The Greatest Books of All Time on Civilization

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
25 The Magic Mountain Thomas Mann 1924 German German
52 Lord of the Flies William Golding 1954 British English
69 Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe 1719 British English
90 Buddenbrooks Thomas Mann 1901 German German
264 The Epic Of Gilgamesh Unknown -2100 Multiple Akkadian
309 Tarzan of the Apes Edgar Rice Burroughs 1912 American English
485 Tristes Tropiques Claude Lévi-Strauss 1955 French French
614 Facundo Domingo Faustino Sarmiento 1845 Argentinian Spanish
645 A Study of History Arnold J. Toynbee 1934 British English
756 The Labyrinth of Solitude Octavio Paz 1950 Mexican Spanish
830 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Edward Gibbon 1776 British English
833 The Lost Steps Alejo Carpentier 1953 Cuban Spanish
844 Civilization and Its Discontents Sigmund Freud 1930 Austrian German
1076 Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres Henry Adams 1904 American English
1246 Danube Claudio Magris 1986 Italian Italian
1323 A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M. Miller 1960 American English
1381 Station Eleven Emily St John Mandel 2014 Canadian English
1540 Decline of the West Oswald Spengler 1918 German German
1581 The Civilizing Process Norbert Elias 1939 German German
1919 The Dying Earth Jack Vance 1950 American English
2234 Last And First Men Olaf Stapledon 1930 British English
2237 Ringworld Larry Niven 1970 American English
2525 The Everlasting Man G. K. Chesterton 1925 British English
2900 City Clifford D. Simak 1952 American English
2935 The Better Angels Of Our Nature Steven Pinker 2011 American English
2985 Friday Michel Tournier 1967 French French
3000 The Rise of the West William H. McNeill 1963 American English
3440 Ideas Have Consequences Richard M. Weaver 1948 American English
3637 Homo Ludens Johan Huizinga 1938 Dutch Dutch
3637 Gods, Graves, And Scholars C. W. Ceram 1949 German German
3637 Nuremberg Chronicle Hartmann Schedel 1493 German Latin
3943 Doña Bárbara Rómulo Gallegos 1929 Venezuelan Spanish
3946 Antériorité Des Civilisations Nègres Cheikh Anta Diop 1954 Senegalese French
3951 The End of History and the Last Man Francis Fukuyama 1992 American English
4308 Vril Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1871 British English
4308 After London; Or, Wild England Richard Jefferies 1885 British English
4453 The City in History Lewis Mumford 1961 American English
4578 History Of Art Elie Faure 1919 French French
4611 Civilisation Kenneth Clark 1969 British English
4717 I'll Take My Stand Twelve Southerners 1930 American English
4898 The Discovery Of Freedom Rose Wilder Lane 1943 American English
5861 The New Science Giambattista Vico 1725 Italian Italian
5976 1491 Charles C. Mann 2005 American English
6173 Philosophy and Civilization John Dewey 1931 American English
6283 Earth Abides George Rippey Stewart 1949 American English
6323 The Voices Of Silence Andre Malraux 1951 French French
6458 Science and Civilisation in China Joseph Needham 1954 British English
6573 Combats Pour L'histoire Lucien Febvre 1953 French French
6636 The Ruin Of Kasch Roberto Calasso 1983 Italian Italian
6767 Peter Parley's Universal History Samuel Goodrich 1837 American English
6843 A History of the World in 100 Objects Neil MacGregor 2010 British English
6951 The Invention Of Africa V. Y. Mudimbe 1988 Congolese English
7034 Madness And Civilization Michel Foucault 1961 French French
7043 The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan 1973 American English
7215 The Scarlet Plague Jack London 1912 American English
7215 The Genius Of Christianity François-Auguste-René de Chateaubriand 1802 French French
7215 Essays Matthew Arnold 1865 British English
7664 The Flowering of New England Van Wyck Brooks 1936 American English
8018 Mirrors Eduardo Galeano 2008 Uruguayan Spanish
8068 The Rise Of American Civilization Charles A. Beard, Mary Ritter Beard 1927 American English
8490 Underland Robert Macfarlane 2019 British English
8814 Shikasta Doris May Lessing 1979 British English
9130 Why the West Rules - For Now Ian Morris 2010 British English
9819 The Precipice Toby Ord 2020 British English
9857 Democratic Vistas Walt Whitman 1871 American English
9857 Nationalism Rabindranath Tagore 1917 Indian English
9922 Children Of Time Adrian Tchaikovsky 2015 British English
10003 The Dawn Of Everything David Graeber, David Wengrow 2021 British English
10283 The Ascent Of Man Jacob Bronowski 1973 British English
10305 Eros And Civilization Herbert Marcuse 1955 German English
11109 Seeker Jack McDevitt 2005 American English
11137 O Strange New World Howard Mumford Jones 1964 American English
11137 So Human an Animal René Dubos 1968 French English
11206 The Pilgrimage Of Western Man Stringfellow Barr 1949 American English
11838 In Bluebeard's Castle George Steiner 1971 British English
13359 Culture and Anarchy Matthew Arnold 1869 British English
13359 The History of the World Sir Walter Raleigh 1614 British English
13359 Aelita Alexei Tolstoy 1923 Russian Russian
13532 Gardner's Art Through The Ages Helen Gardner 1926 American English
13590 Papyrus Irene Vallejo 2019 Spanish Spanish
13599 Civilization Georges Duhamel 1918 French French
13742 Menschen Wie Götter Sergej Snegow 1966 Russian Russian
13918 Life Against Death Norman O. Brown 1959 American English
13941 Notes from a Small Island Bill Bryson 1995 American English
14207 Planet Of The Apes Pierre Boulle 1963 French French
14232 The Clash of Civilizations Samuel P. Huntington 1996 American English
14409 The Life Of Reason George Santayana 1905 American English
14434 Big History Cynthia Stokes Brown 2007 American English
14730 Energy And Civilization Vaclav Smil 2017 Czech English
14759 The Outline Of History H. G. Wells 1920 British English
14787 Two Planets Kurd Laßwitz 1897 German German
14830 Origin Story David Christian 2018 American English
14937 The City And The Stars Arthur C. Clarke 1956 British English
14984 Nightfall Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg 1990 American English
14984 In The Garden Of Iden Kage Baker 1997 American English
15586 Story Of Mankind Hendrik Willem van Loon 1921 American English
15653 The Revolt Against Civilization Lothrop Stoddard 1922 American English
15839 Cities In Flight James Blish 1950 American English
15901 Thoughts for the Times on War and Death Sigmund Freud 1915 Austrian German
15901 Sketches Of Etruscan Places And Other Italian Essays D. H. Lawrence 1932 British English
15901 Technics And Civilization Lewis Mumford 1934 American English
16580 Storia Dei Greci Indro Montanelli 1959 Italian Italian
17122 The Measure of Man Joseph Wood Krutch 1954 American English
17122 The Songs Of Distant Earth Arthur C. Clarke 1986 British English
17122 Dragon's Egg Robert L. Forward 1980 American English
17122 Heroes And Villains Angela Carter 1969 British English
17122 Evolution Stephen Baxter 2003 British English
17122 Helliconia Spring Brian Aldiss 1982 British English
17122 From Dawn To Decadence Jacques Barzun 2000 American English
17122 The Oldest Dead White European Males Bernard Knox 1993 American English
17122 The Roots Of Civilization Alexander Marshack 1972 American English
17122 An Unfinished History Of The World Hugh Thomas 1979 British English
17122 Persian Fire Tom Holland 2005 British English
16843 The Crisis Of The Modern World (Guenon, Rene. Works.) René Guénon 1927 French French
16831 Revolt Against The Modern World Julius Evola 1934 Italian Italian
17122 War And Peace And War Peter Turchin 2005 American English
17122 From The Ruins Of Empire Pankaj Mishra 2012 Indian English
17122 In Search Of The Cradle Of Civilization David Frawley, Georg Feuerstein, Subhash Kak 1995 Multiple English
17122 Bronze Age Mindset Bronze Age Pervert 2018 Unknown English
17007 Nightfall And Other Stories Isaac Asimov 1969 American English