham Clinton

Maryanne Vollers collaborated with Hillary Clinton on this intimate and definitive memoir of her life in public service, from childhood through her White House years. An international bestseller. In her acknowledgements, then-Senator Clinton wrote: “Maryanne helped me conceive this book and shepherded it — and me — over its ups and downs. She was a joy to work with and has the rare gift of understanding how to help another’s voice emerge.” 

Living History – NPR

Livingston History – Amazon

In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom

By Yeonmi Park with Maryanne Vollers

In Order to Live is the story of an extraordinary teenage girl’s escape from North Korea, her struggle to survive among human traffickers in China, and her bittersweet adjustment to life in the South, where she discovers that in order to truly be free, she must confront the truth about her past. “In a fluid narrative facilitated by co-author Vollers, Park offers poignant details of life in both North Korea and South Korea, where the refugees were largely regarded as losers and failures before they were even given a chance,” according to Kirkus Reviews. “An eloquent, wrenchingly honest work that vividly represents the plight of many North Koreans.” 

Time.com – What It’s Like To Escape From North Korea

My Extraordinary Ordinary Life

By Sissy Spacek with Maryanne Vollers

Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castledescribes My Extraordinary Ordinary Life as “a remarkable woman’s journey from a baton-twirling East Texas gal to an Academy Award winning star. Sissy Spacek tells her story with warmth and grace, never straying far from the small-town roots that shaped her.” Poignant, insightful and laugh-out-loud funny, Spacek’s memoir is about what matters most: the exquisite worth of ordinary things, the simple pleasures of home and family, and the honest job of being right with the world. In a starred review, Publisher’s Weekly wrote “My Extraordinary Ordinary Life is the book version of Sissy: warm, heartfelt and very real.”

Washington Post

NPR – Fresh Air – 4/30/2012

All That is Bitter & Sweet

By Ashley Judd with Maryanne Vollers

In this New York Times bestselling memoir, the actor and activist Ashley Judd tells the story of how her childhood of neglect and abandonment fueled her passionate commitment to human rights. The journey takes her from the hills of Kentucky to the brothels of India and beyond. Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright calls the book “enlightening and inspiring…full of real-life stories that reflect both the compassion of its author and the need for healing in the world.”

All That Is Bitter & Sweet – Penguin Random House

Washington Post – All That Is Bitter & Sweet

All That Is Bitter & Sweet – Amazon

Ice Bound: A Doctor’s Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole

By Dr. Jerri Nielsen with Maryanne Vollers

A #1 New York Times Bestseller. When the only doctor at the South Pole develops breast cancer during the long, isolated winter, she is forced to treat herself while her fellow “polies” rally to save her and organize a daring airlift rescue. “This excellent book is about life, work, and the depth of human resiliency and love,” said Publishers Weekly. 

Ice Bound – Publishers Weekly

Ice Bound – Amazon

Profiles in Courage for Our Time

Caroline Kennedy edited this collection essays about political and personal courage, inspired by her father, the late President John F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book. In this collection Maryanne Vollers joins Bob Woodward, Michael Beschloss, Marian Wright Edelman and other prominent writers to celebrate politicians, activists, and other leaders who were willing to sacrifice their careers, and even their lives, for the public good. 

Profiles in Courage for Our Time – JFK Library

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