Society's Child: My Autobiography e-book (NEW 2025 Edition!)
Important: you will receive four files with your purchase:
epub for Amazon
mobi for Amazon
epub for all other uses
PDF
Legendary singer-songwriter, author, and activist Janis Ian is proud to announce a newly revised edition of her acclaimed memoir, Society’s Child: My Autobiography, available now as an eBook here and at various online outlets.
The inspiration for last year’s award-winning documentary Janis Ian: Breaking Silence, the book features a new cover and annotations, expanded with a new afterword by the author. Additionally, all but one of the names changed in the original publication now reflect the parties’ real names. With conscious intent, a single name remains unaltered out of respect for the surviving family.
This edition is Janis' own edited and revised work, straight from her computer to the printers. Of course, if you prefer you may also order this e-book from one of our online partners:
Barnes & Noble
Bookshop.org
Rakuten Kobo
Amazon (coming soon)
Booktopia (Australia)
BOL (The Netherlands)
Hugendubel (Germany)
Purchase the paperback version through one of our partners.
Purchase the Audible version.
Booklist starred review — “Fans will love the book, of course, but many nonfans, too, should find this painfully candid memoir hard to put down.”
Kirkus Reviews — "Ian is a natural prose stylist with a real knack for pacing and the telling detail. What might have been a dreary catalog of woe is instead a juicily entertaining look at an unusual life in show business."
O Magazine — "At 15 she was already breaking all the rules. In an era-the mid-1960s-when people of her parents' generation didn't speak about "ugly things" like interracial romance, prostitution, and war, Janis Ian was opening her big mouth and getting hounded offstage for singing her taboo-busting lyrics.
Society's Child is the hugely readable autobiography of an artist who has lived through success and crushing hardship but knows that ‘you can't sing and cry at the same time.’ Sing on!"
Publishers Weekly — "Fans will appreciate the candor with which Ian discusses these hardships and her gradual path to happiness…"
From the press release:
Grammy Award-winning songwriter, singer and author, Janis Ian took the stage at age fifteen with a revolutionary song about interracial relationships, "Society's Child." It was 1966 and the country responded with both hostility and accolades. The song went to #1, and Janis was caught in the maelstrom of a divided country. Terrified by the hatred directed at her, she left the music industry, only to return a few years later with the worldwide hit "At Seventeen." The story never ends—her songs are currently used by artists as diverse as Bette Midler, John Mellencamp, and Celine Dion; she tours the world regularly to sold-out crowds, and she is considered one of the pre-eminent acoustic guitarists of our era by such notables as Chet Atkins.
In Society's Child, you'll journey with Janis as she spends time with luminaries of the century—Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin—singers and songwriters who both influenced and befriended her. Her book takes an unblinking look at the music business, her own remarkable path through it, and what was really happening backstage—with honesty and integrity. A tale of love and loneliness, music and hope, and most of all, endurance, it's a beacon for anyone who's ever faced adversity and come through the other side.
