The Greatest Books of All Time on Corruption

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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
17 The Lord Of The Rings J. R. R. Tolkien 1959 English English
55 Animal Farm George Orwell 1945 British English
71 Hamlet William Shakespeare 1600 British English
80 Candide Voltaire 1759 French French
89 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 1890 Irish English
94 Demons Fyodor Dostoevsky 1872 Russian Russian
104 Dead Souls Nikolai Gogol 1842 Russian Russian
110 The Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer 1400 British Middle english
120 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler 1939 American English
121 Bleak House Charles Dickens 1852 British English
124 Pedro Páramo Juan Rulfo 1955 Mexican Spanish
149 All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren 1946 American English
159 The Good Soldier Švejk Jaroslav Hašek 1921 Czech Czech
161 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
183 The Jungle Upton Sinclair 1906 American English
187 The Power and the Glory Graham Greene 1940 British English
189 The Turn of the Screw Henry James 1898 American English
242 The Godfather Mario Puzo 1969 American English
259 Naked Lunch William S. Burroughs 1959 American English
283 Nostromo Joseph Conrad 1904 British English
310 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
341 The Human Comedy Honoré de Balzac 1830 French French
453 I, Claudius Robert Graves 1934 British English
476 The Monk Matthew Lewis 1796 British English
509 Sanctuary William Faulkner 1931 American English
530 The Red Room August Strindberg 1879 Swedish Swedish
536 Red Harvest Dashiell Hammett 1929 American English
544 The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes Unknown 1554 Spanish Spanish
550 Max Havelaar Multatuli 1860 Dutch Dutch
589 Bel Ami Guy de Maupassant 1885 French French
595 Farewell, My Lovely Raymond Chandler 1940 American English
651 Manhattan Transfer John Dos Passos 1925 American English
687 The Time of the Hero Mario Vargas Llosa 1963 Peruvian Spanish
701 The Feast of the Goat Mario Vargas Llosa 2000 Peruvian Spanish
702 Vathek William Beckford 1786 British French
703 The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope 1875 British English
724 Michael Kohlhaas Heinrich von Kleist 1810 German German
732 A Bend in the River V. S. Naipaul 1979 Trinidadian English
742 The Crime of Father Amaro Eça de Queirós 1875 Portuguese Portuguese
757 The Adventures of Caleb Williams William Godwin 1794 British English
808 Watchmen Alan Moore 1986 American, British English
819 Burmese Days George Orwell 1934 British English
830 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Edward Gibbon 1776 British English
856 Conversation in the Cathedral Mario Vargas Llosa 1969 Peruvian Spanish
889 The 120 Days of Sodom Marquis de Sade 1904 French French
920 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
930 The Seven Madmen Roberto Arlt 1929 Argentinian Spanish
1003 A Dry White Season Andre Brink 1979 South African Afrikaans
1046 Justine Marquis de Sade 1791 French French
1061 The Hothouse Wolfgang Koeppen 1953 German German
1094 Gorky Park Martin Cruz Smith 1981 American English
1140 Nana Émile Zola 1880 French French
1151 The Water Margin Shi Naian 1370 Chinese Chinese
1180 Annals Cornelius Tacitus 109 Roman Latin
1219 The Time of Indifference Alberto Moravia 1929 Italian Italian
1230 Songs of Innocence and Experience William Blake 1789 British English
1249 The White Devil John Webster 1612 British English
1254 Death and the Dervish Meša Selimović 1966 Bosnian Serbo-croatian
1257 Lives of the Caesars Suetonius 121 Roman Latin
1260 The President Miguel Angel Asturias 1946 Guatemalan Spanish
1280 The Death of Artemio Cruz Carlos Fuentes 1962 Mexican Spanish
1282 The Plum in the Golden Vase Unknown 1610 Chinese Chinese
1293 Salem's Lot Stephen King 1975 American English
1317 To Each His Own Leonardo Sciascia 1966 Italian Italian
1322 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
1390 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
1407 The Golovlyov Family Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin 1880 Russian Russian
1419 The Viceroys Federico De Roberto 1894 Italian Italian
1491 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
1495 Behind the Beautiful Forevers Katherine Boo 2012 American English
1502 The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born Ayi K. Armah 1968 Ghanaian English
1505 The Famished Road Ben Okri 1991 Nigerian English
1521 The Robbers Friedrich Schiller 1781 German German
1600 On the Edge of Reason Miroslav Krleža 1938 Croatian Croatian
1635 The Autumn of the Patriarch Gabriel García Márquez 1975 Colombian Spanish
1639 No Orchids for Miss Blandish James Hadley Chase 1939 British English
1640 The Asphalt Jungle W. R. Burnett 1949 American English
1648 Wizard of the Crow Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 2006 Kenyan English
1665 The House of Ulloa Emilia Pardo Bazán 1886 Spanish Spanish
1679 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
1691 Cat Country Lao She 1932 Chinese Chinese
1699 That Awful Mess On Via Merulana Carlo Emilio Gadda 1957 Italian Italian
1720 The Lady In The Lake Raymond Chandler 1943 American English
1725 A Harlot High And Low Honoré de Balzac 1839 French French
1732 The Government Inspector Nikolai Gogol 1836 Russian Russian
1742 A Tale Of A Tub Jonathan Swift 1704 British English
1820 Fontamara Ignazio Silone 1933 Italian Italian
1834 Histories Cornelius Tacitus 100 Roman Latin
1847 The Little Sister Raymond Chandler 1949 American English
1849 Z Vassilis Vassilikos 1967 Greek Greek
1865 Elmer Gantry Sinclair Lewis 1927 American English
1901 The Power Broker Robert Caro 1974 American English
1927 Stories of Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Gogol 1831 Russian Russian
1930 Killing Floor Lee Child 1997 British English
1947 Shame Salman Rushdie 1983 British English
1948 The Cadaver Of Gideon Wyck Alexander Laing 1934 American English
1965 A Flag For Sunrise Robert Stone 1981 American English
2007 King Ubu Alfred Jarry 1896 French French
2068 The Black Dahlia James Ellroy 1987 American English
2135 Cop Hater Ed McBain 1956 American English
2181 The Little Demon Fedor Sologub 1907 Russian Russian
2187 No One Writes to the Colonel Gabriel García Márquez 1961 Colombian Spanish
2189 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
2190 Les Tragiques Agrippa d'Aubigné 1616 French French
2214 The Threepenny Opera Bertolt Brecht 1928 German German
2291 The Big Nowhere James Ellroy 1988 American English
2326 What a Carve Up! Jonathan Coe 1994 British English
2393 Satantango László Krasznahorkai 1985 Hungarian Hungarian
2429 The Intuitionist Colson Whitehead 1999 American English
2441 A Rage In Harlem Chester Himes 1957 American English
2453 Black Mischief Evelyn Waugh 1932 British English
2484 The Firm John Grisham 1991 American English
2516 L.A. Confidential James Ellroy 1990 American English
2532 Day Of The Owl Leonardo Sciascia 1961 Italian Italian
2560 Pharaoh Bolesław Prus 1895 Polish Polish
2631 The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Bertolt Brecht 1941 German German
2647 Hurricane Season Fernanda Melchor 2017 Mexican Spanish
2681 El Día Del Watusi Francisco Casavella 2002 Spanish Spanish
2813 Matigari Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1987 Kenyan Gikuyu
2896 Teahouse Lao She 1957 Chinese Chinese