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On 23 November 1974 the film director Werner Herzog heard that his friend, the film historian Lotte Eisner, was dying in Paris. He set off from Munich on foot, convinced that if he walked she would stay alive, and arrived on 14 December. She lived another nine years, and the diary he kept became Of Walking in Ice. Herzog, born in Munich in 1942, has made more than fifty feature and documentary films, from Aguirre, the Wrath of God to Grizzly Man, but his books are a body of work of their own: jungle diaries, a novel about a Japanese soldier who fought on for decades after the war, a memoir and an essay on lying. This guide covers his six key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 6 key books · 1978–2024 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Werner Herzog’s key books are Of Walking in Ice (1978), his diary of a winter walk from Munich to Paris, Conquest of the Useless (2004), The Twilight World (2021), the memoir Every Man for Himself and God Against All (2022) and The Future of Truth (2024), all first published in German. Start with Of Walking in Ice, a short diary whose walking and endurance return in everything he wrote later.
Where to Start with Werner Herzog
If you want his defining book
→ Of Walking in Ice (1978) — three weeks on foot from Munich to Paris in 1974.
If you want the story behind a film
→ Conquest of the Useless (2004) — the diaries from the making of Fitzcarraldo.
If you want fiction
→ The Twilight World (2021) — a short novel about the soldier Hiroo Onoda.
If you want his life
→ Every Man for Himself and God Against All (2022) — the memoir, from Bavaria to Hollywood.
6 Werner Herzog Books, in Order
Of Walking in Ice
The diary of Herzog’s three-week walk from Munich to Paris through winter cold and snowstorms in the winter of 1974, made because he believed walking would keep the dying Lotte Eisner alive. First published in German by Hanser in 1978 as Vom Gehen im Eis, translated by Martje Herzog and Alan Greenberg, and reissued by the University of Minnesota Press in 2015. Eisner lived another nine years.
Conquest of the Useless
The journals Herzog kept in the Peruvian jungle while making Fitzcarraldo (1982), in which a steamship is hauled over a hill from one river to another. Jason Robards, the first lead, fell ill and left; Mick Jagger left for a tour; Klaus Kinski took over. Published in German as Eroberung des Nutzlosen in 2004 and in English by Ecco in 2009, translated by Krishna Winston.
Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed
Book-length conversations with the writer and filmmaker Paul Cronin, published by Faber and Faber in London in 2014, in which Herzog talks through his life and his films. It is the only one of these books first published in English.
The Twilight World
A short novel about Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese soldier who held out on Lubang Island in the Philippines, still fighting a war that had ended, until he was brought out of hiding in March 1974. Herzog met Onoda in Japan in 1997. Onoda and the soldiers with him for part of that time are alleged to have killed more than thirty people. Published in German by Hanser as Das Dämmern der Welt (2021) and in English in 2022, translated by Michael Hofmann.
Every Man for Himself and God Against All
Herzog’s memoir, which moves back and forth between his childhood in rural Bavaria and the making of his films. At 13 he lived in a Munich boarding house where the 23-year-old Klaus Kinski terrorised the owner and tenants. Published in German by Hanser in August 2022 and in English in October 2023, translated by Michael Hofmann; it ends mid-sentence. Dwight Garner in The New York Times read it as not meant to be taken literally.
The Future of Truth
A short book of anecdotes about lies, fakes and delusion, many linked to his films, with chapters on the “post-truth era”, a brief history of fake news from an ancient Egyptian battle scene to Potemkin’s village, and his distinction between the “accountant’s truth” of facts and “ecstatic truth”. Published in German as Die Zukunft der Wahrheit in 2024 and in English in 2025, translated by Michael Hofmann.
In What Order to Read Werner Herzog
None of Herzog’s books depends on another, so you can read them in any order. All except the Paul Cronin interviews were written in German, and the English editions often appeared years later: Conquest of the Useless five years after the German, Of Walking in Ice much later still.
If you know his films, start with Conquest of the Useless beside Fitzcarraldo. If you do not, start with Of Walking in Ice, then read the memoir, which returns to many of the same places and people. The Future of Truth works best last, as a short statement of the idea behind everything else.
A reading path
1. Of Walking in Ice (1978)
2. Conquest of the Useless (2004)
3. The Twilight World (2021)
4. Every Man for Himself and God Against All (2022)
5. The Future of Truth (2024)
Everything Else Werner Herzog Published
Beyond the 6 key books: 5 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Screenplays
5
5 books · 1977–1983
- 1977Drehbücher IGerman screenplays, including Lebenszeichen and Fata Morgana
- 1977Drehbücher IIGerman screenplays, including Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes
- 1979Drehbücher IIIGerman screenplays of Stroszek and Nosferatu
- 1981ScreenplaysEnglish edition of Aguirre, Every Man for Himself and God Against All and Land of Silence and Darkness
- 1983Fitzcarraldo: The Original Storythe story of the film in prose
The years · 1942–2025
Quick facts about Werner Herzog
- Known for
- Werner Herzog is known as a German film director whose fiction and documentary films, and books, are driven by extreme journeys and what he calls “ecstatic truth”.
- 1942
- Born Werner Stipetić in Munich
- 1982
- Best Director at Cannes for Fitzcarraldo
- 2025
- Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, Venice
- Born
- 5 September 1942, Munich, as Werner Stipetić
- Work
- More than fifty feature and documentary films
- Lives
- Munich and Los Angeles
- Honours
- Best Director, Cannes (1982); Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, Venice (2025)
- Translator
- Michael Hofmann, for his three most recent books
- Languages
- Writes in German; English editions follow
The red mark is 1978: Of Walking in Ice, the diary of his walk from Munich to Paris.
How Werner Herzog Writes
Herzog’s first two prose books are diaries, written on the spot and published decades later almost as they were. Of Walking in Ice is kept day by day on the road; Conquest of the Useless does the same for the jungle shoot of Fitzcarraldo. Neither explains much: the reader gets the days, not a story about them.
His later books argue openly for what he calls “ecstatic truth” against the “accountant’s truth” of facts. The Future of Truth states it outright (“I have always vigorously opposed the foolish belief that equates truth with facts”), The Twilight World carries the epigraph “What was important to the author was something other than accuracy”, and reviewers of the memoir have read it in that light rather than as a factual record.
Walking runs through all of it: the 1974 walk to Paris, an attempt to walk across Germany in 1982 recorded in the memoir, and the advice to read and walk at the end of The Future of Truth. Since 2021 his German has reached English through Michael Hofmann.
Watch
Werner Herzog on Every Man for Himself and God Against All
Werner Herzog talks about his memoir Every Man for Himself and God Against All at a WBUR CitySpace event in Boston. From the official WBUR CitySpace, Boston channel.
Frequently asked questions about Werner Herzog’s books
How many books has Werner Herzog written?
More than a dozen, counting his screenplays. Six are the key books on this page, from Of Walking in Ice (1978) to The Future of Truth (2024); the rest are screenplay collections in German and English and Fitzcarraldo: The Original Story (1983).
What are Werner Herzog’s books in order?
Of Walking in Ice (1978), Conquest of the Useless (2004), Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed (2014, with Paul Cronin), The Twilight World (2021), Every Man for Himself and God Against All (2022) and The Future of Truth (2024). The years are the first German editions; English editions came later.
Where should I start with Werner Herzog’s books?
Of Walking in Ice, his diary of walking from Munich to Paris in November and December 1974. It is short, and its themes of walking and endurance come back in his later books. If you know Fitzcarraldo, Conquest of the Useless is the natural second book.
What is Werner Herzog’s most famous book?
Of Walking in Ice (1978) is his best-known book; it was reissued in English by the University of Minnesota Press in 2015. His memoir, Every Man for Himself and God Against All (2022, English 2023), reached a wide audience, with reviews in The New York Times and The Guardian.
Why did Werner Herzog walk from Munich to Paris?
In November 1974 he heard that Lotte Eisner, the film historian and his friend, was dying in Paris. He believed that if he walked to her she would not die. He arrived on 14 December, and she lived another nine years.
Is The Twilight World a true story?
It is a novel based on a real person, Hiroo Onoda, who held out on Lubang Island in the Philippines until 1974, and whom Herzog met in Japan in 1997. Herzog makes clear that accuracy was not his aim; Onoda and the soldiers with him are alleged to have killed more than thirty people.
What happened during the making of Fitzcarraldo?
Conquest of the Useless is Herzog’s own record. The production is also controversial: Michael F. Brown wrote in 1982 that Herzog built a camp on Aguaruna land without consulting the tribal council, Aguaruna men burned the set in December 1979, and Herzog has been accused of exploiting indigenous workers, several of whom are reported to have died. Les Blank’s documentary Burden of Dreams (1982) shows the production from outside.
Is Werner Herzog’s memoir true?
It is a memoir, but Herzog does not separate fact and invention the way most memoirists do. Dwight Garner in The New York Times read it as not meant to be taken literally, in line with Herzog’s idea of “ecstatic truth”; Claire Dederer in The Guardian called it stranger and truer than a standard autobiography.
Who translates Werner Herzog’s books into English?
Michael Hofmann translated The Twilight World, the memoir and The Future of Truth. Conquest of the Useless was translated by Krishna Winston, and Of Walking in Ice by Martje Herzog and Alan Greenberg.
Is Werner Herzog still alive?
Yes. He was born on 5 September 1942 in Munich and lives in Munich and Los Angeles. In August 2025 he received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival.
Footnotes
- Werner Herzog bibliography — Wikipedia
- Of Walking in Ice — Wikipedia
- Every Man for Himself and God Against All — Wikipedia
- Fitzcarraldo — Wikipedia
- Conquest of the Useless — Kirkus Reviews
- The Future of Truth — World Literature Today, 2026
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Tourism is sin, and travel on foot virtue.”
— Werner Herzog, the “Minnesota Declaration” (1999)
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