Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess

Earthly Powers is a panoramic saga of the 20th century by Anthony Burgess first published in 1980. On one level it is a parody of a "blockbuster" novel, with the 81-year-old hero, Kenneth Toomey (allegedly based on British author W. Somerset Maugham[1]), telling the story of his life in 81 chapters. It "summed up the literary, social and moral history of the century with comic richness as well as encyclopedic knowingness", according to Malcolm Bradbury.

The 724th greatest fiction book of all time


This book is on the following lists:

  1. - 3rd on Top 10 British, Irish or Commonwealth Novels from 1980 to 2005 (The Observer)
  2. - 4th on The Greatest 20th Century Novels (Waterstone)
  3. - 98th on Waterstone's Books of the Century (LibraryThing)

Buy This Book

Name Binding Sales Rank Lowest New Lowest Used Published
Earthly Powers Hardcover 7606679 $15.99 $0.99 1980
Earthly Powers Kindle Edition 382484 $7.99 2013
Earthly Powers (Burgess, Anthony) Paperback 1240770 $13.99 $0.18 1993
Earthly Powers Kindle Edition 494232 $4.99 2020
Earthly Powers Paperback 689856 $68.00 $14.97 2012
Earthly Powers Kindle Edition 200587 $3.00 2020
Earthly powers Hardcover 5694969 $46.93 $0.76
Earthly Powers Hardcover 7167105 $15.99 $14.00
Earthly Powers Paperback 552938 $11.08 $6.43 2004
Earthly Powers Hardcover 473914 $35.00 $4.00 1980