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
14011 The Life And Times Of Little Richard Charles White 1984 British English
14021 Phoenix David Stuttard 2021 Unknown English
14023 The Man Who Stayed Behind Sidney Rittenberg 1993 American English
14025 The Wife's Tale Aida Edemariam 2018 Canadian English
14056 Sybil Flora Rheta Schreiber 1973 American English
14061 Buffett Roger Lowenstein 1995 American English
14061 David Bomberg Richard Cork 1987 British English
14065 Thomas Jefferson Thomas S. Kidd 2022 Unknown English
14078 Ordinary Girls Jaquira Díaz 2019 American English
14090 Shoe Dog Phil Knight 2016 American English
14130 Passagère Du Silence Fabienne Verdier 2001 French French
14131 The Boys Of Summer Roger Kahn 1972 American English
14176 The Spy And The Traitor Ben Macintyre 2018 British English
14211 Queen Victoria Lytton Strachey 1921 British English
14232 Hunger of Memory Richard Rodriguez 1982 American English
14232 Catherine The Great Robert K. Massie 2011 American English
14232 The Boys In The Boat Daniel James Brown 2013 American English
14232 Neurotribes Steve Silberman 2015 American English
14232 Means Of Ascent Robert Caro 1990 American English
14229 Margaret Mead Elesha Coffman Unknown English
14410 The Man Who Fed The World Leon Hesser 2006 American English
14410 Dylan Thomas In America John Malcolm Brinnin 1955 American English
14434 Einstein Walter Isaacson 2007 American English
14434 The Foundation Joel L. Fleishman 2007 American English
14457 A Champion's Mind Pete Sampras 2008 American English
14457 Clarence Darrow For The Defense Irving Stone 1957 American English
14457 So You Wanna Be A Rock & Roll Star Jacob Slichter 2004 American English
14541 The Unusual Suspect Ben Machell 2020 British English
14553 The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind William Kamkwamba 2009 Malawian English
14553 It's Our Turn To Eat Michela Wrong 2009 British English
14588 The Babysitter Liza Rodman, Jennifer Jordan 2021 Unknown English
14588 Confident Women Tori Telfer 2021 Unknown English
14588 Two Truths And A Lie Ellen McGarrahan 2021 Unknown English
14598 The Cost Of Hope Amanda Bennett 2012 American English
14621 Mark Twain, A Biography Albert Bigelow Paine 1912 American English
14649 Tadanori Yokoo Daido Moriyama 2006 Japanese Japanese
14665 Yongzheng Emperor Eryue He 1990 Chinese Chinese
14671 Abraham Lincoln Lord Charnwood 1916 British English
14678 Zeng Guofan Tang Haoming 1992 Chinese Chinese
14676 The Life And Letters Of John Hay William Roscoe Thayer 1915 American English
14679 Becoming Steve Jobs Brent Schlender 2015 American English
14679 A Full Life Jimmy Carter 2015 American English
14679 Epic Measures Jeremy N. Smith 2015 American English
14679 Being Nixon Evan Thomas 2015 American English
14694 Seven Great Statesmen In The Warfare Of Humanity With Unreason Andrew Dickson White 1915 American English
14697 Late To The Ball Gerald Marzorati 2016 American English
14831 Presidents Of War Michael Beschloss 2018 American English
14831 Railroader Howard Green 2018 Canadian English
14864 Instant Replay Jerry Kramer, Dick Schaap 1968 American English
14897 We Die Alone David Howarth 1955 British English
14891 Nicholas And Alexandra Robert K. Massie 1967 American English
14947 Freedom At Midnight Dominique Lapierre, Larry Collins 1975 Multiple English
14984 A Child Called 'It' Dave Pelzer 1995 American English
14984 Freedom Orlando Patterson 1991 Jamaican English
14984 How We Die Sherwin B. Nuland 1994 American English
14984 My Father and other Working-Class Football Heroes Gary Imlac 2005 British English
14984 Touching the Void Joe Simpson 1988 British English
14984 Naked David Sedaris 1997 American English
14984 Borrowed Time Paul Monette 1988 American English
14984 A Drinking Life Pete Hamill 1994 American English
14984 Make Your Bed William H. McRaven 2017 American English
14984 Short Nights Of The Shadow Catcher Timothy Egan 2012 American English
14984 Alex Ferguson Sir Alex Ferguson 2013 British English
14984 Me Elton John 2019 British English
14984 Cash Johnny Cash 1997 American English
14984 Galileo's Daughter Dava Sobel 1999 American English
14984 The Day We Found The Universe Marcia Bartusiak 2009 American English
14984 Cultural Amnesia Clive James 2007 Australian English
14984 In The Freud Archives Janet Malcolm 1984 American English
14984 Shelley Richard Holmes 1974 British English
14984 Ringmaster Abraham Riesman 2023 American English
14984 Elon Musk Walter Isaacson 2023 American English
14984 Hitler And Stalin Alan Bullock 1991 British English
14984 Hitler Ian Kershaw 1998 British English
14984 Citizen Clem John Bew 2016 British English
14984 The Great Partition Yasmin Khan 2007 British English
14984 Salt Mark Kurlansky 2002 American English
14984 The Wright Brothers David McCullough 2015 American English
14984 When Pride Still Mattered: A Life Of Vince Lombardi David Maranis 1999 American English
14984 Anthony Blunt: His Lives Miranda Carter 2001 British English
14984 The Last Mughal William Dalrymple 2006 British English
14984 Genentech Sally Smith Hughes 2009 Unknown English
14984 They Called Us Enemy George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott 2019 American English
14984 The Happiest Man On Earth Eddie Jaku 2020 Unknown English
14984 Fatherland Burkhard Bilger 2023 Unknown English
15561 The Ride Of A Lifetime Robert Iger 2019 American English
15561 From The Ground Up Howard Schultz 2019 American English
15561 Dubin's Lives Bernard Malamud 1979 American English
15588 Broken Genius Joel N. Shurkin 2020 American English
15588 Jennie Ralph G. Martin 1969 American English
15610 The Code Breaker Walter Isaacson 2021 American English
15610 Zelda Nancy Milford 1970 American English
15636 The Game Of The Foxes Ladislas Farago 1971 American English
15636 Honor Thy Father Gay Talese 1971 American English
15649 Hu Xueyan Gao Yang 2007 Chinese Chinese
15655 Abbé Pierre Jay William Hudson 1922 Unknown Unknown
15661 Supermoney George Goodman 1972 American English
15749 The Passions Of The Mind Irving Stone 1971 American English
15770 Run To Daylight Vince Lombardi 1963 American English
15899 A Sense of Where You Are John McPhee 1965 American English
15899 The Masters and the Slaves Gilberto Freyre 1933 Brazilian Portuguese
15875 Endurance F. A. Worsley 1931 British English
16485 Scott's Last Expedition Apsley Cherry-Garrard 1922 British English
15899 The life and letters of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin 1817 American English
15899 My Own Story Emmeline Pankhurst 1914 British English
15899 The Autobiography Of Margaret Sanger Margaret Sanger 1938 American English
15899 Averroes George F. Hourani 1961 American English
15899 Their Finest Hour Winston Churchill 1949 British English
15899 Memoirs Of A Medieval Woman Louise Collis 1964 British English
15899 Talleyrand Duff Cooper 1932 British English
15899 The Memoirs Of Hector Berlioz Hector Berlioz 1870 French French
15899 The Wilder Shores Of Love Lesley Blanch 1954 British English
15899 A Fortunate Man John Berger 1967 American English
15899 Memoirs Of Lorenzo Da Ponte Lorenzo Da Ponte 1823 Italian Italian
15899 The Destruction Of Lord Raglan Christopher Hibbert 1961 British English
15899 The Selected Letters Of William James William James 1920 American English
15899 The Perfect Stranger P. J. Kavanagh 1966 British English
15899 Hons And Rebels Jessica Mitford 1960 British English
15899 The Radium Woman Eleanor Doorly 1939 British English
15899 Red Star Over China Edgar Snow 1937 American English