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
12700 How To Say Goodbye In Cuban Daniel Miyares American English
12703 Actress Of A Certain Age Jeff Hiller 2025 American English
12707 The Revenge of Gaia James Lovelock 2006 British English
12713 The Feather Detective Chris Sweeney British English
12720 Notes To John Joan Didion 2025 American English
12730 Waiting On The Moon Peter Wolf Unknown English
12750 Words For My Comrades Dean Van Nguyen Australian English
12762 How To Share An Egg Bonny Reichert 2025 Unknown English
12766 The Art Spy Michelle Young 2025 Unknown English
12773 Children Of Radium Joe Dunthorne 2025 Welsh English
12779 The End Is The Beginning Jill Bialosky 2025 American English
12786 The Jailhouse Lawyer Calvin Duncan, Sophie Cull 2025 Unknown English
12790 The True Happiness Company Veena Dinavahi 2025 Unknown English
12800 Bright Circle Randall Fuller 2025 Unknown English
12807 The Undiscovered Country Paul Andrew Hutton 2025 American English
12809 Positive Obsession Susana M. Morris 2025 Unknown English
12801 Captain's Dinner Adam Cohen 2025 Unknown English
12804 Only God Can Judge Me Jeff Pearlman 2025 American English
12820 The Boys In The Light Nina Willner 2025 American English
12825 The Last Manager John Miller 2025 Unknown English
12832 A Chorus Of Stones Susan Griffin 1992 American English
12832 Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume One Blanche Wiesen Cook 1992 American English
12832 Princess Jean Sasson 1992 American English
12875 I Seek A Kind Person Julian Borger 2025 Unknown English
12877 The Spinach King John Seabrook 2025 American English
12881 The First And Last King Of Haiti Marlene L. Daut 2025 American English
12890 Zbig Edward Luce 2025 British English
12891 Articulate Rachel Kolb 2025 American English
12904 Sister, Sinner Claire Hoffman 2025 American English
12893 The Golden Hour Matthew Specktor 2025 American English
12896 We Should All Be Birds Brian Buckbee, Carol Ann Fitzgerald 2025 Unknown English
12910 Jane Austen's Bookshelf Rebecca Romney 2025 Unknown English
12915 Like, Comment, Subscribe Mark Bergen 2022 Unknown English
12914 How To Lose Your Mother Molly Jong-Fast 2025 American English
12918 Make It Ours Robin Givhan 2025 American English
12921 Paris Undercover Matthew Goodman 2025 Unknown English
12924 True Nature Lance Richardson 2025 Unknown English
12934 Do Admit Mimi Pond 2025 American English
12935 A Mind Of My Own Kathy Burke 2025 British English
12936 Clam Down Anelise Chen 2025 American English
12955 38 Londres Street Philippe Sands 2025 British English
12956 The Revolutionists Jason Burke 2025 British English
12960 Matriarch Tina Knowles, Kevin Carr O'Leary 2025 American English
12991 All The Way To The River Elizabeth Gilbert 2025 American English
12993 The Colonel And The King Peter Guralnick 2025 American English
12998 Gwyneth Amy Odell 2025 American English
13008 Saving Five Amanda Nguyen 2025 American English
13012 The Tell Amy Griffin 2025 Unknown English
13013 The Trouble Of Color Martha S. Jones 2025 American English
13014 House Of Huawei Eva Dou 2025 American English
13015 The Thinking Machine Stephen Witt 2025 Unknown English
13037 The Party's Interests Come First Joseph Torigian 2025 Unknown English
13038 Righting Wrongs Kenneth Roth 2025 American English
13039 Russia's Man Of War Cathy Scott-Clark 2025 British English
13041 Collisions Alec Nevala-Lee 2025 American English
13080 Talk To Me Rich Benjamin 2025 American English
13082 No Sense In Wishing Lawrence Burney 2025 Unknown English
13083 Shadow Cell Andrew Bustamante, Jihi Bustamante 2025 American English
13084 Tonight In Jungleland Peter Ames Carlin 2025 American English
13087 Eminent Jews David Denby 2025 American English
13091 Mailman Stephen Starring Grant 2025 Unknown English
13092 Aflame Pico Iyer 2025 British English
13100 Art Work Sally Mann 2025 American English
13192 Bibliophobia Sarah Chihaya 2025 American English
13101 The Life And Poetry Of Frank Stanford James McWilliams 2025 American English
13105 Love And Need Adam Plunkett 2025 Unknown English
13108 Hotshot River Selby 2025 Unknown English
13109 Taking Manhattan Russell Shorto 2025 American English
13112 The Running Ground Nicholas Thompson 2025 Unknown English
13126 Vagabond Tim Curry 2025 British English
13127 Truly Lionel Richie 2025 American English
13129 Frankly Nicola Sturgeon 2025 Scottish English
13130 A Different Kind Of Power Jacinda Ardern 2025 New Zealander English
13131 Death Of An Ordinary Man Sarah Perry 2025 British English
13133 Vermeer Andrew Graham Dixon 2025 British English
13134 Katherine Mansfield Gerri Kimber 2025 Unknown English
13135 Josephine Baker's Secret War Hanna Diamond 2025 British English
13136 The Acid Queen Susannah Cahalan 2025 American English
13137 Erik Satie Three Piece Suite Ian Penman 2025 British English
13145 Wages For Housework Emily Callaci 2025 Unknown English
13146 Those Passions T. J. Clark 2025 British English
13225 An Evil Cradling Brian Keenan 1991 British English
13256 The Great Escape Angus Deaton 2013 British English
13256 The Idealist Nina Munk 2013 American English
13256 The Photographer Emmanuel Guibert 2003 French English
13256 True Notebooks Mark Salzman 2003 American English
13295 Mary Shelley W. H. Lyles 1974 American English
13314 Schubert’s Winter Journey Ian Bostridge 2015 British English
13337 Candyfreak Steve Almond 2004 American English
13337 The Radioactive Boy Scout Ken Silverstein 2004 American English
13352 Lovecraft L. Sprague de Camp 1975 American English
13359 Business Adventures John Brooks 1969 American English
13359 The Lives Of The Poets Samuel Johnson 1779 British English
13359 A Biographical History Of Philosophy George Henry Lewes 1845 American English
13359 The Travels And Researches Of Alexander Von Humboldt William MacGillivray 1832 German English
13359 Richelieu G. P. R. James 1829 British English
13511 Jesus Land Julia Scheeres 2005 American English
13532 The Path Between The Seas David McCullough 1977 American English
13532 A Life In Letters Anton Chekhov 1973 Russian Russian
13549 How To Be A Good Creature Sy Montgomery 2018 American English
13559 The Path to Power Robert Caro 1982 American English
13559 I Am Malala Malala Yousafzai 2013 Pakistani English
13566 Butterfly Boy Rigoberto González 2006 American English
13566 Johnny Cash Reinhard Kleist 2006 German German
13599 Civilization Georges Duhamel 1918 French French
13599 Dans La Main De L'ange Dominique Fernandez 1982 French French
13752 Interviews With Francis Bacon David Sylvester 1975 British English
13771 Beautiful Boy David Sheff 2008 American English
13817 Tolstoy Pietro Citati 1986 Italian Italian
13817 The Girl With The Leica Helena Janeczek 2017 Italian Italian
13878 Edwin Mullhouse Steven Millhauser 1972 American English
13885 Stitches David Small 2009 American English
13885 Anne Frank Francine Prose 2009 American English
13885 Googled Ken Auletta 2009 American English
13885 Louisa May Alcott Harriet Reisen 2009 Unknown English
13941 London Peter Ackroyd 2000 British English
13941 Unbroken Laura Hillenbrand 2010 American English
13968 In The Matter Of Nat Turner Christopher Tomlins 2020 Unknown English
13971 The Bridge David Remnick 2010 Unknown English
14006 The Five Hallie Rubenhold 2019 British English