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
4 Nineteen Eighty Four George Orwell 1949 British English
11 Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes 1605 Spanish Spanish
18 Catch-22 Joseph Heller 1961 American English
49 Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift 1726 British English
50 Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut 1969 American English
62 The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy Laurence Sterne 1759 British English
67 Animal Farm George Orwell 1945 British English
74 Candide Voltaire 1759 French French
84 The Tin Drum Günter Grass 1959 German German
106 Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray 1847 British English
111 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 1890 Irish English
123 Tom Jones Henry Fielding 1749 British English
144 Portnoy's Complaint Philip Roth 1969 American English
146 Dead Souls Nikolai Gogol 1842 Russian Russian
151 A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole 1980 American English
229 Decameron Giovanni Boccaccio 1353 Italian Italian
232 Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis 1954 British English
244 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
257 The Good Soldier Švejk Jaroslav Hašek 1921 Czech Czech
260 Gargantua and Pantagruel Francois Rabelais 1532 French French
270 Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons 1932 British English
333 Babbitt Sinclair Lewis 1922 American English
341 At Swim Two-Birds Flann O'Brien 1939 Irish English
356 The Day of the Locust Nathanael West 1939 American English
460 Lysistrata Aristophanes -411 Greek Ancient greek
467 The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope 1875 British English
473 Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut 1963 American English
504 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
515 The Sellout Paul Beatty 2015 American English
518 The Colour of Magic Terry Pratchett 1983 British English
520 The Siege of Krishnapur J. G. Farrell 1973 British English
529 Main Street Sinclair Lewis 1920 American English
545 A Handful of Dust Evelyn Waugh 1934 British English
554 Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut 1973 American English
592 Scoop Evelyn Waugh 1938 British English
598 Tartuffe Molière 1664 French French
601 Good Omens Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman 1990 British English
621 Miss Lonelyhearts Nathanael West 1933 American English
637 Barchester Towers Anthony Trollope 1857 British English
704 Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw 1913 British English
721 The Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut 1959 American English
731 Jacques the Fatalist and His Master Denis Diderot 1796 French French
742 The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde 1895 Irish English
746 Bouvard et Pécuchet Gustave Flaubert 1881 French French
749 Don Juan Lord Byron 1819 British English
752 The Birds Aristophanes -414 Greek Ancient greek
754 The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Robert Tressell, Peter Miles 1914 British English
787 The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes Unknown 1554 Spanish Spanish
792 The Sot-Weed Factor John Barth 1960 American English
820 Hadrian the Seventh Frederick Rolfe 1904 British English
828 Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Ben Fountain 2012 American English
831 Collected Essays of George Orwell George Orwell 1968 British English
844 The Elementary Particles Michel Houellebecq 1998 French French
895 Platform Michel Houellebecq 2001 French French
912 Zuleika Dobson Max Beerbohm 1911 British English
916 London Fields Martin Amis 1989 British English
923 Eminent Victorians Lytton Strachey 1918 British English
934 The Praise of Folly Erasmus 1511 Dutch Latin
954 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Anita Loos 1925 American English
966 What a Carve Up! Jonathan Coe 1994 British English
979 The Clouds Aristophanes -423 Greek Ancient greek
987 Mumbo Jumbo Ishmael Reed 1972 American English
1001 The White Tiger Aravind Adiga 2008 Indian English
1044 Decline and Fall Evelyn Waugh 1928 British English
1069 Simplicius Simplicissimus Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen 1668 German German
1070 The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr E. T. A. Hoffmann 1819 German German
1123 Moscow to the End of the Line Venedikt Yerofeev 1970 Russian Russian
1142 Le Mariage De Figaro Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais 1784 French French
1160 A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works Jonathan Swift 1729 Irish English
1172 Wise Children Angela Carter 1991 British English
1175 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
1184 Woodcutters Thomas Bernhard 1984 Austrian German
1201 The Unfortunate Traveller Thomas Nashe 1594 British English
1238 She Stoops to Conquer Oliver Goldsmith 1773 British English
1248 The American Way of Death Jessica Mitford 1963 American English
1256 The Misanthrope Molière 1666 French French
1257 The Horse's Mouth Joyce Cary 1944 British English
1263 War with the Newts Karel Čapek 1936 Czech Czech
1275 Our Man In Havana Graham Greene 1958 British English
1277 The Seven Madmen Roberto Arlt 1929 Argentinian Spanish
1280 The Imaginary Invalid Molière 1673 French French
1305 Joseph Andrews Henry Fielding 1742 British English
1338 Penguin Island Anatole France 1908 French French
1364 The Joke Milan Kundera 1967 Czech Czech
1416 The Government Inspector Nikolai Gogol 1836 Russian Russian
1425 Professor Unrat Heinrich Mann 1905 German German
1483 The Nose Nikolai Gogol 1836 Russian Russian
1484 Night Watch Terry Pratchett 2002 British English
1525 The Monkey Wrench Gang Edward Abbey 1975 American English
1536 The Inimitable Jeeves P. G. Wodehouse 1923 British English
1562 Nightmare Abbey Thomas Love Peacock 1818 British English
1583 Thank You, Jeeves P. G. Wodehouse 1934 British English
1589 Orthodoxy G. K. Chesterton 1908 British English
1619 The Truth Terry Pratchett 2000 British English
1634 The Swindler Francisco de Quevedo 1626 Spanish Spanish
1642 Love in a Cold Climate Nancy Mitford 1949 British English
1658 Small Gods Terry Pratchett 1992 British English
1694 A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy Laurence Sterne 1768 British English
1694 The Expedition of Humphry Clinker Tobias Smollett 1771 British English
1694 Erewhon Samuel Butler 1872 British English
1694 Myra Breckinridge Gore Vidal 1968 American English
1723 The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Bertolt Brecht 1941 German German
1740 The Twelve Chairs Ilya Ilf, Evgeniy Petrov 1928 Russian Russian
1761 The Little Golden Calf Ilya Ilf, Evgeniy Petrov 1931 Russian Russian
1777 The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle Tobias Smollett 1751 British English
1807 The Great Indian Novel Shashi Tharoor 1989 Indian English
1848 Don Juan Molière 1665 French French
1851 The Would-Be Gentleman Molière 1670 French French
1863 The Miser Molière 1668 French French
1895 Satyricon Petronius 65 Roman Latin
1930 The Life And Loves Of A She Devil Fay Weldon 1983 British English
1948 The Futurological Congress Stanislaw Lem 1971 Polish Polish
2019 The Bedbug And Selected Poetry Vladimir Mayakovsky 1920 Russian Russian
2115 The Space Merchants Frederik Pohl, C. M. Kornbluth 1952 American English
2118 Northanger Abbey Jane Austen 1817 British English
2152 The Egoist George Meredith 1879 British English
2152 The Witches Of Eastwick John Updike 1984 American English
2181 Hogfather Terry Pratchett 1996 British English
2186 The Towers Of Trebizond Rose Macauley 1956 British English
2247 The Trickster of Seville and His Guest of Stone Tirso de Molina 1630 Spanish Spanish