The Greatest Biography and Nonfiction Books Since 1970

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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
425 Persepolis Marjane Satrapi 2000 Iranian French
435 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
583 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
597 The Power Broker Robert Caro 1974 American English
711 The Warmth Of Other Suns Isabel Wilkerson 2010 American English
801 The Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kingston 1976 American English
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
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
1272 The Color of Water James McBride 1995 American English
1283 Dependency Tove Ditlevsen 1971 Danish Danish
1446 A Time Of Gifts Patrick Leigh Fermor 1977 British English
1480 The Tongue Set Free Elias Canetti 1977 Austrian German
1538 Experience Martin Amis 2000 British English
1598 The Liars' Club Mary Karr 1995 American English
1637 Team of Rivals Doris Kearns Goodwin 2005 American English
1985 Diane Arbus Marvin Israel, Doon Arbus 1972 American English
2046 The Passage Of Power Robert Caro 2012 American English
2052 Dreams from My Father Barack Obama 1995 American English
2134 Hard Times Studs Terkel 1970 American 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
2393 Into the Wild Jon Krakauer 1996 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
2799 Just Kids Patti Smith 2010 American 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
3013 Master of the Senate Robert Caro 2002 American English
3040 The Strange Ride of Rudyard Kipling Angus Wilson 1977 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
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
3173 Frederick Douglass David W. Blight 2018 American English
3198 Pictures From Home Larry Sultan 1992 American English
3236 Duke of Deception Geoffrey Wolff 1979 American English
3240 Aneurin Bevan Michael Foot 1973 British English
3247 Dora Bruder Patrick Modiano 1997 French French
3409 Kaffir Boy Mark Mathabane 1986 South African English
3422 Gulag Anne Applebaum 2003 American English
3439 The Age Of Wonder Richard Holmes 2008 British English
3555 The Hare with Amber Eyes Edmund de Waal 2010 British English
3605 Samuel Johnson Walter Jackson Bate 1977 American English
3629 A Childhood Harry Crews 1978 American English
3651 Means Of Ascent Robert Caro 1990 American English
3696 Borges Adolfo Bioy Casares 2006 Argentine Spanish
3742 Virginia Woolf's Diaries Virginia Woolf 1977 British English
3746 Roy Jenkins John Campbell 1983 British English
3800 Chronicles Bob Dylan 2004 American English
3802 Truman David McCullough 1992 American English
3818 Tuesdays With Morrie Mitch Albom 1997 American English
3855 A Bright Shining Lie Neil Sheehan 1988 American English
3892 Unbroken Laura Hillenbrand 2010 American English
3904 The Private Life of Chairman Mao Li Zhi-Sui 1994 Chinese English
3914 Helter Skelter Vincent Bugliosi 1974 American English
3964 All Over But The Shoutin' Rick Bragg 1997 American English
3966 Wave Sonali Deraniyagala 2013 Sri Lankan English
3980 Mountains Beyond Mountains Tracy Kidder 2003 American English
4044 The Glenn Gould Reader Glenn Gould 1984 Canadian English
4148 When Breath Becomes Air Paul Kalanithi 2016 American English
4149 The Silent Steppe Mukhamet Shayakhmetov 2006 Kazakh English
4164 A Sorrow Beyond Dreams Peter Handke 1972 Austrian German
4310 My Forbidden Face Latifa 2001 Afghan French
4314 For Those I Loved Martin Gray 1971 French French
4387 The Noonday Demon Andrew Solomon 2001 American English
4420 Hillbilly Elegy J. D. Vance 2016 American English
4422 Harold Wilson Ben Pimlott 1992 British English
4427 Red China Blues Jan Wong 1996 Canadian English
4434 Red Scarf Girl Ji-li Jiang 1997 Chinese English
4441 I Have Lived a Thousand Years Livia Bitton-Jackson 1997 Hungarian English
4484 The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls 2005 American English
4486 Alexander Hamilton Ron Chernow 2004 American English
4499 Born A Crime Trevor Noah 2016 South African English
4522 Common Ground J. Anthony Lukas 1985 American English
4525 The Night Of The Gun David Carr 2008 American English
4538 Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Richard P. Feynman 1985 American English
4623 Oracle Bones Peter Hessler 2006 American English
4627 Small Fry Lisa Brennan-Jobs 2018 American English
4661 In My Hands Irene Opdyke 1999 American English
4685 First They Killed My Father Loung Ung 2000 Cambodian English
4688 Chinese Cinderella Adeline Yen Mah 1999 Chinese English
4879 The Invisible Woman Claire Tomalin 1990 British English
4913 Cleopatra Stacy Schiff 2010 Egyptian English
4977 In My Father's House Anthony Appiah 1992 Ghanaian English
5009 Country Of My Skull Antjie Krog 1998 South African Afrikaans
5017 To A Distant Island James McConkey 1984 American English
5048 The Blair Years Alastair Campbell 2007 British English
5053 Wild Cheryl Strayed 2012 American English
5071 Good Company Frances Partridge 1977 British English
5093 The Road from Coorain Jill Ker Conway 1989 Australian English
5101 The Good Women Of China Xinran 2002 Chinese Chinese
5127 Last Train to Memphis Peter Guralnick 1994 American English
5155 Lenin's Tomb David Remnick 1993 American English
5172 Funny in Farsi Firoozeh Dumas 2003 Iranian English
5189 Dr. Johnson & Mr. Savage Richard Holmes 1993 British English
5210 Lives Other Than My Own Emmanuel Carrère 2009 French French
5223 Crusade For Justice Ida B. Wells 1970 American English
5250 A Life of Picasso John Richardson 1991 British English
5287 My Adventures As An Illustrator Norman Rockwell 1995 American English
5309 Nixon And Mao Margaret MacMillan 2005 Canadian English
5310 Hannah Senesh Hannah Senesh 1971 Hungarian Hebrew
5314 Grant Ron Chernow 2017 American English
5336 Churchill Roy Jenkins 2001 British English