The 100 best nonfiction books from the United States

The most influential book of literary criticism in English in the twentieth century. 'Tradition and the Individual Talent' is the single most-taught critical essay.

The foundational text of American constitutional theory, cited by the Supreme Court.

Self-Reliance is required reading in virtually every American high school and university American literature course; 'Self-Reliance' alone is one of the most-taught essays in the American educational canon. The collection appears on 'great American nonfiction' lists consistently and defines the Transcendentalist movement in survey curricula. No formal database signals were returned, but broad educational and cultural consensus places it among the highest-canonical American texts.

Standard reading across philosophy and history of science, sociology and science and technology studies, and one of the most assigned academic books of the twentieth century. The phrase 'paradigm shift' entered everyday language from it.

Gender Trouble is taught on virtually every gender studies, feminist theory, and queer theory syllabus globally, appearing widely in sociology, philosophy, cultural studies, and political science courses. Butler's text has been described by scholars as one of the most influential academic books of the 20th century and is as close to canonical as any work in the humanities published after 1980. Its position on university reading lists across North America, Europe, and beyond is unambiguous — a status granted to very few academic monographs.

Required reading in American universities across sociology, African American studies, history, and literature departments, appearing on more syllabi than almost any other work of American nonfiction. Continuously in print since 1903, it appears on virtually every list of essential American books and is considered foundational to American intellectual history.

Postmodernism is required reading in virtually every cultural studies and literary theory graduate program in the English-speaking world. The 1984 New Left Review essay version from which the book grew is one of the most-assigned academic articles in humanities graduate education. The book has remained in continuous use since its 1991 publication and has been translated into dozens of languages.

The Fire Next Time appears on hundreds of university syllabi across African American literature, American literature, and cultural studies courses. It is included on the Modern Library's 100 Best Nonfiction list and Time magazine's 100 Best Non-Fiction Books, and has been in near-continuous use as required reading since its 1963 publication.

Thoreau moved to a cabin on a pond for two years and wrote a book that made solitude, bean-counting, and the observation of thawing mud into acts of radical philosophy. Walden supplied the intellectual template for civil disobedience, environmentalism, and voluntary simplicity — three movements that still run on its sentences.

Taught in virtually every American high school and across university courses in African American literature, women's studies, and autobiography. One of the American Library Association's most frequently challenged books — a perverse testament to its ubiquity — and named among the most important American autobiographies of the 20th century on lists from the Modern Library and TIME.