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Non-Fiction Books in Order
Below you'll find the complete list of Non-Fiction books in publication order. This is generally the recommended reading order for the series.
Reading order verified: March 2026
Quick Answer
What order should I read the Non-Fiction series? Start with "Memories of a Catholic Girlhood" (1946) and follow publication order through all 25 books.
The complete Non-Fiction reading order is listed below in publication sequence.
Publication Order

Memories of a Catholic Girlhood
1946

Venice Observed
1956

Sights and Spectacles
1957

The Stones of Florence
1959

Vietnam
1967

Hanoi
1968

Medina
1972

The Mask of State
1974

Ideas and the Novel
1980

Occasional Prose: Essays
1985

How I Grew
1987

Intellectual Memoirs: New York, 1936-1938
1992

Between Friends (With: Hannah Arendt)
1995

Cast a Cold Eye
1950

On the Contrary
1962

Writing on the Wall and Other Literary Essays
1971

The Hounds of Summer and Other Stories
1981

A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays
2001

Novels 1963-1979
2017

Mary McCarthy: The Complete Fiction
2017

Short Story Masterpieces: 35 Classic American and British Stories from the First Half of the 20th Century
1954

Women Writers at Work
1989

Writing Women's Lives
1994

First Fiction: An Anthology of the First Published Stories by Famous Writers
1994

Writing New York
1998
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