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
6186 Iacocca Lee Iacocca 1984 American English
6192 Know My Name Chanel Miller 2019 American English
6223 Kaffir Boy Mark Mathabane 1986 South African English
6224 Happening Annie Ernaux 2000 French French
6248 Assata Assata Shakur 1987 American English
6301 A Life Of Her Own Émilie Carles 1977 French French
6319 A Fortunate Life A. B. Facey 1981 Australian English
6407 The Fighting Fisherman Raymond Fraser 1981 Canadian English
6491 Living My Life Emma Goldman 1931 American English
6529 Born A Crime Trevor Noah 2016 South African English
6535 Hunger Roxane Gay 2017 American English
6539 Hold Still Sally Mann 2015 American English
6602 I Wonder As I Wander Langston Hughes 1956 American English
6645 Tortura Pe înțelesul Tuturor Florin Constantin Pavlovici 2001 Romanian Romanian
6757 La Bâtarde Violette Leduc 1964 French French
6766 Harriet, The Moses Of Her People Sarah H. Bradford 1886 American English
6816 Open Andre Agassi 2009 American English
6845 For Those I Loved Martin Gray 1971 French French
6854 Chelsea Girls Eileen Myles 1994 American English
6996 Panegyric Guy Debord 1989 French French
7040 Hope Against Hope Nadezhda Mandelstam 1970 Russian Russian
7072 Palimpsest Gore Vidal 1995 American English
7212 Question 7 Richard Flanagan 2023 Unknown English
7215 The Journals Of James Boswell James Boswell 1791 British English
7215 Mémoires Philippe de Commynes 1524 French French
7215 The Red Notebook Benjamin Constant 1804 French French
7215 The Collected Writings Of Thomas De Quincey Thomas de Quincey 1889 British English
7215 From The Other Shore Alexander Herzen 1850 Russian Russian
7215 The Frigate Pallada Ivan Goncharov 1858 Russian Russian
7215 Journals Ralph Waldo Emerson 1820 American English
7215 Manhood Michel Leiris 1939 French French
7215 Reminiscences Of Tolstoy, Chekhov, And Andreev Maxim Gorky 1920 Russian Russian
7215 An Egyptian Childhood Taha Husayn 1929 Egyptian Arabic
7569 Brain On Fire Susannah Cahalan 2012 American English
7647 Hitch 22 Christopher Hitchens 2010 British English
7682 Sophie Calle Sophie Calle 1994 French French
7711 Child Of The Dark Carolina Maria De Jesus 1960 Brazilian Portuguese
7754 Infidel Ayaan Hirsi Ali 2007 Dutch English
7771 The Name Above the Title Frank Capra 1971 American English
7851 Thinking In Pictures Temple Grandin 1995 American English
7927 Autobiographie De Mon Pere Pierre Pachet 1997 French French
7940 The Book Of Ebenezer Le Page G. B. Edwards 1981 British English
7949 My Story Kamala Das 1976 Indian English
8075 My New York Diary Julie Doucet 1999 Canadian English
8172 Life Keith Richards 2010 British English
8205 My Life Bill Clinton 2004 American English
8228 Solito Javier Zamora 2022 Unknown English
8291 The Author Of Himself Marcel Reich-Ranicki 1999 German German
8295 Alec: The Years Have Pants Eddie Campbell 2008 British English
8306 A Life In The Twentieth Century Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr 2000 American English
8425 Sad Tiger Neige Sinno 2023 Unknown French
8650 Pedigree Patrick Modiano 2005 French French
8668 The Hiding Place Corrie ten Boom 1971 Dutch English
8679 The Chronology Of Water Lidia Yuknavitch 2011 American English
8690 Baú De Ossos Pedro Nava 1972 Brazilian Portuguese
8720 Dancing With Cuba Alma Guillermoprieto 2004 Mexican Spanish
8753 Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys Viv Albertine 2014 British English
8781 Mother Mary Comes To Me Arundhati Roy 2025 Unknown English
8848 My Lives Edmund White 2005 American English
8894 Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama Alison Bechdel 2012 American English
8921 In My Father's Court Isaac Bashevis Singer 1966 Polish Yiddish
8937 Memorial Drive Natasha Trethewey 2020 American English
8975 Clavícula Marta Sanz 2015 Spanish Spanish
9026 Desert Flower Waris Dirie, Cathleen Miller 1998 American English
9191 Violation Sallie Tisdale 2016 American English
9261 Lit Mary Karr 2009 American English
9286 A Leg To Stand On Oliver Sacks 1984 British English
9548 Guillén On Guillén Jorge Guillén 1972 Spanish Spanish
9651 The Memory Chalet Tony Judt 2010 British English
9857 An Autobiography of Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope 1883 British English
9919 Hail And Farewell George Moore 1911 British English
9939 Crusade For Justice Ida B. Wells 1970 American English
10061 Persepolis 1 & 2 — The Complete Persepolis Marjane Satrapi 2000 French French
10185 Winter Journal Paul Auster 2012 American English
10195 Une Enfance De Reve Catherine Millet 2014 French French
10207 Halfbreed Maria Campbell 1973 Canadian English
10241 Persons and Places George Santayana 1944 American English
10288 I Was Born There, I Was Born Here Mourid Barghouti 2011 Palestinian Arabic
10305 The Secret Life Of Salvador Dali Salvador Dali 1942 Spanish Spanish
10305 Memoirs Of A Revolutionary Victor Serge 1951 French French
10376 How To Say Babylon Safiya Sinclair 2023 Unknown English
10439 The Words Of César Chávez César Chávez 2002 American English
10450 The Cost of Living Deborah Levy 2018 British English
10450 A Promised Land Barack Obama 2020 American English
10539 My Struggle: Book 6 Karl Ove Knausgård 2011 Norwegian Norwegian
10546 Pageboy Elliot Page 2023 Canadian English
10595 The Harder I Fight The More I Love You Neko Case 2025 American English
10598 Book Of Lives Margaret Atwood 2025 Canadian English
10676 A Living Remedy Nicole Chung 2023 American English
10679 My Name Is Barbra Barbra Streisand 2023 American English
10721 In The Belly Of The Beast Jack Henry Abbott 1981 American English
10743 Farm Hands Tom Rivers 2012 American English
10872 Lost In Translation Eva Hoffman 1989 Canadian English
10880 Kampung Boy Lat 1979 Malaysian Malay
10900 Before I Forget Anne Pauly 2019 French French
10922 Fear No Evil Natan Sharansky 1988 Israeli English
11001 Naturalist E. O. Wilson 1994 American English
11016 The Story Of San Michele Axel Munthe 1929 Swedish English
11081 Insomniac City Bill Hayes 2017 American English
11087 Mao's Last Dancer Li Cunxin 2003 Australian English
11136 The Undying Anne Boyer 2019 American English
11294 A Year Brian Eno 2022 British Unknown
11302 My Last Sigh Luis Buñuel 1982 Spanish Spanish
11325 Learning To Drive Katha Pollitt 2007 American English
11331 The Blair Years Alastair Campbell 2007 British English
11353 The Girl In The Green Dress Jeni Haynes 2019 Unknown English
11387 This Common Secret Susan Wicklund 2007 Unknown English
11414 Waiting for Snow in Havana Carlos Eire 2003 Cuban English
11440 Readme.Txt Chelsea Manning 2022 American English
11503 The White Masai Corinne Hofmann 1998 Swiss German
11614 Utvald Att Leva Jerzy Einhorn 1996 Swedish Swedish
11618 A Border Passage Leila Ahmed 1999 Unknown English
11650 The Rest Of The Way J. D. McClatchy 1990 American English
11660 Deadly Gambits Strobe Talbott 1984 American English
11811 When I Was Puerto Rican Esmeralda Santiago 1993 American English
11850 Havana Real Yoani Sánchez 2011 Cuban Spanish
11859 Makes Me Wanna Holler Nathan McCall 1994 American English
11859 Swimming To Antarctica Lynne Cox 1994 American English
11939 Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed William Cabell Bruce 1917 American English
11939 A Daughter of the Middle Border Hamlin Garland 1921 American English