The Greatest Books of All Time on Performance

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
629 Nights At The Circus Angela Carter 1984 British English
1791 Confessions Of Felix Krull, Confidence Man Thomas Mann 1954 German German
2372 The Vagabond Colette 1910 French French
2698 Wise Children Angela Carter 1991 British English
2985 Tipping The Velvet Sarah Waters 1998 British English
3309 The Theater and Its Double Antonin Artaud 1938 French French
3518 The Presentation Of Self In Everyday Life Erving Goffman 1959 American English
3638 The Jazz Book Joachim-Ernst Berendt 1953 German German
4731 The Making of Homeric Verse Milman Parry 1971 American English
5936 Music As Speech Nikolaus Harnoncourt 1982 Austrian German
6003 The Rehearsal Eleanor Catton 2008 New Zealand English
6574 Ingrid Caven Jean-Jacques Schuhl 2000 French French
6602 I Wonder As I Wander Langston Hughes 1956 American English
7102 The Glenn Gould Reader Glenn Gould 1984 Canadian English
8027 Gender Outlaw Kate Bornstein 1994 American English
8034 The Muses Are Heard Truman Capote 1956 American English
8883 Black and Blur Fred Moten 2017 American English
9991 Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom Nik Cohn 1969 British English
10055 Jac The Clown Hjalmar Bergman 1919 Swedish Swedish
10234 The Museum Of Modern Love Heather Rose 2018 Australian English
10312 An Actor Prepares Konstantin Stanislavski 1936 Russian Russian
10944 The Art Of Cruelty Maggie Nelson 2011 American English
11521 The Roaring Girl Greg Hollingshead 1995 Canadian English
11666 American Musicians Ii Whitney Balliett 1996 American English
11676 Apollo’s Angels Jennifer Homans 2010 American English
12401 The Dazzling Paget Sisters Ariane Bankes 2025 Unknown English
12953 Now Jazz Now Neneh Cherry, Thurston Moore, Joe McPhee, Byron Coley, Mats Gustafsson American Unknown
13279 The Spoken Word Revolution Mark Eleveld 2003 Unknown English
13382 The Inner Game Of Tennis W. Timothy Gallwey 1974 American English
14275 How Music Works David Byrne 2012 American English
14160 Dylan Thomas In America John Malcolm Brinnin 1955 American English
14588 Value Added Measures In Education Douglas N. Harris 2011 American English
14588 Academically Adrift Richard Arum 2011 American English
14761 Measure What Matters John Doerr 2017 American English
15010 A Little Devil In America Hanif Abdurraqib 2021 American English
15897 Looking at Dance Edwin Denby 1949 American English
15897 The Singer Of Tales Albert Bates Lord 1960 American English
17113 Faith Healer Brian Friel 1979 Irish English
17113 Master Class Terrence McNally 1995 American English
17113 Dancing In The Dark Caryl Phillips 2005 Dutch English
17113 Good To Great Jim Collins 2001 American English
17113 Endure Alex Hutchinson 2018 Canadian English
17113 The Sports Gene David Epstein 2013 American English
17113 Impro Keith Johnstone 1979 British English
17113 Born Standing Up Steve Martin 2007 American English
17113 The Great Movies Roger Ebert 2003 American English
17113 Goblin Secrets William Alexander 2012 American English
17113 The 12 Week Year Brian P. Moran 2013 American English
17113 Inner Excellence Jim Murphy 2009 Unknown Unknown
17113 Year Of The King Antony Sher 1985 British English