# The best nonfiction books of the 20th century according to the Modern Library (top 40)

In 1999 the editorial board of the Modern Library, Random House's classic imprint, chose the 100 best English-language nonfiction books published since 1900. These are the top 40, from The Education of Henry Adams to Science and Civilisation in China.

- 49 votes · 40 items
- Sep 16, 2020 · devoralibros_salta
- https://even.best/en/l/5188/the-best-nonfiction-books-of-the-20th-century-according-to-the-modern-library-to

## Top 40

1. **The Education of Henry Adams** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Henry Adams. Autobiography published in 1918. No. 1 on the list.
2. **The Varieties of Religious Experience** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — William James. The 1902 Gifford Lectures. No. 2 on the list.
3. **The Frontier in American History** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Frederick Jackson Turner. The frontier thesis. No. 12 on the list.
4. **The Elements of Style** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — William Strunk Jr. y E. B. White. The classic guide to English writing style. No. 21 on the list.
5. **Principia Ethica** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — G. E. Moore. Moral philosophy, 1903. No. 32 on the list.
6. **Silent Spring** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Rachel Carson. The 1962 book that launched the modern environmental movement. No. 5 on the list.
7. **Selected Essays, 1917–1932** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — T. S. Eliot. Critical essays, 1932. No. 6 on the list.
8. **The Double Helix** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — James D. Watson. The account of the discovery of the structure of DNA, 1968. No. 7 on the list.
9. **The American Language** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — H. L. Mencken. Study of American English, 1919. No. 9 on the list.
10. **The Lives of a Cell** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Lewis Thomas. Biology essays, National Book Award winner. No. 11 on the list.
11. **Black Boy** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Richard Wright. Memoir of childhood in the segregated South. No. 13 on the list.
12. **Notes of a Native Son** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — James Baldwin. Essays, 1955. No. 19 on the list.
13. **Black Lamb and Grey Falcon** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Rebecca West. Journey through Yugoslavia in 1937. No. 38 on the list.
14. **Science and Civilisation in China** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Joseph Needham. Monumental multi-volume work. No. 40 on the list.
15. **A Room of One's Own** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Virginia Woolf. Essay, 1929. No. 4 on the list.
16. **The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — John Maynard Keynes. Economics, 1936. No. 10 on the list.
17. **The Nature and Destiny of Man** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Reinhold Niebuhr. Theology, Gifford Lectures. No. 18 on the list.
18. **Principia Mathematica** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Alfred North Whitehead y Bertrand Russell. Foundations of mathematics. No. 23 on the list.
19. **The Ants** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Bert Hölldobler y Edward O. Wilson. Treatise on ants; Pulitzer Prize. No. 27 on the list.
20. **Art and Illusion** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Ernst H. Gombrich. Psychology of pictorial representation. No. 29 on the list.
21. **On Growth and Form** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson. Mathematical biology, 1917. No. 34 on the list.
22. **The Age of Jackson** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.. History; Pulitzer Prize. No. 36 on the list.
23. **The Making of the Atomic Bomb** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Richard Rhodes. History of the Manhattan Project; Pulitzer Prize. No. 37 on the list.
24. **Autobiographies** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — W. B. Yeats. Memoirs of the Irish poet. No. 39 on the list.
25. **The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Gertrude Stein. Memoir of avant-garde Paris. No. 20 on the list.
26. **The Mirror and the Lamp** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — M. H. Abrams. Romantic literary theory. No. 25 on the list.
27. **Aspects of the Novel** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — E. M. Forster. Lectures on the art of the novel. No. 14 on the list.
28. **The Civil War: A Narrative** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Shelby Foote. Three-volume history of the American Civil War. No. 15 on the list.
29. **The Guns of August** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Barbara W. Tuchman. The first month of World War I; Pulitzer Prize. No. 16 on the list.
30. **The Proper Study of Mankind** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Isaiah Berlin. Anthology of essays. No. 17 on the list.
31. **An American Dilemma** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Gunnar Myrdal. Study of race relations in the United States. No. 22 on the list.
32. **The Mismeasure of Man** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Stephen Jay Gould. Critique of intelligence measurement. No. 24 on the list.
33. **The Art of the Soluble** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Peter B. Medawar. Essays on the scientific method. No. 26 on the list.
34. **A Theory of Justice** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — John Rawls. Political philosophy, 1971. No. 28 on the list.
35. **The Making of the English Working Class** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — E. P. Thompson. Social history, 1963. No. 30 on the list.
36. **The Souls of Black Folk** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — W. E. B. Du Bois. Essays, 1903. No. 31 on the list.
37. **Philosophy and Civilization** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — John Dewey. Philosophical essays. No. 33 on the list.
38. **Ideas and Opinions** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Albert Einstein. Collected writings. No. 35 on the list.
39. **Up from Slavery** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Booker T. Washington. Autobiography, 1901. No. 3 on the list.
40. **Speak, Memory** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Vladimir Nabokov. Memoir, 1951. No. 8 on the list.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.