The Greatest Biography and Nonfiction 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 488 '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
184 The Autobiography of Malcolm X Alex Haley 1965 American English
212 The Life of Samuel Johnson James Boswell 1791 British English
325 The Education of Henry Adams Henry Adams 1907 American English
329 The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Gertrude Stein 1933 American English
353 Memoirs From Beyond the Grave François-Auguste-René de Chateaubriand 1849 French French
355 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou 1969 American English
362 History of My Life Giacomo Casanova 1822 Italian French
371 The Souls of Black Folk W. E. B. Du Bois 1903 American English
409 Parallel Lives Plutarch -100 Greek Greek
425 Persepolis Marjane Satrapi 2000 Iranian French
435 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
437 Eminent Victorians Lytton Strachey 1918 British English
459 Facundo Domingo Faustino Sarmiento 1845 Argentinian Spanish
490 Testament Of Youth Vera Brittain 1933 British English
564 Promise at Dawn Romain Gary 1960 French French
574 Henry James Leon Edel 1953 American English
583 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
597 The Power Broker Robert Caro 1974 American English
614 Good-Bye to All That Robert Graves 1929 British English
671 Night Elie Wiesel 1958 French French
684 The Seven Pillars of Wisdom T. E. Lawrence 1926 British English
705 The African Child Camara Laye 1953 Guinean French
711 The Warmth Of Other Suns Isabel Wilkerson 2010 American English
736 Lives of the Artists Giorgio Vasari 1550 Italian Italian
796 Disraeli Robert Blake 1966 British English
801 The Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kingston 1976 American English
803 Black Boy Richard Wright 1945 American English
849 Eichmann in Jerusalem Hannah Arendt 1963 German English
877 The Life of Charlotte Brontë Elizabeth Gaskell 1857 British English
891 Lives of the Caesars Suetonius 121 Roman Latin
895 Down Second Avenue Es'kia Mphahlele 1959 South African English
907 The World Of Yesterday Stefan Zweig 1942 Austrian German
924 The Life Written By Himself the Archpriest Avvakum 1666 Russian Russian
950 Wild Swans Jung Chang 1991 Chinese English
955 Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates 2015 American English
966 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot 2010 American English
970 Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt 1996 American English
1001 West With the Night Beryl Markham 1942 British English
1027 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass 1845 American English
1028 Fun Home Alison Bechdel 2006 American English
1060 Long Walk To Freedom Nelson Mandela 1994 South African English
1128 The Unwomanly Face Of War Svetlana Alexievich 1985 Russian Russian
1217 Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Harriet Jacobs 1861 American English
1272 The Color of Water James McBride 1995 American English
1283 Dependency Tove Ditlevsen 1971 Danish Danish
1288 Life on the Mississippi Mark Twain 1883 American English
1306 My Family And Other Animals Gerald Durrell 1956 British English
1326 The Diary of Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys 1825 British English
1340 The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Olaudah Equiano 1789 African English
1354 Witness Whittaker Chambers 1952 American English
1446 A Time Of Gifts Patrick Leigh Fermor 1977 British English
1449 The Journal of Jules Renard Jules Renard 1887 French French
1480 The Tongue Set Free Elias Canetti 1977 Austrian German
1526 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin 1791 American English
1538 Experience Martin Amis 2000 British English
1598 The Liars' Club Mary Karr 1995 American English
1626 R. E. Lee Douglas Southall Freeman 1934 American English
1637 Team of Rivals Doris Kearns Goodwin 2005 American English
1647 Napoleon Emil Ludwig 1926 German German
1683 Life of Christ Giovanni Papini 1921 Italian Italian
1765 Facing Mount Kenya Jomo Kenyatta 1938 Kenyan English
1845 Brief Lives John Aubrey 1898 British English
1933 Balzac Stefan Zweig 1946 Austrian German
1985 Diane Arbus Marvin Israel, Doon Arbus 1972 American English
1997 Memoirs Of A Revolutionist Vera Figner 1920 Russian Russian
1997 Days In The Caucasus Banine 1945 French French
1997 The Memoirs Of Princess Dashkova Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova 1840 Russian Russian
2040 Memoirs of Louis XIV Louis de Rouvroy Saint-Simon (duc de) 1740 French French
2042 Memoirs of Cardinal De Retz Cardinal de Retz 1717 French French
2046 The Passage Of Power Robert Caro 2012 American English
2052 Dreams from My Father Barack Obama 1995 American English
2130 My Past And Thoughts Alexander Herzen 1861 Russian Russian
2134 Hard Times Studs Terkel 1970 American English
2153 The Quest For Corvo A. J. A. Symons 1934 British English
2235 Beethoven's Letters Ludwig van Beethoven 1866 German German
2163 Memoirs Of The Author Of A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman William Godwin 1798 British English
2163 Life Of John Sterling Thomas Carlyle 1851 British English
2278 Ghana Kwame Nkrumah 1957 Ghanaian English
2295 The Periodic Table Primo Levi 1975 Italian Italian
2297 Say Nothing Patrick Radden Keefe 2018 American English
2335 Kitchen Confidential Anthony Bourdain 2000 American English
2390 John Keats Walter Jackson Bate 1963 American English
2393 Into the Wild Jon Krakauer 1996 American English
2411 Black Elk Speaks John G. Neihardt 1932 American English
2436 Mars Fritz Zorn 1977 Swiss German
2447 H Is For Hawk Helen MacDonald 2014 British English
2451 A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah 2007 Sierra Leonean English
2452 Alan Turing Andrew Hodges 1983 British English
2457 Iron & Silk Mark Salzman 1986 American English
2468 Educated Tara Westover 2018 American English
2481 The Last Lion William Manchester 1983 American English
2531 Zami Audre Lorde 1982 American English
2541 The Argonauts Maggie Nelson 2015 American English
2549 The Travels of Ibn Battutah Ibn Battúta 1355 Moroccan Arabic
2553 Memories And Commentaries Igor Stravinsky 1960 Russian English
2574 The Lives Of The Poets Samuel Johnson 1779 British English
2589 The Autobiography of Mark Twain Mark Twain 1924 American English
2653 All But My Life Gerda Weissmann Klein 1957 American English
2739 The House on Henry Street Lillian D. Wald 1915 American English
2739 The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens Lincoln Steffens 1931 American English
2799 Just Kids Patti Smith 2010 American English
2855 Forgotten Kingdom Peter Goullart 1955 Unknown English
2872 The Snows Of Yesteryear Gregor von Rezzori 1989 Austrian German
2883 Before Night Falls Reinaldo Arenas 1992 Cuban Spanish
2894 The Path to Power Robert Caro 1982 American English
2898 Personal History Katharine Graham 1997 American English
2956 My Life Leon Trotsky 1930 Russian Russian
3013 Master of the Senate Robert Caro 2002 American English
3038 Melbourne David Cecil 1939 British English
3040 The Strange Ride of Rudyard Kipling Angus Wilson 1977 British English
3070 Oliver Cromwell L. du Garde Peach 1963 British English
3092 Bad Blood Lorna Sage 2000 British English
3093 Wittgenstein's Nephew Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
3105 Ake Wole Soyinka 1981 Nigerian English
3107 Florence Nightingale Cecil Woodham-Smith 1950 British English
3120 The Return Hisham Matar 2016 Libyan English
3138 Falling Leaves Adeline Yen Mah 1997 Chinese English
3149 Just Mercy Bryan Stevenson 2014 American English
3155 Autobiography Benvenuto Cellini 1728 Italian Italian
3173 Frederick Douglass David W. Blight 2018 American English