The Greatest Satire Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
6 Nineteen Eighty Four George Orwell 1949 British English
9 Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes 1605 Spanish Spanish
19 Catch-22 Joseph Heller 1961 American English
49 Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift 1726 British English
53 Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut 1969 American English
56 The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy Laurence Sterne 1759 British English
70 Animal Farm George Orwell 1945 British English
71 Candide Voltaire 1759 French French
81 The Tin Drum Günter Grass 1959 German German
107 Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray 1847 British English
113 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 1890 Irish English
128 Tom Jones Henry Fielding 1749 British English
136 Dead Souls Nikolai Gogol 1842 Russian Russian
142 Portnoy's Complaint Philip Roth 1969 American English
159 A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole 1980 American English
200 Decameron Giovanni Boccaccio 1353 Italian Italian
226 The Good Soldier Švejk Jaroslav Hašek 1921 Czech Czech
230 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
237 Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis 1954 British English
241 Gargantua and Pantagruel Francois Rabelais 1532 French French
268 Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons 1932 British English
316 Babbitt Sinclair Lewis 1922 American English
356 At Swim Two-Birds Flann O'Brien 1939 Irish English
369 The Day of the Locust Nathanael West 1939 American English
459 Lysistrata Aristophanes -411 Greek Ancient greek
464 The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope 1875 British English
503 Main Street Sinclair Lewis 1920 American English
508 Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut 1963 American English
513 A Handful of Dust Evelyn Waugh 1934 British English
514 The Siege of Krishnapur J. G. Farrell 1973 British English
525 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
528 Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut 1973 American English
583 The Colour of Magic Terry Pratchett 1983 British English
597 Miss Lonelyhearts Nathanael West 1933 American English
607 Scoop Evelyn Waugh 1938 British English
622 Barchester Towers Anthony Trollope 1857 British English
632 The Sellout Paul Beatty 2015 American English
644 Jacques the Fatalist and His Master Denis Diderot 1796 French French
667 Bouvard et Pécuchet Gustave Flaubert 1881 French French
671 Good Omens Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman 1990 British English
692 Tartuffe Molière 1664 French French
703 The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes Unknown 1554 Spanish Spanish
733 Hadrian the Seventh Frederick Rolfe 1904 British English
734 Don Juan Lord Byron 1819 British English
737 The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Robert Tressell, Peter Miles 1914 British English
738 The Birds Aristophanes -414 Greek Ancient greek
765 The Elementary Particles Michel Houellebecq 1998 French French
774 The Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut 1959 American English
794 The Sot-Weed Factor John Barth 1960 American English
837 Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw 1913 British English
838 Platform Michel Houellebecq 2001 French French
839 Collected Essays of George Orwell George Orwell 1968 British English
862 London Fields Martin Amis 1989 British English
876 Eminent Victorians Lytton Strachey 1918 British English
897 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Anita Loos 1925 American English
914 What a Carve Up! Jonathan Coe 1994 British English
916 Decline and Fall Evelyn Waugh 1928 British English
919 The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde 1895 Irish English
929 The Clouds Aristophanes -423 Greek Ancient greek
948 Simplicius Simplicissimus Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen 1668 German German
949 The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr E. T. A. Hoffmann 1819 German German
970 Zuleika Dobson Max Beerbohm 1911 British English
994 The Praise of Folly Erasmus 1511 Dutch Latin
1011 The White Tiger Aravind Adiga 2008 Indian English
1015 Moscow to the End of the Line Venedikt Yerofeev 1970 Russian Russian
1043 Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Ben Fountain 2012 American English
1067 A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works Jonathan Swift 1729 Irish English
1076 The Seven Madmen Roberto Arlt 1929 Argentinian Spanish
1083 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
1108 Mumbo Jumbo Ishmael Reed 1972 American English
1122 The Unfortunate Traveller Thomas Nashe 1594 British English
1185 The American Way of Death Jessica Mitford 1963 American English
1201 The Horse's Mouth Joyce Cary 1944 British English
1210 Le Mariage De Figaro Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais 1784 French French
1221 Our Man In Havana Graham Greene 1958 British English
1261 Joseph Andrews Henry Fielding 1742 British English
1268 Wise Children Angela Carter 1991 British English
1296 Woodcutters Thomas Bernhard 1984 Austrian German
1307 The Nose Nikolai Gogol 1836 Russian Russian
1314 Penguin Island Anatole France 1908 French French
1364 The Inimitable Jeeves P. G. Wodehouse 1923 British English
1371 The Joke Milan Kundera 1967 Czech Czech
1419 Thank You, Jeeves P. G. Wodehouse 1934 British English
1424 War with the Newts Karel Čapek 1936 Czech Czech
1427 The Misanthrope Molière 1666 French French
1458 The Imaginary Invalid Molière 1673 French French
1475 Professor Unrat Heinrich Mann 1905 German German
1483 The Swindler Francisco de Quevedo 1626 Spanish Spanish
1494 Love in a Cold Climate Nancy Mitford 1949 British English
1563 A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy Laurence Sterne 1768 British English
1563 The Expedition of Humphry Clinker Tobias Smollett 1771 British English
1563 Erewhon Samuel Butler 1872 British English
1563 Myra Breckinridge Gore Vidal 1968 American English
1596 Night Watch Terry Pratchett 2002 British English
1598 The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Bertolt Brecht 1941 German German
1623 The Twelve Chairs Ilya Ilf, Evgeniy Petrov 1928 Russian Russian
1644 The Little Golden Calf Ilya Ilf, Evgeniy Petrov 1931 Russian Russian
1661 The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle Tobias Smollett 1751 British English
1670 The Monkey Wrench Gang Edward Abbey 1975 American English
1695 She Stoops to Conquer Oliver Goldsmith 1773 British English
1711 Orthodoxy G. K. Chesterton 1908 British English
1712 The Great Indian Novel Shashi Tharoor 1989 Indian English
1715 Nightmare Abbey Thomas Love Peacock 1818 British English
1782 The Truth Terry Pratchett 2000 British English
1788 The Government Inspector Nikolai Gogol 1836 Russian Russian
1798 Satyricon Petronius 65 Roman Latin
1829 Small Gods Terry Pratchett 1992 British English
1838 The Life And Loves Of A She Devil Fay Weldon 1983 British English
1914 The Bedbug And Selected Poetry Vladimir Mayakovsky 1920 Russian Russian
1953 The Works of Max Beerbohm Max Beerbohm 1902 British English
2023 The Old Devils Kingsley Amis 1986 British English
2023 Vernon God Little DBC Pierre 2003 British English
2037 Northanger Abbey Jane Austen 1817 British English
2039 Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus Scriblerus Club 1741 British English
2039 The Female Quixote Charlotte Lennox 1752 British English
2039 Max Havelaar Multatuli 1860 Dutch Dutch
2039 Crome Yellow Aldous Huxley 1921 British English
2039 The Apes of God Wyndham Lewis 1930 British English
2039 Keep the Aspidistra Flying George Orwell 1936 British English
2039 On the Edge of Reason Miroslav Krleža 1938 Croatian Croatian