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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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