Top 100 English-Language Nonfiction Books of the 20th Century
In 1999 The Modern Library released their list of the 100 Best English-Language Nonfiction Titles of the 20th Century.
Fletcher Library owns 91 of the 100 titles from the Modern Library list. As noted below, 7 of the 9 titles not owned by West are available from other ASU libraries.
Top 100 Nonfiction Books: Annotated List of ASU-West Library Holdings
- 1. The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams
- E175.5.A17425 West Stacks
- 2. The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James
- BL53.J36 1994 West Stacks
- The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James
- BR110.J3 1929 West Stacks
- 3. Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington
- E185.97.W3163 West Stacks
- Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington
- E185.97.W4A37 1986 West Stacks
- 4. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
- PN471.W6 1957b West Stacks
- A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
- PN471.W6 1957d West Stacks
- 5. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
- SB959.C3 1962a West Stacks
- 6. Selected Essays, 1917-1932 by T.S. Eliot
- PN511.E443 West Stacks
- Selected Essays, 1917-1932 by T.S. Eliot
- PN511.E443 1950 West Stacks
- 7. The Double Helix by James D. Watson
- QH450.2.W37 West Stacks
- 8. Speak, Memory: An Autobiobraphy Revisited by Vladimir Nabokov
- PS3527.A15Z5 1966 West Stacks
- 9. The American Language by H.L. Mencken
- PE2808.M4 1936 West Stacks
- 10. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money by John Maynard Keynes
- HB171.K45 1936 West Stacks
- The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money by John Maynard Keynes
- HB171.K45 1949 West Stacks
- 11. The Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas
- QH331.T45 1974 West Stacks
- The Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas
- QH331.T45 1982 West Stacks
- 12. The Frontier in American History by Frederick Jackson Turner
- E179.5.T953 West Stacks
- The Frontier in American History by Frederick Jackson Turner
- E179.5.T953 1962 West Stacks
- The Frontier in American History by Frederick Jackson Turner
- E179.5.T956 1986 West Stacks
- 13. Black Boy by Richard Wright
- PS3545.R815Z5 1966 West Stacks
- 14. Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster
- PN3353.F6 West Stacks
- Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster
- PN3353.F6 1954 West Stacks
- 15. The Civil War by Shelby Foote
- E468.F7 v.1-3 West Stacks
- 16. The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman
- D530.T8 West Stacks
- 17. The Proper Study of Mankind by Isaiah Berlin
- H91.C5 1962 West Stacks
- 18. The Nature and Destiny of Man by Reinhold Niebuhr
- BT701.N5213 1953 West Stacks
- 19. Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
- E185.61.B2 1957 West Stacks
- Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
- PS3552.A45A16 1998 West Stacks
- 20. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
- PS3537.T323Z5 1933b West Stacks
- 21. The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White
- PE1408.S772 1979 West Stacks
- The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White
- PE1408.S772 1999 West Reference
- 22. An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy by Gunnar Myrdal
- E185.6.M95 1962 West Stacks
- 23. Principia Mathematica by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell
- QA9.W52 1997 West Stacks
- 24. The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould
- BF431.G68 1981 West Stacks
- 25. The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition by Meyer Howard Abrams
- PN769.R7A27x West Stacks
- 26. The Art of the Soluble by Peter B. Medawar
- WEST DOES NOT OWN.
- Title can be requested from the Main Campus' Science Library Q175.M42 1967.
- 27. The Ants by Bert Hoelldobler and Edward O. Wilson
- QL568.F7H57 1990 West Stacks
- 28. A Theory of Justice by John Rawls
- JC578.R3x West Stacks
- 29. Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation by Ernest H. Gombrich
- N70.G615 West Stacks
- Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation by Ernest H. Gombrich
- N70.G615 1969b West Stacks
- 30. The Making of the English Working Class by Edward Palmer Thompson
- HD8388.T47 1966 West Stacks
- 31. The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches by W.E.B. DuBois
- E185.5.D817x 1961 West Stacks
- 32. Principia Ethica by G.E. Moore
- B1647.M73P74 1951 West Stacks
- Principia Ethica by G.E. Moore
- B1647.M73P74 1959 West Stacks
- Principia Ethica by G.E. Moore
- B1647.M73P74 1994 West Stacks
- 33. Philosophy and Civilization by John Dewey
- WEST DOES NOT OWN.
- Title can be requested from the Main Campus' Hayden Library B945.D43P5 or B945.D43P5 1968.
- 34. On Growth and Form by D'arcy Thompson
- QP84.T4 1942a v.2 West Stacks
- 35. Ideas and Opinions by Albert Einstein
- AC35.E526 West Stacks
- 36. The Age of Jackson by Arthur Meier Schiesinger Jr.
- E381.S38 West Stacks
- 37. The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
- QC773.R46 1986 West Stacks
- 38. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia by Rebecca West
- DR366.W48 1943 West Stacks
- Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia by Rebecca West
- DR366.W48x 1964 v.1-2 West Stacks
- 39. Autobiographies: Reveries Over Childhood and Youth and The Trembling of the Veil by W.B. Yeats
- PR5900.A2F56 1989 v.3 West Stacks
- Autobiographies: Reveries Over Childhood and Youth and The Trembling of the Veil by W.B. Yeats
- PR5906.A53 1927 West Stacks
- Autobiographies: Reveries Over Childhood and Youth and The Trembling of the Veil by W.B. Yeats
- PR5906.A53 1965 West Stacks
- 40. Science and Civilization in China by Joseph Needham
- WEST DOES NOT OWN.
- Part of the title is available from the Main Campus' Hayden East Asia Library DS721.N39125 1999 or Z45.T8512X 1995.
- 41. Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves
- WEST DOES NOT OWN; title is not owned by any of the ASU Libraries.
- 42. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
- DP269.9.O7 1980 West Stacks
- 43. The Autobiography of Mark Twain by Mark Twain
- PS1331.A2 1959 West Stacks
- The Autobiography of Mark Twain by Mark Twain
- PS1331.A2 1990 West Stacks
- The Autobiography of Mark Twain by Mark Twain
- PS1331.A2 1996 West Stacks
- 44. Children of Crisis: A Study of Courage and Fear by Robert Coles
- HC110.P6C56 v.1-5 West Stacks
- 45. A Study of History by Arnold Joseph Toynbee
- CB63.T64 1935 v.1-12 West Stacks
- A Study of History by Arnold Joseph Toynbee
- CB63.T6433 West Stacks
- 46. The Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbrath
- HC106.5.G32 West Stacks
- The Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbrath
- HC106.5.G32 1969 West Stacks
- 47. Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department by Dean Acheson
- E744.A2174 West Stacks
- 48. The Great Bridge by David McCullough
- TG25.N53M32 West Stacks
- 49. Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War by Edmund Wilson
- PS211.W5 1984 West Stacks
- 50. Samuel Johnson by Walter Jackson Bate
- PR3533.B334 West Stacks
- 51. The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and Malcolm X
- BP223.Z8L57943 1992 West Stacks
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and Malcolm X
- E185.97.L5A3 1973 West Stacks
- 52. The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
- TL789.8.U5W64 1979 West Stacks
- 53. Eminent Victorians: Cardinal Manning, Dr. Arnold, Florence Nightingale, General Gordon by Lytton Strachey
- CT782.S8 West Stacks
- Eminent Victorians: Cardinal Manning, Dr. Arnold, Florence Nightingale, General Gordon by Lytton Strachey
- CT782.S8 1933 West Stacks
- 54. Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do by Studs Terkel
- HD8072.T4 1974 West Stacks
- 55. Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron
- C537.S88 1990 West Stacks
- 56. The Liberal Imagination: Essays on Literature and Society by Lionel Trilling
- WEST DOES NOT OWN.
- Title can be requested from the Main Campus' Hayden Library PS3539.R56L5 1950 or PS3539.R56L5 1953.
- 57. The Second World War by Winston Churchill
- D743.C472 v.1-6 West Stacks
- 58. Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
- DT434.E2B6 1938 West Stacks
- 59. Jefferson and His Time by Dumas Malone
- E332.M25 v.1-6 West Stacks
- 60. In the American Grain by William Carlos Williams
- E169.1.W5x 1956 West Stacks
- 61. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner
- HD1739.A17R45x 1993 West Stacks
- 62. The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and The Rise of Modern Finance by Ron Chernow
- HG2613.N54M6613 1990 West Stacks
- 63. The Sweet Science by Abbott Joseph Liebling
- WEST DOES NOT OWN.
- Title can be requested from the Main Campus' Hayden Library GV1125.L5.
- 64. The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper
- B63.P6 v.1-2 West Stacks
- The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper
- B63.P6 1963 v.1 West Stacks
- The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper
- B63.P6 1971 v.1-2 West Stacks
- 65. The Art of Memory by Frances A. Yates
- BF381.Y3 1966a West Stacks
- 66. Religion and the Rise of Capitalism: A Historical Study by Richard Henry Tawney
- BR115.E3T3 West Stacks
- 67. A Preface to Morals by Walter Lippmann
- BJ47.L5 West Stacks
- 68. The Gate of Heavenly Peace: The Chinese and Their Revolution, 1895-1980 by Jonathan D. Spence
- DS774.S59 1981 West Stacks
- 69. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn
- Q175.K95 1996 West Stacks
- 70. The Strange Career of Jim Crow by C. Vann Woodward
- E185.61.W86x West Stacks
- The Strange Career of Jim Crow by C. Vann Woodward
- E185.61.W86 1966 West Stacks
- 71. The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community by William Hardy McNeill
- CB59.M3 West Stacks
- 72. The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
- BT1390.P3 West Stacks
- 73. James Joyce by Richard Ellmann
- PR6019.O9Z5332 1983 West Stacks
- 74. Florence Nightingale, 1820-1910 by Cecil Woodham-Smith
- UH347.N6W6 West Stacks
- 75. The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell
- PR478.E8F8 West Stacks
- 76. The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects by Lewis Mumford
- HT111.M8 West Stacks
- 77. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James L. McPherson
- E173.O94 v.6 West Stacks
- 78. Why We Can't Wait by Martin Luther King Jr.
- E185.61.K54x 1964 West Stacks
- 79. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
- E757.M883 1979 West Stacks
- 80. Studies in Iconology: Humanistic Themes in the Art of the Renaissance by Erwin Panofsky
- N6370.P3 West Stacks
- 81. The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme by John Keegan
- D25.K43 1976 West Stacks
- The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme by John Keegan
- D25.K43 1988 West Stacks
- 82. The Strange Death of Liberal England by George Dangerfield
- DA576.D3 1997 West Stacks
- 83. Vermeer by Lawrence Gowing
- ND653.V5G6 1952 West Stacks
- Vermeer by Lawrence Gowing
- ND653.V5G6 1997b West Stacks
- 84. A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan
- DS558.S47 1988West Stacks
- 85. West With the Night by Beryl Markham
- WEST DOES NOT OWN.
- Title can be requested from the Main Campus' Hayden Library DT425.M3 or Science Library TL540.M345A3 1983.
- 86. This Boy's Life: A Memoir by Tobias Wolff
- PS3573.O558Z477 1989 West Stacks
- 87. A Mathematician's Apology by Godfrey Harold Hardy
- QA7.H3 1992 West Stacks
- 88. Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics by Richard P. Feynman
- QC21.2.F52 1995 West Stacks
- 89. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
- PS3554.I398Z476 1990 West Stacks
- Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
- QH81.D56 1985 West Stacks
- 90. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion by James George Frazier
- BL310.F7 1958 West Stacks
- The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion by James George Frazier
- BL310.F7 1980 pt.1-8 West Stacks
- The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion by James George Frazier
- BL310.F7 1981 West Stacks
- The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion by James George Frazier
- BL310.F72 1940 West Stacks
- 91. Shadow and Act by Ralph Ellison
- PS153.N5E4 1966 West Stacks
- 92. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro
- NA9085.M68C37 West Stacks
- 93. The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It by Richard Hofstadter
- E178.H727 1948 West Stacks
- 94. The Contours of American History by William Appleman Williams
- E175.9.W5 West Stacks
- 95. The Promise of American Life by Herbert Croly
- JA84.U5C76 1989 West Stacks
- 96. In Cold Blood: A True Account of Multiple Murder and Its Consequences by Truman Capote
- HV6533.K3C3 West Stacks
- 97. The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm
- PN4888.E8M35 1990 West Stacks
- 98. The Taming of Chance by Ian Hacking
- WEST DOES NOT OWN.
- Title can be requested from the Main Campus' Hayden Library BD595.H33 1990.
- 99. Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott
- WEST DOES NOT OWN; title is not owned by any of the ASU Libraries.
- 100. Melbourne by Lord David Cecil
- DA536.M5C5 1954 West Stacks
- Melbourne by Lord David Cecil
- DA536.M5C5 1965 West Stacks
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