Cool thread, Kudos on doing it! Lots of interesting replys, too. Some smart folks around here. And some good readers. The categories suggested made me realize, sports fan that I am, I haven't really read that many sports themed books, and most (that I recall) of them were Biographies. So I'm going to ignore that category out of ignorance. Also, what is a classic? Too much opinion involved therein for me. That said, a few already mentioned certainly meets my criteria for Classic like Kesey's "Once a Great Notion" or "Huck Finn" or "To Kill A Mockingbird"........... In the interest on not repeating, I've omitted anything already listed by others.
FICTION
"The Road"-----Cormac McCarthy
"Black Sun"---- Edward Abbey (In his opinion, and mine, his finest piece of fiction)
"Little Big Man"---- Thomas Berger
"The Wonderful Country"---- Tom Lea
"Treasure of the Sierra Madre"--- B. Craven?
"The Vanishing American" ----- Zane Grey
Historical Fiction
"Shadow Country" ----- Peter Matthiessen
"Deadwood" ------- Pete Dexter
The Bible -------- Various
Non-Fiction
"Desert Solitaire" ---- Edward Abbey
"Indian Country"----- Peter Matthiessen
"Indeh" ------ Eve Ball
"Under The Banner Of Heaven"----- Jon Krakauer
"Killing The Hidden Waters" ------ Charles Bowden
Historical Non-Fiction
"Devil's Gate"-----Brigham Young and the Great Mormon Handcart Tragedy----- David Roberts
"Trust Me" ----- Charles Keating and the Mission Billions ------ Michael Binstein and Charles Bowden
"The Devil's Highway" ---- Luis Alberto Urrea
"A Little War Of Our Own" The Pleasant Valley Feud Revisited ---- Don Dedera
"The Education of Little Tree" ----- Forrest Carter
So many others, so little memory. So old .................