The Greatest Books of All Time Set in Cold War

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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
233 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold John le Carré 1963 British English
411 Underworld Don DeLillo 1997 American English
633 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John le Carré 1974 British English
838 The Book of Daniel E. L. Doctorow 1971 American English
961 The Manchurian Candidate Richard Condon 1959 American English
966 The Ipcress File Len Deighton 1962 British English
1048 The Hunt for Red October Tom Clancy 1984 American English
1150 Witness Whittaker Chambers 1952 American English
1311 Our Man In Havana Graham Greene 1958 British English
1638 Postwar Tony Judt 2005 British English
2100 From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 British English
2285 Smiley's People John le Carré 1979 British English
4508 Truman David McCullough 1992 American English
5939 Der Bedrohte Friede Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker 1982 German German
6165 Present at the Creation Dean Acheson 1969 American English
6652 Fail Safe Eugene Burdick, Harvey Wheeler 1962 American English
6748 Hoffman's Hunger Leon de Winter 1990 Dutch Dutch
6852 The Quiller Memorandum Adam Hall 1965 British English
6892 The Company Robert Littell 2002 American English
7018 Charm School Nelson DeMille 1988 American English
7601 The Labyrinth Makers Anthony Price 1970 British English
7610 Running Blind Desmond Bagley 1970 British English
7692 Heroes Like Us Thomas Brussig 1995 German German
7711 The Honourable Schoolboy John le Carré 1977 British English
8032 The Muses Are Heard Truman Capote 1956 American English
8268 Berlin Game Len Deighton 1983 British English
8467 The Gun C. J. Chivers 2010 American English
8537 Man Plus Frederik Pohl 1976 American English
9220 Game, Set & Match Len Deighton 1983 British English
9758 The Dead Hand David Hoffman 2009 American English
10221 Her Majesty's Secret Service Christopher Andrew 1985 Unknown English
10502 The Second Oldest Profession Phillip Knightley 1986 British English
10774 Not One Inch M. E. Sarotte 2021 American English
11663 Tumultuous Years Robert J. Donovan 1983 American English
11663 Years Of Upheaval Henry A. Kissinger 1982 American English
11663 The Rosenberg File Ronald Radosh, Joyce Milton 1983 American English
11663 Deadly Gambits Strobe Talbott 1984 American English
11890 Whittaker Chambers Sam Tanenhaus 1997 American English
11941 Khrushchev William Taubman 2003 American English
11941 A Thousand Days Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr 1965 American English
11941 Memoirs George F. Kennan 1967 American English
11941 George F. Kennan John Lewis Gaddis 2011 American English
12141 Yellow Blue Tibia Adam Roberts 2009 British English
12326 Kissinger Walter Isaacson 1992 American English
12326 Stalin And The Bomb David Holloway 1994 American English
12326 In Confidence Anatoly Dobrynin 1995 Russian English
12735 Space James A. Michener 1982 American English
14176 The Spy And The Traitor Ben Macintyre 2018 British English
14180 Titan Ii David Stumpf 2000 American English
14680 Being Nixon Evan Thomas 2015 American English
14986 The Public Burning Robert Coover 1977 American English
15921 None Dare Call It Treason John A. Stormer 1964 American English
16652 The Time Traders Andre Norton 1958 American English
17173 Legacy of Ashes Tim Weiner 2007 American English
17173 How Democracies Perish Jean François Revel 1983 French French
17173 A Season In The West Piers Paul Read 1988 British English
17173 Polar Star Martin Cruz Smith 1989 American English
17173 The Doomsday Machine Daniel Ellsberg 2017 American English
17173 Inside The Company Philip Agee 1975 American English
17173 The Threat Andrew Cockburn 1997 American English
17173 Harry Truman And The War Scare Of 1948 Frank Kofsky 1993 American English
17173 My Silent War Kim Philby 1968 British English
17173 Threatening Anthropology David H. Price 2004 American English
17173 A Spy Among Friends Ben Macintyre 2014 British English
17173 Los Alamos Joseph Kanon 1997 American English
17173 The Fourth Man Robert Baer 2022 American English
17173 Spies In The Family Eva Dillon 2017 Unknown English
17173 The Spy In Moscow Station Eric Haseltine 2019 Unknown English
17173 Blind Man's Bluff Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew, Annette Drew 1998 American English
17173 Stalking The Red Bear Peter Sasgen 2009 Unknown English
17173 Beyond The Wall Katja Hoyer 2023 Unknown English
17173 The Lumumba Plot Stuart A. Reid 2023 Unknown English
17173 The Red Hotel Alan Philps 2019 Unknown English
17173 The Lumumba Plot Stuart Reid 2023 Unknown English
17173 American Spy Lauren Wilkinson 2019 Unknown English
17173 The Russia House John le Carré 1989 British English
17173 Absolute Dc Darwyn Cooke 2006 Canadian English
17173 President Reagan Lou Cannon 1991 American English
17173 Ratner's Star Don DeLillo 1976 American English
17173 Who Paid The Pipers Of Western Marxism? Gabriel Rockhill American English