The Greatest Books of All Time on Colonialism

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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
48 Journey to the End of The Night Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1932 French French
60 Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe 1958 Nigerian English
61 The Golden Notebook Doris May Lessing 1962 British English
69 Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe 1719 British English
78 A Passage to India E. M. Forster 1924 British English
137 Lord Jim Joseph Conrad 1900 British English
158 Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys 1966 British English
211 The Tempest William Shakespeare 1623 British English
223 A House for Mr. Biswas V. S. Naipaul 1961 Trinidadian English
247 Kim Rudyard Kipling 1901 British English
283 Nostromo Joseph Conrad 1904 British English
296 The Lover Marguerite Duras 1984 French French
391 Death Comes for the Archbishop Willa Cather 1927 American English
416 Out of Africa Isak Dinesen 1937 Danish Danish
435 Scoop Evelyn Waugh 1938 British English
471 Waiting for the Barbarians J. M. Coetzee 1980 South African English
485 Tristes Tropiques Claude Lévi-Strauss 1955 French French
516 Season of Migration to the North Al-Tayyib Salih 1966 Sudanese Arabic
550 Max Havelaar Multatuli 1860 Dutch Dutch
558 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Dee Alexander Brown 1970 American English
637 The Quiet American Graham Greene 1955 British English
663 The Siege of Krishnapur J. G. Farrell 1973 British English
696 King Solomon's Mines H. Rider Haggard 1885 British English
705 Oroonoko Aphra Behn 1688 British English
725 The Kingdom of This World Alejo Carpentier 1949 Cuban Spanish
732 A Bend in the River V. S. Naipaul 1979 Trinidadian English
733 Arrow of God Chinua Achebe 1964 Nigerian English
746 Nervous Conditions Tsitsi Dangarembga 1988 Zimbabwean English
771 God's Bits of Wood Ousmane Sembène 1960 Senegalese French
776 War with the Newts Karel Čapek 1936 Czech Czech
786 The Far Pavilions Mary Margaret Kaye 1978 British English
818 The African Child Camara Laye 1953 Guinean French
819 Burmese Days George Orwell 1934 British English
878 The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver 1998 American English
879 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute 1950 British English
922 The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen 2015 American English
937 The Sea Wall Marguerite Duras 1950 French French
989 The Grass Is Singing Doris May Lessing 1950 British English
1025 Ambiguous Adventure Cheikh Hamidou Kane 1961 Senegalese French
1059 The True History of the Conquest of New Spain Bernal Díaz del Castillo 1632 Spanish Spanish
1107 The Heart of the Matter Graham Greene 1948 British English
1115 The Cairo Trilogy Naguib Mahfouz 1956 Egyptian Arabic
1121 Fantasia Assia Djebar 1985 French French
1154 True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey 2000 Australian English
1158 Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2006 Nigerian English
1195 Song Of Lawino Okot P'Bitek 1966 Ugandan Acholi
1200 Mating Norman Rush 1991 American English
1215 Explosion In A Cathedral Alejo Carpentier 1962 Cuban Spanish
1270 Omeros Derek Walcott 1990 Saint Lucian English
1319 The Story Of An African Farm Olive Schreiner 1883 South African English
1321 A Question of Power Bessie Head 1973 Botswanan English
1376 Tales of the South Pacific James A. Michener 1947 American English
1422 The Sot-Weed Factor John Barth 1960 American English
1443 Mason & Dixon Thomas Pynchon 1997 American English
1529 Orientalism Edward W. Said 1978 Palestinian English
1595 The Forbidden Kingdom Jan Jacob Slauerhoff 1932 Dutch Dutch
1632 The Roots of Heaven Romain Gary 1956 French French
1648 Wizard of the Crow Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 2006 Kenyan English
1797 Texaco Patrick Chamoiseau 1992 Martinican French
1860 Notebook Of A Return To The Native Land Aimé Césaire 1939 French French
1889 Annie John Jamaica Kincaid 1985 Antiguan English
2075 The Memory of Fire Trilogy Eduardo Galeano 1982 Uruguayan Spanish
2139 Shadows on the Rock Willa Cather 1931 American English
2168 Terra Nostra Carlos Fuentes 1975 Mexican Spanish
2184 In a Free State V. S. Naipaul 1971 Trinidadian English
2240 Flashman George MacDonald Fraser 1969 British English
2267 A Grain Of Wheat Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1967 Kenyan English
2268 The Jewel In The Crown Paul Scott 1966 British English
2272 The Wretched of the Earth Frantz Fanon 1961 Algerian French
2399 Remembering Babylon David Malouf 1993 Australian English
2452 Black Mischief Evelyn Waugh 1932 British English
2465 La Grande Maison Mohammed Dib 1952 Algerian French
2485 Small Island Andrea Levy 2004 British English
2502 Homegoing Yaa Gyasi 2016 Ghanaian English
2523 Old Filth Jane Gardam 2004 British English
2547 Bosnian Chronicle Ivo Andrić 1945 Bosnian Serbo-croatian
2561 Segu Maryse Condé 1984 French French
2598 The Witness Juan José Saer 1983 Argentinian Spanish
2596 Possessing the Secret of Joy Alice Walker 1992 American English
2597 A Fringe Of Leaves Patrick White 1976 Australian English
2600 Out Of The Silent Planet C. S. Lewis 1938 British English
2750 Satyagraha in South Africa Gandhi 1928 Indian Gujarati
2750 Out Of Africa Karen Blixen 1937 Danish Danish
2811 Matigari Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1987 Kenyan Gikuyu
2836 Facing Mount Kenya Jomo Kenyatta 1938 Kenyan English
2855 A Mercy Toni Morrison 2008 American English
2874 River of Fire Qurratulain Hyder 1959 Indian Urdu
2875 Palace of the Peacock Wilson Harris 1960 Guyanese English
2956 The Inheritance of Loss Kiran Desai 2006 Indian English
2981 Tent of Miracles Jorge Amado 1969 Brazilian Portuguese
2996 Staying On Paul Scott 1977 British English
3007 Labyrinths Christopher Okigbo 1971 Nigerian English
3063 The Secret River Kate Grenville 2005 Australian English
3117 The Nine Guardians Rosario Castellanos 1957 Mexican Spanish
3122 Carpentaria Alexis Wright 2006 Australian English
3134 Ake Wole Soyinka 1981 Nigerian English
3296 Maps Nuruddin Farah 1986 Somali English
3324 Forever a Stranger Hella S. Haasse 1949 Dutch Dutch
3406 The Great Indian Novel Shashi Tharoor 1989 Indian English
3424 Common Sense Thomas Paine 1776 British English
3428 Count Julian Juan Goytisolo 1970 Spanish Spanish
3449 The Satin Slipper Paul Claudel 1929 French French
3516 In the American Grain William Carlos Williams 1925 American English
3557 The Black Jacobins C. L. R. James 1938 British English
3568 The Return Of The Caravels António Lobo Antunes 1988 Portuguese Portuguese
3638 Mr. Fortune's Maggot Sylvia Townsend Warner 1927 British English
3638 The Leatherstocking Tales James Fenimore Cooper 1823 American English
3638 The Papalagi Erich Scheurmann 1920 German German
3638 How I Found Livingstone Henry M. Stanley 1871 British English
3861 Ethiopia Unbound J. E. Casely Hayford 1911 Ghanaian English
3861 The History Of The Yorubas Reverend Samuel Johnson 1921 Nigerian English
3861 Native Life In South Africa Sol Plaatje 1916 South African English
3881 The River Between Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1965 Kenyan English
3915 Sudden Death Alvaro Enrigue 2013 Mexican Spanish
3920 Staying Power Peter Fryer 1984 British English
3929 The Vice-Consul Marguerite Duras 1966 French French
3928 The Poppy War R. F. Kuang 2018 Chinese English
3932 Mean Spirit Linda Hogan 1990 American English
3947 Le Passé Simple Driss Chraibi 1954 Moroccan French
3947 Antériorité Des Civilisations Nègres Cheikh Anta Diop 1954 Senegalese French