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
15903 Cézanne Roger Fry 1927 British English
15903 The Life And Work Of Sigmund Freud Ernest Jones 1953 British English
15903 Saint Joan Of Arc Vita Sackville-West 1936 British English
15903 The Kinsey Reports Alfred C. Kinsey 1948 American English
15903 My India Jim Corbett 1952 British English
15903 St. Augustine Rebecca West 1933 British English
15903 The Eureka Stockade Raffaello Carboni 1855 Australian English
15903 Flynn Of The Inland Ion L Idriess 1932 Australian English
15903 My Crowded Solitude Jack McLaren 1926 Australian English
15903 Two Expeditions Into The Interior Of Southern Australia, 1828 31 Charles Sturt 1833 Australian English
15903 Female Biography Mary Hays 1803 British English
15903 Biographies Of Good Women Charlotte M Yonge 1866 British English
15903 Journal Of A Tour To The Hebrides James Boswell 1785 Scottish English
15903 Commando Deneys Reitz 1930 South African English
15903 God's Angry Man Leonard Ehrlich 1932 American English
15903 Wallace Marshall Frady 1968 English
15903 Childhood, Youth And Exile Alexander Herzen 1852 Russian Russian
15903 Father And Son Edmund Gosse 1907 British English
15903 A Journey To The Western Islands Of Scotland Samuel Johnson 1775 British English
15903 La Salle And The Discovery Of The Great West Francis Parkman 1869 American English
16522 My Life as an Explorer Sven Hedin 1925 Swedish Swedish
16535 Notes On A Cowardly Lion John Lahr 1969 American English
16535 My Son's Father Dom Moraes 1968 Indian English
16732 My Life As an Explorer (Amundsen) Roald Amundsen 1927 Norwegian Norwegian
16700 Inside The Third Reich Speer 1969 German German
16745 The World Crisis Winston Churchill 1923 British English
16673 The Dam Busters P Brickhill 1951 British English
16737 Las Confesiones Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1782 Genevan French
17125 Walter Lippmann and the American Century Ronald Steel 1980 American English
17125 The Broken Cord Michael Dorris 1989 American English
17125 Sons of Mississippi Paul Hendrickson 2003 American English
17125 Rough Crossings Simon Schama 2005 British English
17125 Herman Melville Newton Arvin 1950 American English
17125 The Lion and the Throne Catherine Drinker Bowen 1957 American English
17125 Mistress to an Age J. Christopher Herold 1958 American English
17125 Becoming a Man Paul Monette 1992 American English
17125 Moondust Andrew Smith 2005 British English
17125 With Americans of Past and Present Days Jean Jules Jusserand 1916 French English
17125 Samuel Pepys Claire Tomalin 2002 British English
17125 Conquistadors of the Useless Lionel Terray 1961 French French
17125 The Mountains of My Life Walter Bonatti 1998 Italian Italian
17061 I Married Adventure Osa Johnson 1940 American English
17125 The Crystal Horizon Reinhold Messner 1989 Italian German
17125 Comfort Me with Apples Ruth Reichl 2001 American English
17125 The Predators' Ball Connie Bruck 1988 American English
17125 Our Band Could Be Your Life Michael Azerrad 2001 American English
17125 A Testament of Hope Martin Luther King 1986 American English
17125 Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching Mychal Denzel Smith 2016 American English
17125 Custer's Trials T. J. Stiles 2015 American English
17125 Drum Dream Girl Margarita Engle 2015 Cuban English
17125 Love Wins Debbie Cenziper 2016 American English
17125 The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog Bruce D. Perry, Danny Campbell, Maia Szalavita 2006 American English
17125 When And Where I Enter Paula Giddings 1984 American English
17125 All Bound Up Together Martha S. Jones 2007 American English
17125 The Ethnic Project Vilna Bashi Treitler 2013 American English
17125 Kingbird Highway Kenn Kaufman 1997 American English
17125 Rogue Heroes Ben Macintyre 2016 British English
17125 Jerusalem Simon Sebag Montefiore 2011 British English
17125 Operation Mincemeat Ben Macintyre 2010 British English
17125 Spitfire John Nichol 2020 British English
17125 Behind The Mask Tyson Fury 2019 British English
17125 Red Notice Bill Browder 2015 American English
17125 Pele Pele 2006 Brazilian English
17125 Lady In Waiting Anne Glenconner 2019 British English
17125 Airhead Emily Maitlis 2019 British English
17125 Adventures Of A Young Naturalist Sir David Attenborough 2017 British English
17125 This Much Is True Miriam Margolyes 2021 British English
17125 Caravaggio Andrew Graham Dixon 2010 British English
17125 Somebody's Daughter Ashley C. Ford 2021 American English
17125 Finding Me Viola Davis 2022 American English
17125 Thomas Mann Heinrich Mann Helmut Koopmann 2005 German German
17125 Heroines Kate Zambreno 2012 American English
17125 My Life Golda Meir 1975 Israeli English
17125 Singin’ Swingin’ And Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas Maya Angelou 1976 American English
17125 The Short And Tragic Life Of Robert Peace Jeff Hobbs 2014 American English
17125 And So It Goes Charles J. Shields 2011 American English
17125 Beyond The Story BTS, Myeongseok Kang 2021 South Korean Korean
17125 Hidden Figures Margot Lee Shetterly 2016 American English
17125 The Woman With A Worm In Her Head Pamela Nagami 2001 American English
17125 Magic Trees Of The Mind Marion Diamond, Janet Hopson 1998 American English
17125 Almost Astronauts Tanya Lee Stone 2009 American English
17125 Earth Heroes Bruce Malnor, Carol Malnor 2009 American English
17125 The Magic Furnace Marcus Chown 1999 British English
17125 The Woman Who Knew Too Much Gayle Greene 2005 American English
17125 Martians Of Science Istvan Hargittai 2006 Unknown English
17125 Padre Pio Sergio Luzzatto 2007 Italian Italian
17125 Going Dutch Lisa Jardine 2008 British English
17125 Son Of The Morning Star Evan S. Connell 1984 American English
17125 At Canaan's Edge Taylor Branch 2006 American English
17125 The Emperor's Last Island Julia Blackburn 1991 British English
17125 Memories Of The Great And The Good Alistair Cooke 1999 British English
17125 Conversations With Glenn Gould Jonathan Cott 1983 Canadian English
17125 The Adventures Of Ibn Battuta Ross E. Dunn 1986 American English
17125 My Father's Fortune Michael Frayn 2010 British English
17125 I Was A Stranger Sir John Winthrop Hackett 1977 Irish Unknown
17125 Hokusai Henry D. Smith 1988 Japanese English
17125 Book Of Ages Jill Lepore 2013 American English
17125 A Beautiful Mind Sylvia Nasar 1998 American English
17125 Are You Somebody? Nuala O'Faolain 1996 Irish English
17125 The Reckoning Charles Nicholl 1992 British English
17125 Mrs. Adams In Winter Michael O'Brien 2010 Unknown English
17125 Heisenberg's War Thomas Powers 1993 American English
17125 Explaining Hitler Ron Rosenbaum 1998 American English
17125 List Of Books Frederic Raphael 1981 British Unknown
17125 Saint Exupery Stacy Schiff 1994 American English
17125 A Woman, A Man, And Two Kingdoms Francis Steegmuller 1991 American English
17125 Alice James Jean Strouse 1980 American English
17125 Hermit Of Peking Hugh Trevor-Roper 1976 British English
17125 Boggs Lawrence Weschler 1999 British English
17125 Dearest Friend Lynne Withey 1981 American English
17125 Geronimo Angie Debo 1976 American English
17125 Thelonious Monk Robin D. G. Kelley 2009 American English
17125 My Silent War Kim Philby 1968 British English
17125 The Courtier And The Heretic Matthew Stewart 2006 American English
17125 Louis Riel Chester Brown 2003 Canadian English
17125 The Mongol Empire Peter Ludwig Brent 1976 British English
17125 The Trip To Echo Spring Olivia Laing 2013 British English
17125 The River Of Doubt Candice Millard 2005 American English
17125 Finding Winnie Lindsay Mattick 2015 Canadian English
17125 Dostoevsky William W. Rowe 1989 American Unknown