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
11002 The Moral Animal Robert Wright 1994 American English
11032 My Life And The Beautiful Game Pele 1977 Brazilian English
11040 Who Is Government? Michael M. Lewis 2025 Unknown English
11049 The Roots Of Ticasuk Ticasuk Brown 1981 American English
11071 Hit So Hard Patty Schemel 2017 Unknown English
11082 Insomniac City Bill Hayes 2017 American English
11088 Mao's Last Dancer Li Cunxin 2003 Australian English
11137 Is There No Place On Earth For Me? Susan Sheehan 1982 American English
11137 Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan Herbert P. Bix 2000 American English
11137 Devil in the Grove Gilbert King 2012 American English
11137 The Undying Anne Boyer 2019 American English
11137 His Name Is George Floyd Robert Samuels, Toluse Olorunnipa 2022 American English
11186 Allen Curnow Elizabeth Caffin, Terry Sturm Unknown English
11223 Becoming Michelle Obama 2018 American English
11228 The Real Lolita Sarah Weinman 2018 Unknown English
11253 Frida Hayden Herrera 1983 American English
11294 Jonathan Edwards George Marsden 2003 American English
11306 James Tiptree, Jr. Julie Phillips 2006 Unknown English
11354 The Girl In The Green Dress Jeni Haynes 2019 Unknown English
11388 This Common Secret Susan Wicklund 2007 Unknown English
11415 Waiting for Snow in Havana Carlos Eire 2003 Cuban English
11441 Readme.Txt Chelsea Manning 2022 American English
11471 A Biography Of Dracula Harry Ludlam 1962 British English
11481 Ali Jonathan Eig 2017 American English
11481 Ninety Nine Glimpses Of Princess Margaret Craig Brown 2017 British English
11487 Land Of Opportunity William M. Adler 1995 Unknown English
11502 Hibakusha Gaynor Sekimori 1986 Hibakusha Unknown
11504 The White Masai Corinne Hofmann 1998 Swiss German
11530 Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa Mungo Park 1799 British English
11544 Hildegard Of Bingen Hildegard of Bingen 1152 German Latin
11577 Abraham Lincoln Carl Sandburg 1939 American English
11575 The Last Days of Hitler Hugh Trevor-Roper 1947 British English
11621 Where The Wild Things Were William Stolzenburg 2008 Unknown English
11642 On Animals Susan Orlean 2021 American English
11651 The Rest Of The Way J. D. McClatchy 1990 American English
11651 American Musicians Ii Whitney Balliett 1996 American English
11661 Red Comet Heather L. Clark 2020 American English
11661 The Club Leo Damrosch 2019 American English
11661 Penelope Fitzgerald Hermione Lee 2013 British English
11661 Days Of Fire Peter Baker 2013 American English
11661 The Patriarch David Nasaw 2012 American English
11661 A World On Fire Amanda Foreman 2011 British English
11661 Apollo’s Angels Jennifer Homans 2010 American English
11661 Raymond Carver Carol Sklenicka 2009 American English
11661 The Nine Jeffrey Toobin 2007 American English
11661 The Ordeal Of Elizabeth Marsh Linda Colley 2007 British English
11661 The Assassins’ Gate George Packer 2005 American English
11661 The Lost Painting Jonathan Harr 2005 American English
11661 Walt Whitman Justin Kaplan 1980 American English
11661 The Cost Of Good Intentions Charles R. Morris 1980 American English
11661 Haydn H. C. Robbins Landon 1976 British English
11661 Years Of Upheaval Henry A. Kissinger 1982 American English
11661 The Fate Of The Earth Jonathan Schell 1982 American English
11661 Isak Dinesen Judith Thurman 1982 American English
11661 Attlee Kenneth Harris 1982 British English
11661 The Rosenberg File Ronald Radosh, Joyce Milton 1983 American English
11661 In Her Own Right Elisabeth Griffith 1984 American English
11661 The Quality Of Mercy William Shawcross 1994 British English
11661 Walt Whitman Paul Zweig 1984 American English
11661 With A Daughter's Eye Mary Catherine Bateson 1984 American English
11661 All Fall Down Gary Sick 1985 American English
11661 Fdr Kenneth S. Davis 1972 American English
11661 Keynes Robert Skidelsky 1983 British English
11661 The Vanished Imam Fouad Ajami 1986 Lebanese English
11661 Velazquez Jonathan Brown 1986 American English
11661 The Embarrassment Of Riches Simon Schama 1987 British English
11661 Evelyn Waugh Martin Stannard 1986 Unknown English
11661 The Ice Stephen J. Pyne 1986 American English
11661 Bernard Shaw, Vol. 1 Michael Holroyd 1988 British English
11661 The Magic Lantern Ingmar Bergman 1987 Swedish Swedish
11661 Federico Garcia Lorca Ian Gibson 1989 Spanish English
11661 Macmillan Alistair Horne 1988 American English
11661 American Eden Victoria Johnson 2018 Unknown English
11661 Fly Girls Keith O'Brien 2018 American English
11661 Gandhi: The Years That Changed The World Ramachandra Guha 2018 Indian English
11661 In Pieces Sally Field 2018 American English
11661 Looking For Lorraine Imani Perry 2018 Unknown English
11661 She Has Her Mother's Laugh Carl Zimmer 2018 American English
11661 We The Corporations Adam Winkler 2018 American English
11811 Rosie The Riveter Revisited Sherna Berger Gluck 1987 American English
11811 When I Was Puerto Rican Esmeralda Santiago 1993 American English
11840 Broad Band Claire Evans 2018 Unknown English
11847 Them Francine du Plessix Gray 2005 French English
11852 Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation Allen Guelzo 2004 American English
11859 Makes Me Wanna Holler Nathan McCall 1994 American English
11859 Swimming To Antarctica Lynne Cox 1994 American English
11862 Evening In The Palace Of Reason James R. Gaines 2005 Unknown English
11872 Awakenings Oliver Sacks 1973 British English
11875 Walter De La Mare Doris Ross McCrosson 1966 Unknown English
11888 Whittaker Chambers Sam Tanenhaus 1997 American English
11899 Alicia Alicia Appleman-Jurman 1988 Polish English
11899 Margaret Bourke White Vicki Goldberg 1988 American English
11899 Nora Brenda Maddox 1988 British English
11934 Super Pumped Mike Isaac 2019 American English
11939 Eden's Outcasts Jon Matteson 2007 American Unknown
11939 The Most Famous Man in America Debby Applegate 2006 American English
11939 Khrushchev William Taubman 2003 American English
11939 Vera Stacy Schiff 1999 American English
11939 Julia Ward Howe Laura E. Richards, Maud Howe Elliott 1915 American English
11939 Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed William Cabell Bruce 1917 American English
11939 From Immigrant to Inventor Michael I. Pupin 1923 American English
11939 Barrett Wendell and His Letters M. A. Dewolfe Howe 1924 American English
11939 The Life of Sir William Osler Harvey Cushing 1925 American English
11939 Whitman Emory Holloway 1926 American English
11939 The American Orchestra and Theodore Thomas Charles Edward Russell 1927 American English
11939 The Training of an American Burton J. Hendrick 1928 American English
11939 The Raven Marquis James 1929 American English
11939 Charles W. Eliot Henry James 1909 American Unknown
11939 John Hay Tyler Dennett 1933 American English
11939 The Thought and Character of William James Ralph Barton Perry 1935 American English
11939 Pedlar's Progress Odell Shepard 1937 American English
11939 Woodrow Wilson, Life and Letters Ray Stannard Baker 1927 American English
11939 Crusader in Crinoline Forrest Wilson 1941 American English
11939 Admiral of the Ocean Sea Samuel Eliot Morison 1942 American English
11939 George Bancroft Russel Blaine Nye 1944 American English
11939 Son of the Wilderness Linnie Marsh Wolfe 1946 American English
11939 The Autobiography of William Allen White William Allen White 1946 American English
11939 Forgotten First Citizen Margaret Clapp 1947 American English
11939 Roosevelt and Hopkins Robert E. Sherwood 1948 American English
11939 John C. Calhoun Margaret Louise Coit 1950 American English