The Greatest Asian History, Autobiography, and History Books of All Time

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 482 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
943 Wild Swans Jung Chang 1991 Chinese English
2447 Iron & Silk Mark Salzman 1986 American English
2540 The Travels of Ibn Battutah Ibn BattĂșta 1355 Moroccan Arabic
2968 The Confessions Of Lady Nijo Lady Nijo 1307 Japanese Japanese
3125 Falling Leaves Adeline Yen Mah 1997 Chinese English
3578 Fifth Chinese Daughter Jade Snow Wong 1945 American English
3938 Nisei Daughter Monica Itoi Sone 1953 American English
4134 The Silent Steppe Mukhamet Shayakhmetov 2006 Kazakh English
4160 An Area Of Darkness V. S. Naipaul 1964 British English
4160 Slowly Down The Ganges Eric Newby 1966 British English
4410 Red China Blues Jan Wong 1996 Canadian English
4848 Guests Of The Sheik Elizabeth Warnock Fernea 1965 American English
5756 Prisoner Of The State Zhao Ziyang 2009 Chinese Chinese
6211 The Best We Could Do Thi Bui 2017 American English
7303 The Most Wanted Man In China Fang Lizhi 2016 Unknown English
7945 Quiet Odyssey Mary Paik Lee 1990 Korean American English
8105 The Road Through Miyama Leila Philip 1991 American English
8349 Daughter Of Persia Sattareh Farman-Farmaian 1992 Iranian English
8520 The Baburnama Babur 1526 Multiple Chagatai
10630 The Man Who Stayed Behind Sidney Rittenberg 1993 American English
13960 Baburnama Zahir Uddin Muhammad Babur 1530 Baburnama Chagatai turkish