At 60, Madonna has yet to write an autobiography. Some might say that she doesn’t need to—that the body of work she’s released over the past three-plus decades, the countless interviews she’s conducted, the speeches she’s given, and, more recently, her regularly updated Instagram stories should suffice as her statement on herself. But the appetite for books on Madonna is large, and the variety of approaches writers, editors, and photographers have taken to craft their portraits is a testament to how her career has both inspired and provoked. She’s a singular pop star with a body of work that ranks among the genre’s best. She’s also adept at getting and (this is the hard part!) keeping the public’s attention.

The books listed below represent some of the most essential writing about Madonna—her life, her loves, her travails, and even her music. They’re a useful snapshot of how the public took in her rise and reign, which was fueled by her charisma, cultural savvy, and doctorate-level knowledge of how the media works. Along the way, she ran into the roadblocks faced by so many women, particularly when it came to being taken “seriously,” but she handled them if not with grace, at least with enough guts to consistently come out on top.