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
2190 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
2260 Advertisements for Myself Norman Mailer 1959 American English
2341 Personal History Katharine Graham 1997 American English
2413 The Americanization of Edward Bok Edward Bok 1920 American English
2531 The Mystery Of The Yellow Room Gaston Leroux 1907 French French
2659 Boys on the Bus Timothy Crouse 1973 American English
2698 All Over But The Shoutin' Rick Bragg 1997 American English
2928 The Great Shark Hunt Hunter S. Thompson 1979 American English
2931 Tourist Season Carl Hiaasen 1986 American English
2954 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
3042 England, Their England A. G. Macdonell 1933 British English
3073 The Armies of the Night Norman Mailer 1968 American English
3092 Disturbance Philippe Lançon 2018 French French
3148 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
3216 The Year of the Hare Arto Paasilinna 1975 Finnish Finnish
3218 Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil John Berendt 1994 American English
3227 Millennium Trilogy Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
3278 Up in the Old Hotel Joseph Mitchell 1992 American English
3311 Growing Up Russell Baker 1982 American English
3313 Roughing It Mark Twain 1872 American English
3404 The Unfortunates B. S. Johnson 1969 British English
3508 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
3611 The Blue Lotus Hergé 1936 Belgian French
3635 The Totem David Morrell 1979 American English
3638 The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens Lincoln Steffens 1931 American English
3638 The Raging Reporter Egon Erwin Kisch 1924 Czech German
3638 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
3943 Of Love and Shadows Isabel Allende 1984 Chilean Spanish
4126 The Black Book Orhan Pamuk 1990 Turkish Turkish
4169 The History of the Standard Oil Company Ida Tarbell 1904 American English
4418 A Bright Shining Lie Neil Sheehan 1988 American English
4445 Chronicles of Wasted Time Malcolm Muggeridge 1972 British English
4877 The Earl of Louisiana A. J. Liebling 1961 American English
4981 The Emperor Ryszard Kapuscinski 1978 Polish Polish
5119 North Toward Home Willie Morris 1967 American English
5239 Travels With Myself And Another Martha Gellhorn 1978 American English
5262 Death And The Penguin Andrey Kurkov 1996 Ukrainian Russian
5310 The Emperor's Children Claire Messud 2006 American English
5350 How the Other Half Lives Jacob A. Riis 1890 Danish English
5414 Nineteen Seventy Four David Peace 1999 British English
5690 Life Begins On Friday Ioana Pârvulescu 2009 Romanian Romanian
5729 My Kind of Place Susan Orlean 2004 American English
5775 Jurnalul Unui Jurnalist Fără Jurnal Ion D. Sîrbu 1993 Romanian Romanian
5847 The Last Shot Darcy Frey 1994 American English
5863 The Last Days of Mankind Karl Kraus 1919 Austrian German
5863 A Modern Instance William Dean Howells 1882 American English
5918 Reveille in Washington Margaret Leech 1941 American English
6005 Pylon William Faulkner 1935 American English
6089 The End Of The World News Anthony Burgess 1982 British English
6195 Fletch Gregory Mcdonald 1974 American English
6266 Lowest Of The Low Günter Wallraff 1985 German German
6276 American Tabloid James Ellroy 1995 American English
6295 Oracle Bones Peter Hessler 2006 American English
6326 The New Kings Of Nonfiction Ira Glass 2007 American English
6366 Moon Tiger Penelope Lively 1987 British English
6637 The Curse Of Lono Hunter S. Thompson 1983 American English
6737 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
7183 When The Going Was Good Graydon Carter, James Fox 1946 Canadian English
7216 The New York Times Manual Of Style And Usage Allan M. Siegal, William G. Connolly 1950 American English
7570 Brain On Fire Susannah Cahalan 2012 American English
7582 Feed Seanan McGuire 2010 American English
7648 Hitch 22 Christopher Hitchens 2010 British English
7711 The Honourable Schoolboy John le Carré 1977 British English
7739 No Turning Back Rania Abouzeid 2018 Unknown English
7872 Psmith, Journalist P. G. Wodehouse 1915 British English
7881 Safe Area Joe Sacco 2000 American English
7988 The Poet Michael Connelly 1996 American English
8032 The Muses Are Heard Truman Capote 1956 American English
8076 The Great Derangement Matt Taibbi 2008 American English
8163 The Girl Who Played With Fire Stieg Larsson 2006 Swedish Swedish
8240 Nineteen Seventy Seven David Peace 2000 British English
8249 Always Unreliable Clive James 2001 British English
8296 La Guerra De Galio Héctor Aguilar Camín 1991 Mexican Spanish
8308 A Life In The Twentieth Century Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr 2000 American English
8310 This Present Darkness Frank Peretti 1986 American English
8322 The Truth Terry Pratchett 2000 British English
8428 She Said Jodi Kantor 2019 American English
8466 The Fiddler In The Subway Gene Weingarten 2010 American English
8466 Griftopia Matt Taibbi 2010 American English
8501 Shadows Osvaldo Soriano 1993 Argentine Unknown
8505 The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest Stieg Larsson 2007 Swedish Swedish
8567 A Day In The Life Of Abed Salama Nathan Thrall 2023 Unknown English
8595 The Adventures Of Tintin Hergé 1929 Belgian French
8614 The Devil's Teeth Susan Casey 2005 American English
8701 Blacklist Sara Paretsky 2003 American English
8720 Prejudices H. L. Mencken 1919 American English
8744 Biko Donald Woods 1978 South African English
8759 Night Draws Near Anthony Shadid 2005 American English
8993 The Deal Of The Century Steve Coll 1986 American English
9058 In The Darkroom Susan Faludi 2016 American English
9065 Soldiers And Kings Jason De León 2024 Unknown English
9192 Love And Ruin Evan Ratliff, Susan Orlean 2016 Unknown English
9192 Irritable Hearts Mac McClelland 2015 Unknown English
9262 From Beirut to Jerusalem Thomas L. Friedman 1989 American English
9305 The Seven Moons Of Maali Almeida Shehan Karunatilaka 2022 Sri Lankan English