Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Essential Melville | - | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 2 | John Brown | 1929 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 3 | Understanding Poetry | 1938 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 4 | Melville the poet | 1946 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 5 | William Faulkner And His South | 1951 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 6 | Segregation | 1956 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 7 | Selected Essays | 1958 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 8 | The Legacy of the Civil War | 1961 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 9 | Who Speaks for the Negro? | 1965 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 10 | Faulkner | 1967 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 11 | Why do we read fiction? | 1971 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 12 | Homage to Theodore Dreiser | 1971 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 13 | Democracy and Poetry | 1975 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 14 | A conversation with Robert Penn Warren | 1976 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 15 | A Time to Hear and Answer | 1976 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 16 | Modern Rhetoric | 1979 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 17 | Katherine Anne Porter | 1979 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 18 | Jefferson Davis Gets His Citizenship Back | 1980 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 19 | Robert Penn Warren Talking | 1980 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 20 | I’ll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition | 1983 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 21 | Portrait of a Father | 1988 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 22 | New and Selected Essays | 1989 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 23 | Talking with Robert Penn Warren | 1990 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 24 | Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren: A Literary Correspondence | 1998 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 25 | How Texas Won Her Freedom: The Story Of Sam Houston And The Battle Of San Jacinto | 2012 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 26 | Significance of Best Dog: Importance of Keeping Best Dog | 2014 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
| 27 | Importance of Productivity | 2014 | Robert Penn Warren | Buy |
Robert Penn Warren’s non-fiction output spans literary criticism, American history, race relations, and memoir. His most influential critical work, Understanding Poetry, co-authored with Cleanth Brooks, helped define the New Criticism movement and was used as a college textbook for decades. Segregation and Who Speaks for the Negro? addressed racial issues in America during the Civil Rights era.
Warren also wrote biographical and historical works, including a study of Jefferson Davis and essays on the Civil War’s lasting effects. His later non-fiction includes interviews and conversations with other writers, and Portrait of a Father is a personal memoir. The twenty-seven titles in this category show how broadly Warren’s interests ranged beyond fiction and poetry.