The Greatest Biography 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
17130 Last Boat Out Of Shanghai Zia, Helen 2019 Unknown English
17130 The Loneliest Americans Jay Caspian Kang 2021 American English
17130 The Golden Spruce John Vaillant 2005 Canadian English
17130 Savarkar Vikram Sampath 2019 Indian English
17130 The Lion And The Lily Ira Mukhoty 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Washing Of The Spears Donald R. Morris 1965 American English
17130 The Broken String Neil Bennun 2004 Unknown English
17130 The Afrikaners John Fisher 1969 Unknown English
17130 The Rise & Fall Of The Zulu Nation John Laband 1995 Unknown English
17130 Jameson's Raid Elizabeth Longford 1982 British English
17130 We Believe The Children Richard Beck 2015 Unknown English
17130 I Swear I'll Make It Up To You Mishka Shubaly 2016 American English
17130 Still Pictures Janet Malcolm 2023 American English
17130 Karl Marx Francis Wheen 1999 British English
17130 Eichmann Before Jerusalem Bettina Stangneth 2011 German German
17130 King Of The World David Remnick 1998 American English
17130 Churchill Martin Gilbert 1991 British English
17130 The Man Who Saved The Union H.W. Brands 2012 American English
17130 The Romanovs Simon Sebag Montefiore 2016 British English
16917 Fate Is The Hunter Ernest K. Gann 1961 American English
17130 The Moon's A Balloon David Niven 1971 British English
17130 The Child That Books Built Francis Spufford 2002 British English
17130 Addicted Tony Adams 1998 British English
17130 It's Not About The Bike Lance Armstrong 1999 American English
17130 The Austerity Olympics Janie Hamilton 2009 Unknown English
17130 Sword Of Pleasure Peter Green 1957 British English
17130 Michelangelo The Florentine Sidney Alexander 1957 Unknown English
17130 The Hand Of Michelangelo Sidney Alexander 1976 Unknown English
17130 The Agony And The Ecstacy Irving Stone 1961 American English
17130 Time For Outrage Amelia Bean Unknown Unknown
17130 Carrington Michael Straight 1960 American English
16932 Astoria Washington Irving 1835 American English
17130 Thanks A Thousand A. J. Jacobs 2018 American English
17130 Spies In The Family Eva Dillon 2017 Unknown English
17130 The Upstairs Delicatessen Dwight Garner 2023 American English
17130 The Rascal King Jack Beatty 1992 American English
17130 The Man From The Future Ananyo Bhattacharya 2021 Unknown English
17130 To Name The Bigger Lie Sarah Viren 2023 Unknown English
17130 King Jonathan Eig 2023 American English
17130 Master Slave Husband Wife Ilyon Woo 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Money Kings Daniel Schulman 2023 Unknown Unknown
17130 Camille Pissarro Anka Muhlstein 2023 Unknown French
17130 Charlie Chaplin Vs. America Scott Eyman 2023 Unknown English
17130 Romney McKay Coppins 2023 American English
17130 Going Infinite Michael Lewis 2023 American English
17130 The Boy From Kyiv Marina Harss 2023 Unknown Unknown
17130 Black Friend Ziwe 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Life And Times Of Hannah Crafts Gregg Hecimovich 2023 Unknown English
17130 Up Home Ruth J. Simmons 2023 Unknown English
17130 Betty Friedan Rachel Shteir 2023 Unknown English
17130 Cosmic Scholar John Szwed 2023 Unknown English
17130 Young Queens Leah Redmond Chang 2023 Unknown English
17130 Schoenberg Harvey Sachs 2023 Unknown English
17130 August Wilson Patti Hartigan 2023 Unknown English
17130 Last Of The Lions Clarence B. Jones, Stuart Connelly 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Migrant Chef Laura Tillman 2023 Unknown English
17130 Rhythm Man Stephanie Stein Crease 2023 Unknown English
17130 A Madman’s Will Gregory May 2023 Unknown English
17130 Fires In The Dark Kay Redfield Jamison 2023 Unknown English
17130 Natural Light Julian Bell 2023 British English
17130 The 272 Rachel L. Swarns 2023 Unknown English
17130 Winnie And Nelson Jonny Steinberg 2023 Unknown English
17130 Tomorrow Perhaps The Future Sarah Watling 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Wounded World Chad L. Williams 2023 Unknown English
17130 Samuel Barber Howard Pollack 2023 Unknown English
17130 The World Simon Sebag Montefiore 2023 British English
17130 Mozart In Motion Patrick Mackie 2023 Unknown English
17130 My Father’s Brain Sandeep Jauhar 2023 American English
17130 Holding The Note David Remnick 2023 American English
17130 Camera Girl Carl Sferrazza Anthony 2023 Unknown English
17130 To Anyone Who Ever Asks Howard Fishman 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Best Minds Jonathan Rosen 2023 Unknown English
17130 Benjamin Banneker And Us Rachel Jamison Webster 2023 Unknown English
17130 Picasso The Foreigner Annie Cohen‑Solal 2023 Unknown French
17130 Ringmaster Abraham Riesman 2023 Unknown English
17130 Milton Glaser Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, Beth Kleber 2023 Unknown English
17130 Three Roads Back Robert D. Richardson 2023 Unknown English
17130 Spare Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex 2023 British English
17130 Mott Street Ava Chin 2023 Unknown English
17130 Owner Of A Lonely Heart Beth Nguyen 2023 Unknown English
17130 Flee North Scott Shane 2023 Unknown English
17130 Good Girls Hadley Freeman 2023 British English
17130 An Ordinary Man Richard Norton Smith 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Life And Times Of Hannah Crafts Gregg Hecimovich 2023 Unknown English
17130 Althea Sally H. Jacobs 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Dictionary People Sarah Ogilvie 2023 Unknown English
17130 George Frieda Hughes 2023 British English
17130 Leg Greg Marshall 2023 Unknown English
17130 Lou Reed Will Hermes 2023 Unknown English
17130 President Garfield C.W. Goodyear 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Secret Gate Mitchell Zuckoff 2023 American English
17130 Starkweather Harry N. MacLean 2023 Unknown English
17130 Winnie And Nelson Jonny Steinberg 2023 Unknown English
17130 Hitler, Stalin, Mum And Dad Daniel Finkelstein 2023 British English
17130 Ian Fleming Nicholas Shakespeare 2023 Unknown English
17130 Milton Friedman Jennifer Burns 2023 Unknown English
17130 Monet Jackie Wullschläger 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Lumumba Plot Stuart Reid 2023 Unknown English
16862 My Autobiography Charles Chaplin 1964 British English
17130 Led Zeppelin Bob Spitz 2021 American English
17130 Toy Fights Don Paterson 2023 British English
17130 The Spy Paulo Coelho 2016 Brazilian Portuguese
17130 Muhammad Karen Armstrong 1991 British English
17130 Savage Beauty Nancy Milford 2001 American English
17130 Dead Man's Chest Nicholas Rankin 1987 Unknown English
17130 The Diary Of Alice James Alice James 1982 American English
17130 Memoirs Pablo Neruda 1974 Chilean Spanish
17130 Ways Of Escape Graham Greene 1971 British English
17130 Room Full Of Mirrors Charles R. Cross 2005 American English
17130 Everything We Had: An Oral History Of The Vietnam War Al Santoli 1981 American English
17130 The Hero Code William H. McRaven 2021 American English
17121 Narrative Of The Life Of Fredrick Douglass Frederick Douglass 1845 American English
17130 Secret History Of The Mongols Paul Kahn 1984 Unknown English
17130 James Dean Paul Alexander 1994 Unknown English
17130 A Day Of Pleasure Isaac Bashevis Singer 1963 Polish English
17130 Homesick Jean Fritz 1982 American English
17130 A First Time For Everything Dan Santat 2023 American English
17130 Journal Of An Ordinary Grief Mahmoud Darwish 1973 Palestinian Arabic
17130 Sonic Life Thurston Moore 2023 American English
17130 Bob Dylan Mark Davidson, Parker Fishel 2022 Unknown English