The Greatest Biographies
This selection of nonfictional biographical works is based on the continuing research carried out for The Greatest Literature of All Time list and further research into biographies acclaimed by the world's readers, writers, critics and scholars.
Autobiographies are not included on this list but, as self-written works, are part of The Greatest Memoirs list.
You may also be interested in The Greatest Nonfiction.
The Greatest Biographies is updated as new works are discovered and appreciation of older works evolves. Please note the revision date when citing the list.
Latest update: May 30, 2025
The 44 Greatest Works of Biography
c.370 BCE
Cyropaedia
Xenophon, Greece
Nonfiction, also known as The Education of Cyrus
c.100 CE
Parallel Lives
Plutarch, Greece
Nonfiction, also known as The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans and Plutarch's Lives
121
The Twelve Caesars
Suetonius, Rome
Nonfiction, also known as Lives of the Caesars
1550–1568
Lives of the Artists
Giorgio Vasari, Italy
Nonfiction, also known as The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
1693
Brief Lives
John Aubry, England
Nonfiction
1791
Life of Samuel Johnson
James Boswell, England
Nonfiction
1857
The Life of Charlotte Brontë
Elizabeth Gaskell, England
Nonfiction
1918
Eminent Victorians
Lytton Strachey, England
Nonfiction
1922
Napoleon
Emil Ludwig, Germany
Nonfiction
1934
Erasmus of Rotterdam
Stefan Zweig, Austria
Nonfiction
1943
Saint Genet: Actor and Martyr
Jean-Paul Sartre, France
Nonfiction
1950
Florence Nightingale: 1820-1910
Cecil Woodham-Smith, Wales
Nonfiction
1953–1972
Henry James: A Life
Leon Edel, United States
Nonfiction
1959
James Joyce
Richard Ellman, United States
Nonfiction
1962
Renoir, My Father
Jean renoir, France
Nonfiction
1966
Disraeli
Robert Blake, England
Nonfiction
1967
Nicholas and Alexandra
Robert K. Massie, United States
Nonfiction, subtitled An Intimate Account of the Last of the Romanovs and the Fall of Imperial Russia
1972
Virginia Woolf: A Biography
Quentin Bell, England
Nonfiction
1974
The Power Broker
Robert A. Caro, United States
Nonfiction, subtitled Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
The Eagles Die
George Richard Marek, United States
Nonfiction, subtitled Franz Joseph, Elisabeth, and Their Austria
1975
Samuel August from Sevedstorp and Hanna i Hult
Astrid Lindgren, Sweden
Nonfiction
1979
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
Edmund Morris, United States
Nonfiction
1982
Summer in Baden-Baden
Leonard Tsypkin, Russia
Nonfiction
1983
Alan Turing: The Enigma
Andrew Hodges, England
Nonfiction
Frida
Hayden Herrera, United States
Nonfiction, subtitled A Biography of Frida Kahlo
1988
Tolstoy: A Biogdraphy
A.N. Wilson, England
Nonfiction
1990
Dickens
Peter Ackroyd, England
Nonfiction
1993–2000
W.E.B. Du Bois
Peter Ackroyd, England
Nonfiction, subtitled A Biography 1868-1963
1994
The Kid Stays In The Picture
Robert Evans, United States
Nonfiction, subtitled A Notorious Life
1998
A Beautiful Mind
Sylvia Nasar, United States
Nonfiction
2001
Savage Beauty
Nancy Milford, United States
Nonfiction, subtitled The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay
2003
Beethoven: The Music and the Life
Lewis Lockwood, United States
Nonfiction
2004
Alexander Hamilton
Ron Chernow, United States
Nonfiction
Will in the World
Stephen Greenblatt, United States
Nonfiction, subtitled How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
2007
Einstein: His Life and Universe
Walter Isaacson, United States
Nonfiction
2010
Washington: A Life
Ron Chernow, United States
Nonfiction
2011
Steve Jobs
Walter Isaacson, United States
Nonfiction
Catherine the Great
Robert K. Massie, United States
Nonfiction, subtitled Portrait of a Woman
2012
The Black Count
Tom Reiss, United States
Nonfiction, subtitled Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo
2013
Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life
Hermione Lee, England
Nonfiction
Birth Certificate
Mark Thompson, England
Nonfiction, subtitled : The Story of Danilo Kiš
2014
Joan of Arc: A History
Helen Castor, England
Nonfiction
2017
Woolloomooloo: A Biography
Louis Nowra, Australia
Nonfiction
2018
Barracoon
Zora Neale Hurston, United States
Nonfiction, subtitled The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"
