The Greatest Fiction and Frontier And Pioneer Life Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 488 '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
34 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain 1884 American English
205 My Antonia Willa Cather 1918 American English
299 The Call of the Wild Jack London 1903 American English
411 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain 1876 American English
520 Death Comes for the Archbishop Willa Cather 1927 American English
599 Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry 1985 American English
644 The Last of the Mohicans James Fenimore Cooper 1826 American English
717 Angle of Repose Wallace Stegner 1971 American English
723 Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder 1935 American English
825 The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 1938 American English
840 Riders of the Purple Sage Zane Grey 1912 American English
1192 Cold Mountain Charles Frazier 1997 American English
1203 White Fang Jack London 1906 American English
1367 The Emigrants Vilhelm Moberg 1949 Swedish Swedish
1545 Train Dreams Denis Johnson 2002 American English
1843 O Pioneers! Willa Cather 1913 American English
1980 The Prairie James Fenimore Cooper 1827 American English
2071 The Track Of The Cat Walter Van Tilburg Clark 1949 American English
2433 Little House In The Big Woods Laura Ingalls Wilder 1932 American English
2526 Close Range Annie Proulx 1999 American English
2568 Welcome To Hard Times E. L. Doctorow 1960 American English
2999 Giants in the Earth Ole Edvart Rolvaag 1927 Norwegian Norwegian
3096 Remembering Babylon David Malouf 1993 Australian English
3311 Patience And Sarah Isabel Miller 1969 American English
3372 The Crossing Cormac McCarthy 1994 American English
3419 The Good Lord Bird James McBride 2013 American English
3457 The Hidden Hand Or, Capitola The Madcap E. D. E. N. Southworth 1859 American English
3472 Hope Leslie; Or, Early Times In The Massachusetts Catharine Maria Sedgwick 1827 American English
3493 Call Home The Heart Olive Tilford Dargan 1932 American English
3493 A New Home, Who'll Follow? Caroline M. Kirkland 1839 American English
3493 Purple Springs Nellie L. McClung 1921 Canadian English
3493 Ramona Helen Hunt Jackson 1884 American English
3534 Swamp Angel Ethel Wilson 1954 Canadian English
3649 Old Times On The Mississippi Mark Twain 1876 American English
3664 Virgin River Robyn Carr 2007 American English
3999 The Dollmaker Harriette Arnow 1954 American English
4439 Centennial James A. Michener 1974 American English
5130 The Virginian Owen Wister 1902 American English
5173 Days Without End Sebastian Barry 2016 Irish English
5238 Cities of the Plain Cormac McCarthy 1998 American English
5272 Leaving Cheyenne Larry McMurtry 1963 American English
5450 The Outlander Gil Adamson 2007 Canadian English
5590 The Englishman's Boy Guy Vanderhaeghe 1996 Canadian English
5707 School At The Frontier Géza Ottlik 1959 Hungarian Hungarian
5813 The Education of Little Tree Forrest Carter 1976 American English
5883 A Lost Lady Willa Cather 1923 American English
5903 Yes Is Better Than No Byrd Baylor 1977 American English
5993 One of Ours Willa Cather 1922 American English
6719 Dalva Jim Harrison 1988 American English
6872 Bird Courtney Collins 2012 Australian English
7261 Half Broke Horses Jeannette Walls 2009 American English
7261 Little Heathens Mildred Armstrong Kalish 2007 American English
7631 Christy Catherine Marshall 1967 American English
8253 Red Prophet Orson Scott Card 1988 American English
8397 Prentice Alvin Orson Scott Card 1989 American English
8581 Follow the River James Alexander Thom 1981 American English
8592 The Foxes Of Harrow Frank Yerby 1946 American English
8876 Rolf In The Woods Ernest Thompson Seton 1911 American English
8906 Ganado Red Susan Lowell 1993 American English
Butcher's Crossing John Williams 1960 American English
9204 Stone Fox John Reynolds Gardiner 1980 American English
9207 Once Upon An Eskimo Time Edna Wilder 2009 American English
9526 Go in Beauty William Eastlake 1956 American English
9559 In The Distance Hernan Díaz 2017 American English
9703 The Bronc People William Eastlake 1958 American English
9706 The Tie That Binds Kent Haruf 1984 American English
10550 The Complete Short Stories of Jack London Jack London 1993 American English
10626 Inland Téa Obreht 2019 American English
11170 Laughing Boy Oliver La Farge 1929 American English
11228 Dominion Calvin Baker 2006 American English
11539 The Able McLaughlins Margaret Wilson 1923 American English
11539 Lamb in His Bosom Caroline Miller 1933 American English
11539 Honey in the Horn Harold L. Davis 1935 American English
11539 The Way West A. B. Guthrie 1949 American English
11539 The Town Conrad Richter 1950 American English
11539 The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters Robert Lewis Taylor 1958 American English
11671 Shadow Country Peter Matthiessen 2008 American English
11425 The Pioneers James Fenimore Cooper 1823 American English
11480 The Pathfinder James Fenimore Cooper 1840 American English
13110 The Tenderness of Wolves Stef Penney 2006 British English
12987 Shane Jack Schaefer 1949 American English
13343 The Ox Bow Incident Walter Van Tilburg Clark 1940 American English
13497 The Deerslayer James Fenimore Cooper 1841 American English
13386 The Big Sky A. B. Guthrie 1947 American English
14222 On The Banks Of Plum Creek Laura Ingalls Wilder 1937 American English
14231 Caddie Woodlawn Carol Ryrie Brink 1935 American English
14273 The Long Winter Laura Ingalls Wilder 1940 American English
14282 By The Shores Of Silver Lake Laura Ingalls Wilder 1939 American English
14334 These Happy Golden Years Laura Ingalls Wilder 1943 American English
14352 Little Town On The Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder 1941 American English
14371 The Cowboy And The Cossack Clair Huffaker 1973 American English
14371 Rabbit Boss Thomas Sanchez 1973 American English
14371 Little Big Man Thomas Berger 1964 American English
14371 Hondo Louis L'Amour 1953 American English
14371 Fools Crow James Welch 1986 American English
14311 Paso Por Aqui Eugene Manlove Rhodes 1926 American English
14371 A Distant Trumpet Paul Horgan 1960 American English
14371 The Living Annie Dillard 1992 American English
14371 Barkskins Annie Proulx 2016 American English
14371 Eben Holden Irving Bacheller 1900 American English
14371 Vandemark's Folly Herbert Quick 1922 American English
14371 A Certain Rich Man William Allen White 1909 American English
14371 Maria Chapdelaine Louis Hémon 1913 French French
14371 The Covered Wagon Emerson Hough 1922 American English
14371 The Shepherd Of The Hills Harold Bell Wright 1907 American English
14371 The Alaskan James Oliver Curwood 1923 American English
14371 To Have And To Hold Mary Johnston 1900 American English
14371 The Man From Glengarry Ralph Connor 1901 Canadian English
14371 The Blazed Trail Stewart Edward White 1902 American English
14371 Jernbane Eposet Sara Lidman 1977 Swedish Swedish