As if You Don't Have Enough to Read, Best Non-Fiction from the NY Times Writers

This is one of the 743 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

New York Times, 68 Books

Inspired by The Guardian’s recent list of the 100 greatest nonfiction books, we here at the magazine decided to create our own list. Dispensing with all pretense to rigor — it’s a list, silly! — we simply asked each member of the staff to pick their five favorites.

who voted:
the article mentions they got 33 lists, so let's assume 33 people voted

This list was originally published in 2011 and was added to this site about 3 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
2325 I Will Bear Witness Victor Klemperer 1995 German German
2608 What It Takes Richard Ben Cramer 1992 American English
10925 Tears in the Darkness Michael Norman, Elizabeth M. Norman 2009 American English
3394 Great Plains Ian Frazier 1989 American English
5378 The Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800 Lawrence Stone 1977 British English
7182 Parallel Lives Phyllis Rose 1983 American English
7779 The Politics of American English, 1776-1950 David Simpson 1986 American English
4839 Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey Lillian Schiessel 1982 American English
8845 The Warrior's Honor Michael Ignatieff 1997 Canadian English
2654 Boys on the Bus Timothy Crouse 1973 American English
9949 Politics Hendrik Hertzberg 2004 American English
8416 Arc of Justice Kevin Boyle 2004 American English
1540 The Devil In The White City Erik Larson 2003 American English
9511 Marie Antoinette Antonia Fraser 2001 British English
108 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
2531 Into the Wild Jon Krakauer 1996 American English
7738 Infidel Ayaan Hirsi Ali 2007 Dutch English
3001 Camera Lucida Roland Barthes 1980 French French
658 Mythologies Roland Barthes 1957 French French
2600 Regarding the Pain of Others Susan Sontag 2003 American English
369 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
620 The Elements of Style E. B. White, William Strunk Jr. 1918 American English
8597 The Devil's Teeth Susan Casey 2005 American English
304 The Autobiography of Malcolm X Alex Haley 1965 American English
8416 Shadow Divers Robert Kurson 2004 American English
162 Silent Spring Rachel Carson 1962 American English
2842 What Is the What Dave Eggers 2006 American English
2811 The Gnostic Gospels Elaine Pagels 1979 American English
1543 Understanding Media Marshall McLuhan 1964 Canadian English
11043 Extra Lives Tom Bissell 2010 American English
3816 Lenin's Tomb David Remnick 1993 American English
6792 On Photography Susan Sontag 1977 American English
1658 The Americans Robert Frank 1959 American English
5751 Dear Theo Irving Stone, Jean Stone 1937 American English
11043 Life Adjustment Center Ryan McGinley 2010 American Unknown
4217 A Pattern Language Christopher Alexander 1977 American English
7865 Safe Area Joe Sacco 2000 American English
5835 Revolution in the Head Ian MacDonald 1994 British English
11267 A Year Brian Eno 2022 British Unknown
5565 Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser 2001 American English
8218 The Promised Land Nicholas Lemann 1991 American English
8385 Genie Russ Rymer 1993 American English
5835 The Last Shot Darcy Frey 1994 American English
3504 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
8845 A Commotion in the Blood Stephen S. Hall 1997 American English
10101 Always Magic in the Air Ken Emerson 2005 American English
19 The Bible Unknown -1400 Jewish Hebrew, aramaic, greek
3819 Outliers Malcolm Gladwell 2008 Canadian English
10522 Lush Life David Hajdu 2007 American English
11043 About a Mountain John D'Agata 2010 American English
4153 We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families Philip Gourevitch 1998 American English
3255 The Perfect Storm Sebastian Junger 1997 American English
2713 The Great War and Modern Memory Paul Fussell 1975 American English
80 Candide Voltaire 1759 French French
450 Hiroshima John Hersey 1946 American English
8218 U and I Nicholson Baker 1991 American English
1525 A History of Western Philosophy Bertrand Russell 1945 British English
1563 A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace 1997 American English
4286 Conversations With Igor Stravinsky Robert Craft 1959 American English
1954 Discipline and Punish Michel Foucault 1975 French French
4708 A Life of Picasso John Richardson 1991 British English
152 The Prince Niccolo Machiavelli 1532 Italian Italian
8845 Mexico Enrique Krauze 1997 Mexican Spanish
7612 The Mysterious William Shakespeare Charlton Ogburn 1984 American English
6137 A Giacometti Portrait James Lord 1965 American English
6433 The Long Way Bernard Moitessier 1971 French French
3870 Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 Hunter S. Thompson 1973 American English
6721 The Poverty of Power Barry Commoner 1976 American English