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TIME's All-TIME 100 Best Non-Fiction Books

TIME magazine's 100 best non-fiction books, as compiled on Goodreads.

95 books•Created by BookTribes Team•6/9/2026
The Elements of Style

The Elements of Style

William Strunk Jr

In Cold Blood

In Cold Blood

Truman Capote

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou

Fast Food Nation

Fast Food Nation

Eric Schlosser

The Omnivore's Dilemma

The Omnivore's Dilemma

Michael Pollan

On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft

On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft

Stephen King

A Walk in the Woods

A Walk in the Woods

Bill Bryson

Guns, Germs and Steel

Guns, Germs and Steel

Jared Diamond

Hiroshima

Hiroshima

John Hersey

Silent Spring

Silent Spring

Rachel Carson

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Malcolm X, Alex Haley

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: 40th Anniversary Edition

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: 40th Anniversary Edition

Robert Pirsig

A Room of One's Own

A Room of One's Own

Virginia Woolf

Nickel and Dimed

Nickel and Dimed

Barbara Ehrenreich

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Dee Brown

A Brief History of Time

A Brief History of Time

Stephen W. Hawking

A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius: A Memoir Based on a True Story

A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius: A Memoir Based on a True Story

Dave Eggers

Out of Africa

Out of Africa

Isak Dinesen

All the President's Men

All the President's Men

Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein

Our Bodies, Ourselves

Our Bodies, Ourselves

Boston Women's Health Book Collective

A People's History of the United States

A People's History of the United States

Howard Zinn

Black Boy

Black Boy

Richard Wright

The Selfish Gene

The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins

And the Band Played on

And the Band Played on

Randy Shilts

The Feminine Mystique

The Feminine Mystique

Betty Friedan

What Color Is Your Parachute? 2012

What Color Is Your Parachute? 2012

Richard Nelson Bolles

The Hero with a Thousand Faces

The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Joseph Campbell

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

William L. Shirer

A Moveable Feast

A Moveable Feast

Ernest Hemingway

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

Barack Obama

The Joy of Sex

The Joy of Sex

Alex Comfort

The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test

The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test

Tom Wolfe

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle, Julia Child

The Gnostic Gospels

The Gnostic Gospels

Elaine Pagels

The Beauty Myth

The Beauty Myth

Naomi Wolf

How to Win Friends & Influence People

How to Win Friends & Influence People

Dale Carnegie

The Fatal Shore

The Fatal Shore

Robert Hughes

Baby and Child Care

Baby and Child Care

Benjamin Spock

The Double Helix

The Double Helix

James D. Watson

Homage to Catalonia

Homage to Catalonia

George Orwell

Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous

Anonymous

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Joan Didion

No Logo

No Logo

Naomi Klein

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men

James Agee, Walker Evans

The Making of the President, 1960

The Making of the President, 1960

Theodore Harold White

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

Robert A. Caro

The Naked Ape

The Naked Ape

Desmond Morris

Notes of a Native Son

Notes of a Native Son

James Baldwin

Working

Working

Studs Terkel

The Lives of a Cell

The Lives of a Cell

Lewis Thomas

Speak, Memory

Speak, Memory

Vladimir Nabokov

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

Gertrude Stein

The Best and the Brightest

The Best and the Brightest

David Halberstam

The Civil War: A Narrative

The Civil War: A Narrative

Shelby Foote

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Douglas R. Hofstadter

Coming of Age in Samoa

Coming of Age in Samoa

Margaret Mead

Capitalism and Freedom

Capitalism and Freedom

Milton Friedman, Rose D. Friedman

Manchild in the Promised Land

Manchild in the Promised Land

Claude Brown

The Emperor of All Maladies

The Emperor of All Maladies

Siddhartha Mukherjee

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Thomas S. Kuhn

The Looming Tower

The Looming Tower

Lawrence Wright

Why We Can't Wait

Why We Can't Wait

Martin Luther King, Jr.

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

David Foster Wallace

Ball Four

Ball Four

Jim Bouton

Unsafe at Any Speed

Unsafe at Any Speed

Ralph Nader

Orientalism

Orientalism

Edward W. Said

Against Interpretation and Other Essays

Against Interpretation and Other Essays

Susan Sontag

The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money

The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money

John Maynard Keynes

The Other America

The Other America

Michael Harrington

The Origins Of Totalitarianism

The Origins Of Totalitarianism

Hannah Arendt

Dispatches

Dispatches

Michael Herr

The American Way of Death Revisited

The American Way of Death Revisited

Jessica Mitford

The Clash of Civilizations?

The Clash of Civilizations?

Samuel P. Huntington, Fouad Ajami, Robert L. Bartley, Kishore Mahbubani, Binyan Liu, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, Albert Loren Weeks, Gerard Piel

The Last Lion

The Last Lion

William Manchester, Paul Reid

Animal Liberation

Animal Liberation

Peter Singer

The End of History and the Last Man

The End of History and the Last Man

Francis Fukuyama

Syntactic Structures

Syntactic Structures

Noam Chomsky

On Human Nature

On Human Nature

Edward O. Wilson

The Paranoid Style in American Politics

The Paranoid Style in American Politics

Richard Hofstadter

The Conscience of a Conservative

The Conscience of a Conservative

Barry Goldwater

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Jane Jacobs

Carry Me Home

Carry Me Home

Diane McWhorter

The Nature and Destiny of Man

The Nature and Destiny of Man

Reinhold Niebuhr

The Story of Art

The Story of Art

Eh Gombrich, Leonie Gombrich

How to Cook a Wolf

How to Cook a Wolf

M. F. K. Fisher

A Theory of Justice

A Theory of Justice

John Rawls

The American Cinema

The American Cinema

Andrew Sarris

A Child of the Century

A Child of the Century

Ben Hecht

Sexual Behavior in the Human Male

Sexual Behavior in the Human Male

Alfred C. Kinsey

What It Takes

What It Takes

Richard Ben Cramer

Within the Context of No Context

Within the Context of No Context

George W. S. Trow

Mystery Train

Mystery Train

Greil Marcus

The Sweet Science

The Sweet Science

A. J. Liebling

The Great War and Modern Memory

The Great War and Modern Memory

Paul Fussell

Imagined Communities

Imagined Communities

Benedict Richard O'Gorman Anderson