Collider has published a ranked list of the best non-fiction books of all time, distinguishing the genre from historical fiction by its grounding in real events and real people, even where authors take some stylistic or narrative licence. The article argues that strong non-fiction balances factual accuracy with engaging prose, so it doesn't read like a dry textbook, and it profiles several titles that achieve this across very different subjects, from war and the Space Race to the Holocaust and the Titanic disaster.

– Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy – a dense, over 800-page account spanning 1945–1975, covering the conflict's full scope beyond just US involvement
– The Right Stuff – Tom Wolfe's stylish, comparatively light-hearted take on the early Space Race and aviation
– Schindler's Ark – Thomas Keneally's account of Oskar Schindler saving over 1,000 Jewish lives in the Second World War, later adapted into Schindler's List
– A Night to Remember – a short, tightly focused account of the few hours during which the Titanic sank