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

This is one of the 759 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
2133 I Will Bear Witness Victor Klemperer 1995 German German
2611 What It Takes Richard Ben Cramer 1992 American English
10955 Tears in the Darkness Michael Norman, Elizabeth M. Norman 2009 American English
3400 Great Plains Ian Frazier 1989 American English
5388 The Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800 Lawrence Stone 1977 British English
7198 Parallel Lives Phyllis Rose 1983 American English
7796 The Politics of American English, 1776-1950 David Simpson 1986 American English
4848 Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey Lillian Schiessel 1982 American English
8861 The Warrior's Honor Michael Ignatieff 1997 Canadian English
2659 Boys on the Bus Timothy Crouse 1973 American English
9967 Politics Hendrik Hertzberg 2004 American English
8435 Arc of Justice Kevin Boyle 2004 American English
1542 The Devil In The White City Erik Larson 2003 American English
9531 Marie Antoinette Antonia Fraser 2001 British English
109 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
2535 Into the Wild Jon Krakauer 1996 American English
7755 Infidel Ayaan Hirsi Ali 2007 Dutch English
3008 Camera Lucida Roland Barthes 1980 French French
659 Mythologies Roland Barthes 1957 French French
2603 Regarding the Pain of Others Susan Sontag 2003 American English
370 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
620 The Elements of Style E. B. White, William Strunk Jr. 1918 American English
8614 The Devil's Teeth Susan Casey 2005 American English
306 The Autobiography of Malcolm X Alex Haley 1965 American English
8435 Shadow Divers Robert Kurson 2004 American English
162 Silent Spring Rachel Carson 1962 American English
2848 What Is the What Dave Eggers 2006 American English
2817 The Gnostic Gospels Elaine Pagels 1979 American English
1545 Understanding Media Marshall McLuhan 1964 Canadian English
9701 Extra Lives Tom Bissell 2010 American English
3821 Lenin's Tomb David Remnick 1993 American English
6803 On Photography Susan Sontag 1977 American English
1659 The Americans Robert Frank 1959 American English
5762 Dear Theo Irving Stone, Jean Stone 1937 American English
11075 Life Adjustment Center Ryan McGinley 2010 American Unknown
4222 A Pattern Language Christopher Alexander 1977 American English
7881 Safe Area Joe Sacco 2000 American English
5846 Revolution in the Head Ian MacDonald 1994 British English
11297 A Year Brian Eno 2022 British Unknown
5573 Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser 2001 American English
8234 The Promised Land Nicholas Lemann 1991 American English
8402 Genie Russ Rymer 1993 American English
5846 The Last Shot Darcy Frey 1994 American English
3507 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
8861 A Commotion in the Blood Stephen S. Hall 1997 American English
10119 Always Magic in the Air Ken Emerson 2005 American English
19 The Bible Unknown -1400 Jewish Hebrew, aramaic, greek
3824 Outliers Malcolm Gladwell 2008 Canadian English
10550 Lush Life David Hajdu 2007 American English
11075 About a Mountain John D'Agata 2010 American English
4158 We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families Philip Gourevitch 1998 American English
3261 The Perfect Storm Sebastian Junger 1997 American English
2717 The Great War and Modern Memory Paul Fussell 1975 American English
80 Candide Voltaire 1759 French French
451 Hiroshima John Hersey 1946 American English
8234 U and I Nicholson Baker 1991 American English
1526 A History of Western Philosophy Bertrand Russell 1945 British English
1565 A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace 1997 American English
4292 Conversations With Igor Stravinsky Robert Craft 1959 American English
1959 Discipline and Punish Michel Foucault 1975 French French
4717 A Life of Picasso John Richardson 1991 British English
152 The Prince Niccolo Machiavelli 1532 Italian Italian
8861 Mexico Enrique Krauze 1997 Mexican Spanish
7628 The Mysterious William Shakespeare Charlton Ogburn 1984 American English
6147 A Giacometti Portrait James Lord 1965 American English
6445 The Long Way Bernard Moitessier 1971 French French
3876 Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 Hunter S. Thompson 1973 American English
6734 The Poverty of Power Barry Commoner 1976 American English