Cash: The Autobiography, by Johnny Cash (2003)
Published in the year of his death, this definitive autobiography begins: "My line comes down from Queen Ada, the sister of Malcolm IV, descended from King Duff, the first king of Scotland"… and continues from there.
Man In Black: His Own Story in His Own Words, by Johnny Cash (1985)
Cash's first autobiography, penned in 1985, focuses on his early life, drug addictions, and romance with June Carter.
Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece, by Michael Streissguth (2005)
This book offers an in-depth look at the recording of the live Folsom Prison concert and the subsequent lift it gave to Cash's dwindling career. Streissguth explores Cash's early childhood, time in the Air Force, and first record deal in context of how they helped create the man in black who would one day wow a crowd at the highest security prison in California.