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
1310 Our Man In Havana Graham Greene 1958 British English
1638 Postwar Tony Judt 2005 British English
2098 From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 British English
2284 Smiley's People John le Carré 1979 British English
4506 Truman David McCullough 1992 American English
5935 Der Bedrohte Friede Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker 1982 German German
6162 Present at the Creation Dean Acheson 1969 American English
6650 Fail Safe Eugene Burdick, Harvey Wheeler 1962 American English
6747 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
7600 The Labyrinth Makers Anthony Price 1970 British English
7609 Running Blind Desmond Bagley 1970 British English
7691 Heroes Like Us Thomas Brussig 1995 German German
7709 The Honourable Schoolboy John le Carré 1977 British English
8031 The Muses Are Heard Truman Capote 1956 American English
8265 Berlin Game Len Deighton 1983 British English
8461 The Gun C. J. Chivers 2010 American English
8531 Man Plus Frederik Pohl 1976 American English
9214 Game, Set & Match Len Deighton 1983 British English
9753 The Dead Hand David Hoffman 2009 American English
10214 Her Majesty's Secret Service Christopher Andrew 1985 Unknown English
10496 The Second Oldest Profession Phillip Knightley 1986 British English
10767 Not One Inch M. E. Sarotte 2021 American English
11660 Tumultuous Years Robert J. Donovan 1983 American English
11660 Years Of Upheaval Henry A. Kissinger 1982 American English
11660 The Rosenberg File Ronald Radosh, Joyce Milton 1983 American English
11660 Deadly Gambits Strobe Talbott 1984 American English
11888 Whittaker Chambers Sam Tanenhaus 1997 American English
11939 Khrushchev William Taubman 2003 American English
11939 A Thousand Days Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr 1965 American English
11939 Memoirs George F. Kennan 1967 American English
11939 George F. Kennan John Lewis Gaddis 2011 American English
12140 Yellow Blue Tibia Adam Roberts 2009 British English
12324 Kissinger Walter Isaacson 1992 American English
12324 Stalin And The Bomb David Holloway 1994 American English
12324 In Confidence Anatoly Dobrynin 1995 Russian English
12733 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
14679 Being Nixon Evan Thomas 2015 American English
14983 The Public Burning Robert Coover 1977 American English
15897 None Dare Call It Treason John A. Stormer 1964 American English
16609 The Time Traders Andre Norton 1958 American English
17114 Legacy of Ashes Tim Weiner 2007 American English
17114 How Democracies Perish Jean François Revel 1983 French French
17114 A Season In The West Piers Paul Read 1988 British English
17114 Polar Star Martin Cruz Smith 1989 American English
17114 The Doomsday Machine Daniel Ellsberg 2017 American English
17114 Inside The Company Philip Agee 1975 American English
17114 The Threat Andrew Cockburn 1997 American English
17114 Harry Truman And The War Scare Of 1948 Frank Kofsky 1993 American English
17114 My Silent War Kim Philby 1968 British English
17114 Threatening Anthropology David H. Price 2004 American English
17114 A Spy Among Friends Ben Macintyre 2014 British English
17114 Los Alamos Joseph Kanon 1997 American English
17114 The Fourth Man Robert Baer 2022 American English
17114 Spies In The Family Eva Dillon 2017 Unknown English
17114 The Spy In Moscow Station Eric Haseltine 2019 Unknown English
17114 Blind Man's Bluff Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew, Annette Drew 1998 American English
17114 Stalking The Red Bear Peter Sasgen 2009 Unknown English
17114 Beyond The Wall Katja Hoyer 2023 Unknown English
17114 The Lumumba Plot Stuart A. Reid 2023 Unknown English
17114 The Red Hotel Alan Philps 2019 Unknown English
17114 The Lumumba Plot Stuart Reid 2023 Unknown English
17114 American Spy Lauren Wilkinson 2019 Unknown English
17114 The Russia House John le Carré 1989 British English
17114 Absolute Dc Darwyn Cooke 2006 Canadian English
17114 President Reagan Lou Cannon 1991 American English
17114 Ratner's Star Don DeLillo 1976 American English
17114 Who Paid The Pipers Of Western Marxism? Gabriel Rockhill American English