The True History of the Elephant Man is a biography of Joseph Merrick written by Michael Howell and Peter Ford.

The first major work about Merrick's life was The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity by anthropologist Ashley Montagu, published in 1971.

[1] Montagu drew heavily on Treves' memoirs, and the "autobiographical" pamphlet that had been written to sell to visitors to Merrick's exhibitions.

Montagu's book inspired numerous dramatic works about Merrick, notably a 1979 play by Bernard Pomerance and a 1980 film by David Lynch.

[5] Writing for The New York Times, Anatole Broyard called the book "absorbing and well-balanced" and noted that it "corrects earlier versions of Merrick's life".