The Greatest Books of All Time on Journalism

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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
109 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
232 2666 Roberto Bolaño 2004 Chilean Spanish
432 Lost Illusions Honoré de Balzac 1837 French French
435 Scoop Evelyn Waugh 1938 British English
488 The Shipping News Annie Proulx 1993 Canadian English
530 The Red Room August Strindberg 1879 Swedish Swedish
577 Anniversaries Uwe Johnson 1970 German German
652 Dispatches Michael Herr 1977 American English
683 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson 1971 American English
920 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
953 Trent's Last Case E. C. Bentley 1913 British English
982 Speedboat Renata Adler 1976 American English
993 Essays of E. B. White E. B. White 1977 American English
1356 Towards The End Of The Morning Michael Frayn 1967 British English
1390 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
1427 Vile Bodies Evelyn Waugh 1930 British English
1678 A Time To Be Born Dawn Powell 1942 American English
1848 Darker Than You Think Jack Williamson 1948 American English
1882 Pereira Maintains Antonio Tabucchi 1994 Italian Italian
2189 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
2259 Advertisements for Myself Norman Mailer 1959 American English
2339 Personal History Katharine Graham 1997 American English
2411 The Americanization of Edward Bok Edward Bok 1920 American English
2529 The Mystery Of The Yellow Room Gaston Leroux 1907 French French
2658 Boys on the Bus Timothy Crouse 1973 American English
2697 All Over But The Shoutin' Rick Bragg 1997 American English
2925 The Great Shark Hunt Hunter S. Thompson 1979 American English
2928 Tourist Season Carl Hiaasen 1986 American English
2951 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
3038 England, Their England A. G. Macdonell 1933 British English
3070 The Armies of the Night Norman Mailer 1968 American English
3090 Disturbance Philippe Lançon 2018 French French
3146 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
3214 The Year of the Hare Arto Paasilinna 1975 Finnish Finnish
3216 Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil John Berendt 1994 American English
3225 Millennium Trilogy Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
3276 Up in the Old Hotel Joseph Mitchell 1992 American English
3310 Growing Up Russell Baker 1982 American English
3312 Roughing It Mark Twain 1872 American English
3403 The Unfortunates B. S. Johnson 1969 British English
3507 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
3610 The Blue Lotus Hergé 1936 Belgian French
3634 The Totem David Morrell 1979 American English
3637 The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens Lincoln Steffens 1931 American English
3637 The Raging Reporter Egon Erwin Kisch 1924 Czech German
3637 How I Found Livingstone Henry M. Stanley 1871 British English
3876 Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 Hunter S. Thompson 1973 American English
3942 Of Love and Shadows Isabel Allende 1984 Chilean Spanish
4125 The Black Book Orhan Pamuk 1990 Turkish Turkish
4168 The History of the Standard Oil Company Ida Tarbell 1904 American English
4417 A Bright Shining Lie Neil Sheehan 1988 American English
4444 Chronicles of Wasted Time Malcolm Muggeridge 1972 British English
4875 The Earl of Louisiana A. J. Liebling 1961 American English
5116 North Toward Home Willie Morris 1967 American English
5237 Travels With Myself And Another Martha Gellhorn 1978 American English
5260 Death And The Penguin Andrey Kurkov 1996 Ukrainian Russian
5308 The Emperor's Children Claire Messud 2006 American English
5348 How the Other Half Lives Jacob A. Riis 1890 Danish English
5411 Nineteen Seventy Four David Peace 1999 British English
5687 Life Begins On Friday Ioana Pârvulescu 2009 Romanian Romanian
5726 My Kind of Place Susan Orlean 2004 American English
5772 Jurnalul Unui Jurnalist Fără Jurnal Ion D. Sîrbu 1993 Romanian Romanian
5844 The Last Shot Darcy Frey 1994 American English
5860 The Last Days of Mankind Karl Kraus 1919 Austrian German
5860 A Modern Instance William Dean Howells 1882 American English
5915 Reveille in Washington Margaret Leech 1941 American English
6002 Pylon William Faulkner 1935 American English
6086 The End Of The World News Anthony Burgess 1982 British English
6191 Fletch Gregory Mcdonald 1974 American English
6263 Lowest Of The Low Günter Wallraff 1985 German German
6273 American Tabloid James Ellroy 1995 American English
6292 Oracle Bones Peter Hessler 2006 American English
6323 The New Kings Of Nonfiction Ira Glass 2007 American English
6363 Moon Tiger Penelope Lively 1987 British English
6445 The Emperor Ryszard Kapuscinski 1978 Polish Polish
6635 The Curse Of Lono Hunter S. Thompson 1983 American English
6736 The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup Susan Orlean 2001 American English
6873 The Late-night News Petros Markaris 1995 Greek Greek
6882 The Haunted Land Tina Rosenberg 1995 American English
6934 Shooting Script Gavin Lyall 1966 British English
6989 Red China Blues Jan Wong 1996 Canadian English
7122 Generation Kill Evan Wright 2004 American English
7182 When The Going Was Good Graydon Carter, James Fox 1946 Canadian English
7215 The New York Times Manual Of Style And Usage Allan M. Siegal, William G. Connolly 1950 American English
7569 Brain On Fire Susannah Cahalan 2012 American English
7581 Feed Seanan McGuire 2010 American English
7647 Hitch 22 Christopher Hitchens 2010 British English
7709 The Honourable Schoolboy John le Carré 1977 British English
7737 No Turning Back Rania Abouzeid 2018 Unknown English
7871 Psmith, Journalist P. G. Wodehouse 1915 British English
7880 Safe Area Joe Sacco 2000 American English
7987 The Poet Michael Connelly 1996 American English
8031 The Muses Are Heard Truman Capote 1956 American English
8075 The Great Derangement Matt Taibbi 2008 American English
8161 The Girl Who Played With Fire Stieg Larsson 2006 Swedish Swedish
8238 Nineteen Seventy Seven David Peace 2000 British English
8247 Always Unreliable Clive James 2001 British English
8294 La Guerra De Galio Héctor Aguilar Camín 1991 Mexican Spanish
8306 A Life In The Twentieth Century Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr 2000 American English
8308 This Present Darkness Frank Peretti 1986 American English
8320 The Truth Terry Pratchett 2000 British English
8424 She Said Jodi Kantor 2019 American English
8461 The Fiddler In The Subway Gene Weingarten 2010 American English
8461 Griftopia Matt Taibbi 2010 American English
8496 Shadows Osvaldo Soriano 1993 Argentine Unknown
8500 The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest Stieg Larsson 2007 Swedish Swedish
8563 A Day In The Life Of Abed Salama Nathan Thrall 2023 Unknown English
8591 The Adventures Of Tintin Hergé 1929 Belgian French
8610 The Devil's Teeth Susan Casey 2005 American English
8697 Blacklist Sara Paretsky 2003 American English
8716 Prejudices H. L. Mencken 1919 American English
8739 Biko Donald Woods 1978 South African English
8754 Night Draws Near Anthony Shadid 2005 American English
8989 The Deal Of The Century Steve Coll 1986 American English
9053 In The Darkroom Susan Faludi 2016 American English
9060 Soldiers And Kings Jason De León 2024 Unknown English
9188 Love And Ruin Evan Ratliff, Susan Orlean 2016 Unknown English
9188 Irritable Hearts Mac McClelland 2015 Unknown English
9258 From Beirut to Jerusalem Thomas L. Friedman 1989 American English
9300 The Seven Moons Of Maali Almeida Shehan Karunatilaka 2022 Sri Lankan English