The Greatest 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 759 '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
133 Confessions Augustine 397 Roman Latin
275 The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1782 French French
306 The Autobiography of Malcolm X Alex Haley 1965 American English
371 History of My Life Giacomo Casanova 1822 Italian French
377 The Education of Henry Adams Henry Adams 1907 American English
403 The Words Jean Paul Sartre 1963 French French
521 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou 1969 American English
541 The Seven Pillars of Wisdom T. E. Lawrence 1926 British English
598 Night Elie Wiesel 1958 French French
626 Promise at Dawn Romain Gary 1960 French French
689 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin 1791 American English
716 Mein Kampf Adolf Hitler 1925 German German
898 My Struggle Karl Ove Knausgård 2009 Norwegian Norwegian
906 Up from Slavery Booker T. Washington 1901 American English
913 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass 1845 American English
958 The Periodic Table Primo Levi 1975 Italian Italian
1058 Memories, Dreams, Reflections Carl Jung 1963 Swiss German
1068 The Seven Storey Mountain Thomas Merton 1948 American English
1150 Witness Whittaker Chambers 1952 American English
1168 The Diaries Franz Kafka 1948 Czech German
1209 Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates 2015 American English
1446 The Tongue Set Free Elias Canetti 1977 Austrian German
1573 The Story Of My Experiments With Truth Mahatma Gandhi 1927 Indian Gujarati
1611 The Prelude William Wordsworth 1850 British English
1621 Good-Bye to All That Robert Graves 1929 British English
1662 Down Second Avenue Es'kia Mphahlele 1959 South African English
1683 The Life Written By Himself the Archpriest Avvakum 1666 Russian Russian
1732 My Childhood Maxim Gorky 1913 Russian Russian
1794 My Past And Thoughts Alexander Herzen 1861 Russian Russian
1925 The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Olaudah Equiano 1789 African English
1936 Autobiography Benvenuto Cellini 1728 Italian Italian
2032 Gedanken Und Erinnerungen Otto von Bismarck 1898 German German
2094 The Spirit of St. Louis Charles Lindbergh 1953 American English
2117 The Life Story And Real Adventures Of The Poor Man Of Toggenburg Ulrich Bräker 1789 Swiss German
2152 Conversations Of Goethe With Johann Peter Eckermann Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann 1836 German German
2204 The Story of My Life Helen Keller 1903 American English
2207 Dreams from My Father Barack Obama 1995 American English
2250 Twenty Years at Hull-House Jane Addams 1910 American English
2321 Lavengro George Borrow 1851 British English
2341 Personal History Katharine Graham 1997 American English
2374 The Autobiography Of John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill 1873 British English
2406 A Sorrow Beyond Dreams Peter Handke 1972 Austrian German
2409 The Fight Norman Mailer 1975 American English
2413 The Americanization of Edward Bok Edward Bok 1920 American English
2416 Educated Tara Westover 2018 American English
2420 A Mathematician's Apology G. H. Hardy 1940 British English
2569 Apologia Pro Vita Sua John Henry Newman 1864 British English
2614 Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant U. S. Grant 1885 American English
2673 Autobiographies William Butler Yeats 1926 Irish English
2692 The Book Of Margery Kempe Margery Kempe 1436 British Middle english
2698 All Over But The Shoutin' Rick Bragg 1997 American English
2721 The Life Of Saint Teresa Of Avila By Herself Teresa of Avila 1588 Spanish Spanish
2722 Revelations Of Divine Love Julian of Norwich 1395 English Middle english
2752 Satyagraha in South Africa Gandhi 1928 Indian Gujarati
2752 Dust Tracks on a Road Zora Neale Hurston 1942 American English
2752 My Fight for Birth Control Margaret Sanger 1931 American English
2752 Out Of Africa Karen Blixen 1937 Danish Danish
2873 Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Richard P. Feynman 1985 American English
2874 Boyhood J. M. Coetzee 1997 South African English
2881 The Diary of Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys 1825 British English
2884 Physics And Beyond Werner Heisenberg 1971 German German
2934 On Overgrown Paths Knut Hamsun 1949 Norwegian Norwegian
3076 One Writer's Beginnings Eudora Welty 1984 American English
3089 I, Rigoberta Menchú Rigoberta Menchú Tum 1983 Guatemalan Spanish
3100 Ball Four Jim Bouton 1970 American English
3141 Als Wär’s Ein Stück Von Mir Carl Zuckmayer 1966 German German
3175 My Early Life Winston Churchill 1930 British English
3198 The Autobiography Of A Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda 1946 Indian English
3200 Story Of A Soul Thérèse of Lisieux 1898 French French
3219 The Long Loneliness Dorothy Day 1952 American English
3222 Ecce Homo Friedrich Nietzsche 1908 German German
3301 Baburnama Zahir Uddin Muhammad Babur 1530 Baburnama Chagatai turkish
3631 Really The Blues Bernard Wolfe, Milton Mezz Mezzrow 1946 American English
3638 The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens Lincoln Steffens 1931 American English
3638 Child Of The Revolution Wolfgang Leonhard 1955 German German
3638 The Story Of My Life George Sand 1855 French French
3638 Out Of My Life And Thought Albert Schweitzer 1931 German German
3638 A Stroll To Syracuse In The Year 1802 Johann Gottfried Seume 1803 German German
3822 The Edge of the Sword Charles De Gaulle 1959 French French
3833 Повесть о жизни Konstantin Paustovsky 1956 Russian Russian
3896 Zoo Station Christiane V. Felscherinow 1978 German German
3946 In The Dream House Carmen Maria Machado 2019 American English
3954 Το Ταξίδι Μου Yiannis Psycharis 1888 Greek Greek
4141 Climbié Bernard Dadié 1956 French French
4383 How To End A Story Helen Garner 2021 Australian English
4524 The True Confessions Of An Albino Terrorist Breyten Breytenbach 1983 South African English
4582 The Autobiography Of A Runaway Slave Miguel Barnet 1966 Cuban Spanish
4598 Viața Ca O Pradă Marin Preda 1977 Romanian Romanian
4620 An Angel At My Table Janet Frame 1984 New Zealand English
4631 De Profundis Oscar Wilde 1905 British English
4670 Beethoven's Letters Ludwig van Beethoven 1866 German German
4682 The Autobiography of Mark Twain Mark Twain 1924 American English
4777 An Angel At My Table Unknown 1984 New Zealand English
4802 The Confessions Of Lady Nijo Lady Nijo 1307 Japanese Japanese
4857 The Gift Horse Hildegard Knef 1970 German German
4865 Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers Max Planck 1922 German German
4900 The River War Winston Churchill 1899 British English
4900 The Autobiography Of Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge 1929 American English
5083 Autobiography Of A Face Lucy Grealy 1994 American English
5242 My Father And Myself J. R. Ackerley 1968 British English
5268 A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah 2007 Sierra Leonean English
5269 What I Talk About When I Talk About Running Haruki Murakami 2007 Japanese Japanese
5293 Padre Padrone Gavino Ledda 1975 Italian Italian
5345 Epileptic David B 1996 French French
5435 A Journey Round My Skull Frigyes Karinthy 1939 Hungarian Hungarian
5445 Egy polgár vallomásai Sandor Marai 1934 Hungarian Hungarian
5462 Giving up the Ghost Hilary Mantel 2003 British English
5471 Meetings With Remarkable Men George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff 1963 Unknown Russian
5516 Journal Of A Soul Pope John XXIII 1964 Italian Italian
5596 Poetry And Truth From My Own Life Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 2004 German English
5639 Închisoarea Noastră Cea De Toate Zilele Ion Ioanid 1991 Romanian Romanian
5760 Earthly Paradise Colette 1966 French French
5774 The Road from Coorain Jill Ker Conway 1989 Australian English
5863 The Big Sea Langston Hughes 1940 American English
5863 My Life and Hard Times James Thurber 1933 American English
5863 Italian Journey Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1816 German German
5863 The Grasmere Journal Dorothy Wordsworth 1897 British English
6005 The Story Of My Life Giacomo Casanova 1822 Italian French
6136 Country Of My Skull Antjie Krog 1998 South African Afrikaans
6153 Hell's Angels Hunter S. Thompson 1966 American English