Choosing the Century's(20th) Favorite Books(1924)

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

The Literary Digest, 182 Books

This is a list from "The Literary Digest International Book Review", which was a prestigious literary publication in the early 20th century.

This list's results were from a nation-wide poll in 1923/1924. There were 1,753 votes.

I love these old lists!

This list was originally published in 1924 and was added to this site almost 2 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
14760 The Outline Of History H. G. Wells 1920 British English
14624 The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse Vicente Blasco Ibáñez 1916 Spanish Spanish
14945 If Winter Comes A. S. M. Hutchinson 1921 British English
2413 The Americanization of Edward Bok Edward Bok 1920 American English
2529 Life of Christ Giovanni Papini 1921 Italian Italian
13217 The Crisis Winston Churchill 1901 British English
1900 Collected Stories Of O. Henry O. Henry 1908 American English
1440 The Virginian Owen Wister 1902 American English
10367 The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page Burton J. Hendrick 1922 American English
15567 The Mind In The Making James Harvey Robinson 1921 American English
230 The Call of the Wild Jack London 1903 American English
246 The Forsyte Saga John Galsworthy 1906 British English
14211 Queen Victoria Lytton Strachey 1921 British English
564 Main Street Sinclair Lewis 1920 American English
247 Kim Rudyard Kipling 1901 British English
1187 Jean Christophe Romain Rolland 1904 French French
594 Growth of the Soil Knut Hamsun 1917 Norwegian Norwegian
14756 Letters To His Children Theodore Roosevelt 1919 American English
14160 The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come John Fox Jr. 1903 American English
377 The Education of Henry Adams Henry Adams 1907 American English
15615 The Outline Of Science J. Arthur Thomson 1922 British English
390 The Old Wives' Tale Arnold Bennett 1908 British English
14369 The Beloved Vagabond William John Locke 1906 British English
15594 Story Of Mankind Hendrik Willem van Loon 1921 American English
906 Up from Slavery Booker T. Washington 1901 American English
4626 Blue Bird Maurice Maeterlinck 1908 Belgian French
14322 The Garden Of Allah Robert Hichens 1904 British English
15617 The Cathedral Hugh Walpole 1922 British English
490 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton 1911 American English
14099 Eben Holden Irving Bacheller 1900 American English
2975 Penrod Booth Tarkington 1914 American English
7182 Joseph Vance William De Morgan 1906 British English
14477 The Broad Highway Jeffery Farnol 1910 British English
15595 Modern Democracies James Bryce 1921 British English
14672 Abraham Lincoln Lord Charnwood 1916 British English
2279 One of Ours Willa Cather 1922 American English
14480 Adventures In Friendship David Grayson 1910 American English
6834 The Dynasts Thomas Hardy 1904 British English
450 Way of All Flesh Samuel Butler 1903 British English
1223 Jurgen James Branch Cabell 1919 American English
1013 Green Mansions W. H. Hudson 1904 British English
15635 Vandemark's Folly Herbert Quick 1922 American English
646 The Varieties of Religious Experience William James 1902 American English
1828 The Mysterious Stranger Mark Twain 1916 American English
14407 The Weavers Sir Gilbert Parker 1907 Canadian English
15662 The Outline Of Literature John Drinkwater 1923 British English
6839 The Awakening Of Helena Ritchie Margaret Deland 1906 American English
183 The Jungle Upton Sinclair 1906 American English
14710 History Of The World War Frank H. Simonds 1917 American English
13728 Riley Songs Of Summer James Whitcomb Riley 1883 American English
3103 Spoon River Anthology Edgar Lee Masters 1915 American English
14928 White Shadows In The South Seas Frederick O'Brien 1919 American English
15592 Accepting The Universe John Burroughs 1920 American English
14938 Java Head Joseph Hergesheimer 1919 American English
15616 The Conquest Of Fear Basil King 1921 Canadian English
14547 Queed Henry Sydnor Harrison 1911 American English
14428 The Shuttle Frances Hodgson Burnett 1907 British English
137 Lord Jim Joseph Conrad 1900 British English
15667 Black Oxen Gertrude Atherton 1923 American English
14781 Poems, Essays And Letters Of Joyce Kilmer Joyce Kilmer, Robert Cortes Holliday 1918 American English
14059 The Simple Life Charles Wagner 1895 French French
14784 The Collected Poems Of Rupert Brooke Rupert Brooke 1918 British English
1673 Penguin Island Anatole France 1908 French French
15641 Beasts, Men And Gods Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski 1922 Polish Polish
14673 The Bent Twig Dorothy Canfield Fisher 1915 American English
14489 A Certain Rich Man William Allen White 1909 American English
14626 Maria Chapdelaine Louis Hémon 1913 French French
10204 The Life of John Marshall Albert J. Beveridge 1916 American English
14330 The Admirable Crichton J. M. Barrie 1902 British English
14674 The Genius Theodore Dreiser 1915 American English
14431 The Greatness And Decline Of Rome Guglielmo Ferrero 1907 Italian Italian
15643 Merton Of The Movies Harry Leon Wilson 1922 American English
15668 The Collected Poems Of John Masefield John Masefield 1923 British English
14677 The Life And Letters Of John Hay William Roscoe Thayer 1915 American English
14677 Men Of The Old Stone Age Henry Fairfield Osborn 1915 American English
14628 Collected Poems By Alfred Noyes Alfred Noyes 1913 British English
15568 Confessions Of A Book Lover Maurice Francis Egan 1919 American English
14831 The Great Hunger Johan Bojer 1918 Norwegian Norwegian
292 Of Human Bondage W. Somerset Maugham 1915 British English
1911 Under Fire Henri Barbusse 1916 French French
2187 The American Language H. L. Mencken 1919 American English
4643 Memoirs Of A Midget Walter de la Mare 1921 British English
2470 The Hill Of Dreams Arthur Machen 1907 British English
136 The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame 1908 British English
954 Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw 1913 British English
880 Orthodoxy G. K. Chesterton 1908 British English
15676 The Middle Of The Road Philip Gibbs 1923 British English
14544 The Great Illusion Norman Angell 1910 British English
15634 Joanna Godden Sheila Kaye-Smith 1921 British English
15651 Up Stream Ludwig Lewisohn 1922 American English
14695 Interpretations Of Literature Lafcadio Hearn 1915 British English
14695 Seven Great Statesmen In The Warfare Of Humanity With Unreason Andrew Dickson White 1915 American English
15651 The Judge Rebecca West 1922 British English
14758 Nocturne Frank Swinnerton 1917 British English
15653 The Days Of A Man David Starr Jordan 1922 American English
15714 Doctor Nye Of North Ostable Joseph Crosby Lincoln 1936 American English
15654 The Covered Wagon Emerson Hough 1922 American English
15654 Peter Whiffle Carl Van Vechten 1922 American English
9831 His Family Ernest Poole 1917 American English
14711 Casuals Of The Sea William McFee 1916 British English
2156 The Flame Of Life Gabriele D'Annunzio 1900 Italian Italian
11471 Batouala René Maran 1921 French French
4482 The Private Papers Of Henry Ryecroft George Gissing 1903 British English
14386 The Deliverance Ellen Glasgow 1904 American English
3885 Collected Plays John Millington Synge 1935 Irish English
15656 The Mercy Of Allah Hilaire Belloc 1922 British English
6762 The World's Illusion Jakob Wassermann 1920 German German
3195 The Crock Of Gold James Stephens 1912 Irish English
15658 Where The Blue Begins Christopher Morley 1922 American English
15659 Certain People Of Importance Kathleen Thompson Norris 1922 American English
14621 The Book Of Wonder Lord Dunsany 1912 British English
14455 The Shepherd Of The Hills Harold Bell Wright 1907 American English
15606 A Few Figs From Thistles Edna St. Vincent Millay 1920 American English
3005 Scaramouche Rafael Sabatini 1921 Italian English
14769 A Son Of The Middle Border Hamlin Garland 1917 American English
15678 Through The Wheat Thomas Boyd 1923 American English
14485 The Servant In The House Charles Rann Kennedy 1908 British English
14622 Mark Twain, A Biography Albert Bigelow Paine 1912 American English
15607 Kindred Of The Dust Peter B. Kyne 1920 American English
15590 Creative Chemistry Edwin Emery Slosson 1919 American English