The Greatest Books of All Time on Democracy

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
229 Democracy in America Alexis de Tocqueville 1835 French French
1881 The Machiavellians James Burnham 1943 American English
2071 The Age of Reform Richard Hofstadter 1955 American English
2419 The Age of Jackson Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr 1945 American English
3406 The Great Indian Novel Shashi Tharoor 1989 Indian English
3491 Democracy and Leadership Irving Babbitt 1924 American English
3609 The Knights Aristophanes -424 Greek Ancient greek
3953 The End of History and the Last Man Francis Fukuyama 1992 American English
4365 The Anatomy Of A Moment Javier Cercas 2009 Spanish Spanish
5097 Where Do We Go From Here Martin Luther King 1967 American English
6175 Philosophy and Civilization John Dewey 1931 American English
6374 The Promise of American Life Herbert Croly 1909 American English
6995 Contours of American History William Appleman Williams 1961 American English
7034 Democracy And Power In An American City Robert Dahl 1961 American English
7047 The Making of the President, 1960 Theodore White 1961 American English
7216 Specimen Days Walt Whitman 1882 American English
7216 It Can't Happen Here Sinclair Lewis 1935 American English
7931 Four Essays On Liberty Isaiah Berlin 1969 British English
8279 The Authoritarian Dynamic Karen Stenner 2005 American English
8573 Fear Itself Ira Katznelson 2013 American English
9220 On Tyranny Timothy Snyder 2017 American English
9619 Give Us The Ballot Ari Berman 2015 American English
9636 The Future Of Democracy Norberto Bobbio 1984 Italian Italian
9774 Democracy For Realists Christopher H. Achen, Larry Bartels 2016 American English
9859 Democratic Vistas Walt Whitman 1871 American English
10063 Die Totalitäre Erfahrung Karl Dietrich Bracher 1987 German German
10081 One Person, No Vote Carol Anderson 2018 American English
10081 To Shape A New World Tommie Shelby, Brandon M. Terry 2018 American English
11529 Selected Speeches Demosthenes, Robin Waterfield -322 Greek Greek
11663 The Assassins’ Gate George Packer 2005 American English
11663 Walt Whitman Justin Kaplan 1980 American English
11663 Walt Whitman Paul Zweig 1984 American English
11663 A Machine That Would Go Of Itself Michael Kammen 1987 American English
11941 Whitman Emory Holloway 1926 American English
12326 American Scripture Pauline Maier 1997 American English
12470 And The Pursuit Of Happiness Maira Kalman 2010 American English
14360 Why We're Polarized Ezra Klein 2020 American English
14650 The Myth Of The Strong Leader Archie Brown 2014 British English
14834 Identity Francis Fukuyama 2018 American English
14899 The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution Bernard Bailyn 1967 American English
14985 Adults in the Room Yanis Varoufakis 2017 Greek English
14985 The Battle For Spain Antony Beevor 2006 British English
15916 The Shame Of The Cities Lincoln Steffens 1904 American English
15916 In Defence Of Politics Bernard Crick 1962 British English
17162 Walter Lippmann and the American Century Ronald Steel 1980 American English
17162 The People's Choice Herbert Agar 1933 American English
17162 The Disruption of American Democracy Roy Franklin Nichols 1948 American English
17162 Parliament of Whores P. J. O'Rourke 1991 American English
17162 How Democracies Perish Jean François Revel 1983 French French
17162 How Democracies Die Steven Levitsky 2018 American English
17162 Twilight Of Democracy Anne Applebaum 2020 American English