The Greatest Drama Books of All Time

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
3136 Mother's Milk Edward St Aubyn 2005 British English
3141 Als Wär’s Ein Stück Von Mir Carl Zuckmayer 1966 German German
3149 Chronicles Jean Froissart 1370 French Middle french
3156 The Honorary Consul Graham Greene 1973 British English
3158 The Flounder Günter Grass 1977 German German
3159 Nine Princes In Amber Roger Zelazny 1970 American English
3161 Weights And Measures Joseph Roth 1937 Austrian German
3163 Fierce Attachments Vivian Gornick 1987 American English
3169 North Seamus Heaney 1975 Irish English
3170 Hitchcock Francois Truffaut 1966 French French
3172 The Bee Sting Paul Murray 2023 Irish English
3180 Flight Behavior Barbara Kingsolver 2012 American English
3182 Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead Tom Stoppard 1966 British English
3186 The Quest For Corvo A. J. A. Symons 1934 British English
3206 The Prize Daniel Yergin 1991 American English
3220 The American Cinema Andrew Sarris 1968 American English
3226 Much Ado about Nothing William Shakespeare 1600 British English
3236 The Radiant Way Margaret Drabble 1987 British English
3238 The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson 2000 American English
3249 A Distant Mirror Barbara Wertheim Tuchman 1978 American English
3263 The Selected Works of Cesare Pavese Cesare Pavese 1968 Italian Italian
3266 Old Mortality Sir Walter Scott 1816 Scottish English
3272 The Luminaries Eleanor Catton 2013 New Zealand English
3273 Bohemian Lights Ramón del Valle-Inclán 1920 Spanish Spanish
3276 The Complete Plays of Jean Racine Jean Racine 1677 French French
3280 Before Night Falls Reinaldo Arenas 1992 Cuban Spanish
3284 What Is Life? Erwin Schrödinger 1944 Austrian English
3292 Bérénice Jean Racine 1670 French French
3303 The Cocktail Party T. S. Eliot 1950 British English
3306 Henry IV, Part I William Shakespeare 1597 British English
3324 Thomas of Reading, Or, The Sixe Worthie Yeomen of the West Thomas Deloney 1599 British English
3324 Love in Excess; or, The Fatal Enquiry Eliza Haywood 1719 British English
3324 The Female Quixote Charlotte Lennox 1752 British English
3324 King Lear of the Steppes Ivan Turgenev 1870 Russian Russian
3324 Torrents of Spring Ivan Turgenev 1872 Russian Russian
3324 Pepita Jimenez Juan Valera y Alcalá-Galiano 1874 Spanish Spanish
3324 Compassion Benito Pérez Galdós 1897 Spanish Spanish
3324 None but the Brave Arthur Schnitzler 1895 Austrian German
3324 The Green Hat Michael Arlen 1924 British English
3324 Retreat Without Song Shahan Shahnur 1929 Armenian Armenian
3324 I Thought of Daisy Edmund Wilson 1929 American English
3324 Monica Saunders Lewis 1930 British Welsh
3324 To the North Elizabeth Bowen 1932 British English
3324 A Day Off Storm Jameson 1933 British English
3324 The Living and the Dead Patrick White 1941 Australian English
3324 House in the Uplands Erskine Caldwell 1946 American English
3324 A Day in Spring Ciril Kosmač 1953 Slovenian Slovene
3324 Forever a Stranger Hella S. Haasse 1949 Dutch Dutch
3376 Le Cid Pierre Corneille 1637 French French
3391 Napoleon Emil Ludwig 1926 German German
3391 Los Gozos Y Las Sombras Gonzalo Torrente Ballester 1957 Spanish Spanish
3418 Plays Pierre Corneille 1641 French French
3443 Transit Rachel Cusk 2016 British English
3449 The Satin Slipper Paul Claudel 1929 French French
3457 Hamlet, Revenge! Michael Innes 1937 British English
3458 The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams 1944 American English
3462 To The Is Land Janet Frame 1957 New Zealand English
3471 The Armada Garrett Mattingly 1959 American English
3495 The Return Of Martin Guerre Natalie Zemon Davis 1983 Unknown English
3504 Heavy Wings Jie Zhang 1981 Chinese Chinese
3507 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
3508 Joe Cinque's Consolation Helen Garner 2004 Australian English
3533 The Birthday Party Harold Pinter 1958 British English
3536 The Death of Woman Wang MMP Jonathan Spence 1978 American English
3537 Amelia Henry Fielding 1751 British English
3547 Samuel Johnson Walter Jackson Bate 1977 American English
3552 The Revolt Of The Cockroach People Oscar Zeta Acosta 1973 American English
3555 Tragedy At Law Cyril Hare 1942 British English
3562 Charming Billy Alice McDermott 1998 American English
3573 Notes from No Man's Land Eula Biss 2009 American English
3578 Mercy Of A Rude Stream Henry Roth 1994 American English
3586 The Complete Writings of Alfred de Musset Alfred de Musset 1907 French French
3588 The First Man Albert Camus 1994 French French
3596 The Third Wedding Kōstas Tachtsēs 1962 Greek Greek
3602 Celtic Tales Hugo Pratt 1980 Italian Italian
3624 The Lost Salt Gift Of Blood Alistair MacLeod 1976 Canadian English
3630 The Happy Island Dawn Powell 1938 American English
3637 The Battle with the Slum Jacob A. Riis 1902 Danish English
3637 On Sunday Morning She Gathered Herbs Olha Kobylianska 1909 Ukrainian Ukrainian
3637 The Works Of John Dryden John Dryden 1808 British English
3637 The Rivals Richard Brinsley Sheridan 1775 Irish English
3637 Van Loon's Lives Hendrik Willem van Loon 1942 Dutch English
3637 Leviathan Julien Green 1929 French French
3637 The Poor Musician Franz Grillparzer 1848 Austrian German
3637 The Marquise Of O Heinrich von Kleist 1808 German German
3637 Scenes Of Bohemian Life Henri Murger 1845 French French
3637 The Criminal Of Lost Honor Friedrich Schiller 1786 German German
3637 Cavalleria Rusticana Giovanni Verga 1896 Italian Italian
3637 Everyman Hugo von Hofmannsthal 1911 Austrian German
3637 The Captain Of Köpenick Carl Zuckmayer 1931 German German
3802 Manon des sources Marcel Pagnol 1963 French French
3805 The Miser Molière 1668 French French
3813 Henry IV, Part II William Shakespeare 1600 British English
3827 Cloudstreet Tim Winton 1991 Australian English
3829 This Above All Eric Knight 1941 British English
3840 Country Of Origin E. du Perron 1935 Dutch Dutch
3845 Troubling Love Elena Ferrante 1992 Italian Italian
3859 This Side of Paradise F. Scott Fitzgerald 1920 American English
3860 Ethiopia Unbound J. E. Casely Hayford 1911 Ghanaian English
3860 Native Life In South Africa Sol Plaatje 1916 South African English
3872 The Beautiful and Damned F. Scott Fitzgerald 1922 American English
3875 We Need To Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver 2003 American English
3882 Woe From Wit Alexander Griboyedov 1825 Russian Russian
3885 Collected Plays John Millington Synge 1935 Irish English
3892 Beauty On Earth Charles Ferdinand Ramuz 1927 French French
3899 Groot Lied Boeck G. A. Bredero 1622 Dutch Dutch
3902 Cities of the Plain Cormac McCarthy 1998 American English
3918 Fences August Wilson 1985 American English
3921 She Stoops to Conquer Oliver Goldsmith 1773 British English
3923 The Coldest Winter Ever Sister Souljah 1999 American English
3925 Half of Man is Woman Zhang Xianliang 1985 Chinese Chinese
3929 Abele Spelen Unknown 1350 Unknown Unknown
3948 Top Girls Caryl Churchill 1982 British English
3952 Η κάθοδος των εννιά Thanassis Valtinos 1963 Greek Greek
3952 Modern Greek Stories Georgios Vizyinos 1883 Greek Greek
3952 My Mother's Sin Georgios Vizyinos 1883 Greek Greek
3952 A Prisoner Of War’s Story Stratis Doukas 1929 Greek Greek
3952 Η Τιμη Και Το Χρημα Konstantinos Theotokis 1914 Greek Greek
3952 Freedom Or Death Nikos Kazantzakis 1953 Greek Greek
3952 Η Αυλή των Θαυμάτων Iakovos Kambanellis 1962 Greek Greek