The Greatest Asian History and Autobiography Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 467 '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.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
989 Wild Swans Jung Chang 1991 Chinese English
2369 Seven Years in Tibet Heinrich Harrer 1952 Austrian German
2517 The Travels of Ibn Battutah Ibn Battúta 1355 Moroccan Arabic
2648 Iron & Silk Mark Salzman 1986 American English
2960 The Confessions Of Lady Nijo Lady Nijo 1307 Japanese Japanese
3094 Falling Leaves Adeline Yen Mah 1997 Chinese English
3456 Memoirs Of A Korean Queen Lady Hyegyeong 1795 Korean Korean
3537 Life And Death In Shanghai Nien Cheng 1986 Chinese English
3548 A Daughter Of Han Ning Lao Tai-Tai, told to Ida Pruitt 1945 Chinese English
3548 Fifth Chinese Daughter Jade Snow Wong 1945 American English
3897 Nisei Daughter Monica Itoi Sone 1953 American English
4086 The Silent Steppe Mukhamet Shayakhmetov 2006 Kazakh English
4107 An Area Of Darkness V. S. Naipaul 1964 British English
4107 From A Chinese City Gontran de Poncins 1957 French English
4107 Slowly Down The Ganges Eric Newby 1966 British English
4609 First They Killed My Father Loung Ung 2000 Cambodian English
4799 Guests Of The Sheik Elizabeth Warnock Fernea 1965 American English
5009 Red China Blues Jan Wong 1996 Canadian English
6157 The Best We Could Do Thi Bui 2017 American English
6373 Prisoner Of The State Zhao Ziyang 2009 Chinese Chinese
7763 The Most Wanted Man In China Fang Lizhi 2016 Unknown English
7848 Quiet Odyssey Mary Paik Lee 1990 Korean American English
7997 The Road Through Miyama Leila Philip 1991 American English
8238 Daughter Of Persia Sattareh Farman-Farmaian 1992 Iranian English
8311 Hiroshima Diary Michihiko Hachiya 1955 Japanese Japanese
8402 The Baburnama Babur 1526 Multiple Chagatai
8778 Burmese Looking Glass Edith Mirante 1993 American English
10483 The Man Who Stayed Behind Sidney Rittenberg 1993 American English
10926 The Autobiography Of An Unknown Indian Nirad C. Chaudhuri 1951 Indian English
13697 Baburnama Zahir Uddin Muhammad Babur 1530 Baburnama Chagatai turkish