The Greatest Books of All Time on Civilization

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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
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
486 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
2235 Last And First Men Olaf Stapledon 1930 British English
2238 Ringworld Larry Niven 1970 American English
2527 The Everlasting Man G. K. Chesterton 1925 British English
2901 City Clifford D. Simak 1952 American English
2936 The Better Angels Of Our Nature Steven Pinker 2011 American English
2986 Friday Michel Tournier 1967 French French
3001 The Rise of the West William H. McNeill 1963 American English
3441 Ideas Have Consequences Richard M. Weaver 1948 American English
3638 Homo Ludens Johan Huizinga 1938 Dutch Dutch
3638 Gods, Graves, And Scholars C. W. Ceram 1949 German German
3638 Nuremberg Chronicle Hartmann Schedel 1493 German Latin
3945 Doña Bárbara Rómulo Gallegos 1929 Venezuelan Spanish
3948 Antériorité Des Civilisations Nègres Cheikh Anta Diop 1954 Senegalese French
3953 The End of History and the Last Man Francis Fukuyama 1992 American English
4310 Vril Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1871 British English
4310 After London; Or, Wild England Richard Jefferies 1885 British English
4455 The City in History Lewis Mumford 1961 American English
4580 History Of Art Elie Faure 1919 French French
4613 Civilisation Kenneth Clark 1969 British English
4719 I'll Take My Stand Twelve Southerners 1930 American English
4900 The Discovery Of Freedom Rose Wilder Lane 1943 American English
5863 The New Science Giambattista Vico 1725 Italian Italian
5978 1491 Charles C. Mann 2005 American English
6175 Philosophy and Civilization John Dewey 1931 American English
6285 Earth Abides George Rippey Stewart 1949 American English
6325 The Voices Of Silence Andre Malraux 1951 French French
6459 Science and Civilisation in China Joseph Needham 1954 British English
6574 Combats Pour L'histoire Lucien Febvre 1953 French French
6637 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
7216 The Scarlet Plague Jack London 1912 American English
7216 The Genius Of Christianity François-Auguste-René de Chateaubriand 1802 French French
7216 Essays Matthew Arnold 1865 British English
7665 The Flowering of New England Van Wyck Brooks 1936 American English
8019 Mirrors Eduardo Galeano 2008 Uruguayan Spanish
8069 The Rise Of American Civilization Charles A. Beard, Mary Ritter Beard 1927 American English
8492 Underland Robert Macfarlane 2019 British English
8817 Shikasta Doris May Lessing 1979 British English
9132 Why the West Rules - For Now Ian Morris 2010 British English
9821 The Precipice Toby Ord 2020 British English
9859 Democratic Vistas Walt Whitman 1871 American English
9859 Nationalism Rabindranath Tagore 1917 Indian English
9925 Children Of Time Adrian Tchaikovsky 2015 British English
10006 The Dawn Of Everything David Graeber, David Wengrow 2021 British English
10286 The Ascent Of Man Jacob Bronowski 1973 British English
10308 Eros And Civilization Herbert Marcuse 1955 German English
11112 Seeker Jack McDevitt 2005 American English
11140 O Strange New World Howard Mumford Jones 1964 American English
11140 So Human an Animal René Dubos 1968 French English
11209 The Pilgrimage Of Western Man Stringfellow Barr 1949 American English
11839 In Bluebeard's Castle George Steiner 1971 British English
13362 Culture and Anarchy Matthew Arnold 1869 British English
13362 The History of the World Sir Walter Raleigh 1614 British English
13362 Aelita Alexei Tolstoy 1923 Russian Russian
13533 Gardner's Art Through The Ages Helen Gardner 1926 American English
13591 Papyrus Irene Vallejo 2019 Spanish Spanish
13600 Civilization Georges Duhamel 1918 French French
13743 Menschen Wie Götter Sergej Snegow 1966 Russian Russian
13919 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
14410 The Life Of Reason George Santayana 1905 American English
14435 Big History Cynthia Stokes Brown 2007 American English
14731 Energy And Civilization Vaclav Smil 2017 Czech English
14760 The Outline Of History H. G. Wells 1920 British English
14788 Two Planets Kurd Laßwitz 1897 German German
14833 Origin Story David Christian 2018 American English
14939 The City And The Stars Arthur C. Clarke 1956 British English
14985 Nightfall Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg 1990 American English
14985 The Songs Of Distant Earth Arthur C. Clarke 1986 British English
14985 In The Garden Of Iden Kage Baker 1997 American English
15592 Story Of Mankind Hendrik Willem van Loon 1921 American English
15659 The Revolt Against Civilization Lothrop Stoddard 1922 American English
15848 Cities In Flight James Blish 1950 American English
15915 Thoughts for the Times on War and Death Sigmund Freud 1915 Austrian German
15915 Sketches Of Etruscan Places And Other Italian Essays D. H. Lawrence 1932 British English
15915 Technics And Civilization Lewis Mumford 1934 American English
16607 Storia Dei Greci Indro Montanelli 1959 Italian Italian
17161 The Measure of Man Joseph Wood Krutch 1954 American English
17161 Dragon's Egg Robert L. Forward 1980 American English
17161 Heroes And Villains Angela Carter 1969 British English
17161 Evolution Stephen Baxter 2003 British English
17161 Helliconia Spring Brian Aldiss 1982 British English
17161 From Dawn To Decadence Jacques Barzun 2000 American English
17161 The Oldest Dead White European Males Bernard Knox 1993 American English
17161 The Roots Of Civilization Alexander Marshack 1972 American English
17161 An Unfinished History Of The World Hugh Thomas 1979 British English
17161 Persian Fire Tom Holland 2005 British English
16885 The Crisis Of The Modern World (Guenon, Rene. Works.) René Guénon 1927 French French
16849 Revolt Against The Modern World Julius Evola 1934 Italian Italian
17161 War And Peace And War Peter Turchin 2005 American English
17161 From The Ruins Of Empire Pankaj Mishra 2012 Indian English
17161 In Search Of The Cradle Of Civilization David Frawley, Georg Feuerstein, Subhash Kak 1995 Multiple English
17161 Bronze Age Mindset Bronze Age Pervert 2018 Unknown English
17022 Nightfall And Other Stories Isaac Asimov 1969 American English