The Greatest Books of All Time Set in Germany

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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
1539 On the Genealogy of Morality Friedrich Nietzsche 1887 German German
1540 Decline of the West Oswald Spengler 1918 German German
1570 The Young Lions Irwin Shaw 1948 American English
1578 The Cement Garden Ian McEwan 1978 British English
1580 The Struggle for Europe Chester Wilmot 1952 British English
1581 The Civilizing Process Norbert Elias 1939 German German
1588 The Guns of August Barbara Wertheim Tuchman 1962 American English
1590 Germania Cornelius Tacitus 98 Roman Latin
1599 The Unfortunate Traveller Thomas Nashe 1594 British English
1600 Three Treatises Martin Luther 1520 German German
1621 Good-Bye to All That Robert Graves 1929 British English
1630 Halbzeit Martin Walser 1960 German German
1638 Postwar Tony Judt 2005 British English
1653 The Loyal Subject Heinrich Mann 1918 German German
1654 O Pioneers! Willa Cather 1913 American English
1657 Essays and Aphorisms Arthur Schopenhauer 1851 German German
1660 The Waste Books Georg Christoph Lichtenberg 1770 German German
1711 Woyzeck Georg Buchner 1879 German German
1717 The Clown Heinrich Böll 1963 German German
1733 Zen In The Art Of Archery Eugen Herrigel 1948 German German
1745 Couples, Passersby Botho Strauß 1981 German German
1750 The Making of the Atomic Bomb Richard Rhodes 1986 American English
1791 Confessions Of Felix Krull, Confidence Man Thomas Mann 1954 German German
1811 A Time Of Gifts Patrick Leigh Fermor 1977 British English
1850 On Germany Germaine de Staël 1810 French French
1850 The Jew's Beech Annette von Droste-Hülshoff 1842 German German
1916 Group Portrait with Lady Heinrich Böll 1971 German German
1923 The Conquest Of Gaul Gaius Julius Caesar -51 Roman Latin
1943 The Pursuit of the Millennium Norman Cohn 1957 British English
1961 Demian Hermann Hesse 1919 German German
1966 Truth And Method Hans-Georg Gadamer 1960 German German
1967 Leviathan Arno Schmidt 1949 German German
1973 The Invisible Man H. G. Wells 1897 British English
2019 The Berlin Stories Christopher Isherwood 1945 British English
2031 History Of The Reformation In Germany Leopold von Ranke 1834 German German
2031 Cosmos Alexander von Humboldt 1845 German German
2031 The History Of Rome Theodor Mommsen 1854 German German
2031 Gedanken Und Erinnerungen Otto von Bismarck 1898 German German
2087 A German Officer in Occupied Paris Ernst Jünger 1949 German German
2114 All Souls' Day Cees Nooteboom 1998 Dutch Dutch
2116 Siebenkäs Jean Paul 1796 German German
2116 The Treasure Chest Johann Peter Hebel 1811 German German
2133 I Will Bear Witness Victor Klemperer 1995 German German
2145 Cryptonomicon Neal Stephenson 1999 American English
2151 Conversations Of Goethe With Johann Peter Eckermann Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann 1836 German German
2202 The Kindly Ones Jonathan Littell 2006 French French
2204 The Quest for Christa T. Christa Wolf 1968 German German
2214 The Lake of the Bees Theodor Storm 1849 German German
2222 The Theory And Practice Of Hell Eugen Kogon 1950 German German
2236 Billiards at Half-Past Nine Heinrich Böll 1959 German German
2245 Poems Of Gottfried Benn Gottfried Benn 1948 German German
2249 Emil And The Detectives Erich Kästner 1929 German German
2284 Smiley's People John le Carré 1979 British English
2286 The Cloister and the Hearth Charles Reade 1861 British English
2314 Ship Of Fools Katherine Anne Porter 1962 American English
2372 The Tales Of Hoffmann E. T. A. Hoffmann 1814 German German
2380 The Will To Power Friedrich Nietzsche 1901 German German
2388 It Can't Always Be Caviar Johannes Mario Simmel 1960 Austrian German
2479 The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich William L. Shirer 1960 American English
2487 Measuring the World Daniel Kehlmann 2005 German German
2498 Psychopathia Sexualis Richard von Krafft-Ebing 1886 German German
2514 The New Sorrows of Young W. Ulrich Plenzdorf 1972 German German
2516 Hippolytus Euripides -428 Greek Ancient greek
2547 Stories Heinrich von Kleist 1810 German German
2560 The Human Condition Hannah Arendt 1958 German English
2563 The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology Edmund Husserl 1936 German German
2634 Logical Investigations Edmund Husserl 1900 German German
2638 Fatherland Robert Harris 1992 British English
2642 Perpetual Peace Immanuel Kant 1795 German German
2648 Gemini Michel Tournier 1975 French French
2663 Debit And Credit Gustav Freytag 1855 German German
2725 The Discovery Of Slowness Sten Nadolny 1983 German German
2736 Philosophical Writings Novalis 1798 German German
2750 Struwwelpeter, Or, Merry Rhymes and Funny Pictures... Heinrich Hoffmann 1845 German German
2750 Mephisto Klaus Mann 1936 German German
2766 Decisive Moments in History Stefan Zweig 1927 Austrian German
2749 Physica Hildegard of Bingen 1150 German Latin
2747 Poor Henry Hartmann von Aue 1190 German Middle high german
2750 Fabian Erich Kästner 1931 German German
2771 The Twilight of the Idols and The Antichrist Friedrich Nietzsche 1888 German German
2773 Max And Moritz Wilhelm Busch 1865 German German
2776 Helmbrecht Wernher der Gartenaere 1250 German Middle high german
2775 Gedichte Walther von der Vogelweide 1200 German Middle high german
2778 Lay Down Your Arms! Bertha von Suttner 1889 Austrian German
2789 The Weavers Gerhart Hauptmann 1892 German German
2785 The Philosophy Of Symbolic Forms Ernst Cassirer 1929 German German
2787 A Cultural History Of The Modern Age Egon Friedell 1927 Austrian English
2784 Märchenalmanach Auf Das Jahr 1828 Wilhelm Hauff 1827 German German
2790 The Island Of Second Sight Albert Vigoleis Thelen 1953 German English
2791 Dog Years Günter Grass 1963 German German
2793 The Eagle Has Landed Jack Higgins 1975 British English
2796 The Theory Of Communicative Action Jürgen Habermas 1981 German German
2825 Lottie And Lisa Erich Kästner 1949 German German
2833 The Luzhin Defense Vladimir Nabokov 1930 Russian Russian
2846 The Museum of Unconditional Surrender Dubravka Ugrešić 1997 Croatian Croatian
2859 The Sorcerer's Apprentice Hanns Heinz Ewers 1910 German German
2882 Physics And Beyond Werner Heisenberg 1971 German German
2895 Speculations About Jakob Uwe Johnson 1959 German German
2922 The African Queen C. S. Forester 1935 British English
2936 Jauche Und Levkojen Christine Brückner 1975 German German
2937 Dracula's Guest Bram Stoker 1914 British English
2937 Tales Of A Traveller Washington Irving 1824 American English
2988 The Robber Hotzenplotz Otfried Preußler 1962 German German
2991 A Book Of Memories Péter Nádas 1986 Hungarian Hungarian
3019 The Memoirs Of Barry Lyndon William Makepeace Thackeray 1844 British English
3039 The Great Impersonation E. Phillips Oppenheim 1920 British English
3085 Summer in Baden-Baden Leonid Tsypkin 1980 Russian Russian
3108 Beyond Good and Evil Friedrich Nietzsche 1886 German German
3140 Als Wär’s Ein Stück Von Mir Carl Zuckmayer 1966 German German
3157 The Flounder Günter Grass 1977 German German
3192 The Aesthetics Of Resistance Peter Weiss 1975 German German
3221 Ecce Homo Friedrich Nietzsche 1908 German German
3223 Forever Flowing Vasily Grossman 1970 Russian Russian
3232 The Books Of Jacob Olga Tokarczuk 2014 Polish Polish
3242 Death Is My Trade Robert Merle 1952 French French
3263 Die Reise Bernward Vesper 1977 German German
3269 The Twins Tessa De Loo 1993 Dutch Dutch
3298 The Gallic War And Other Writings Gaius Julius Caesar -58 Roman Latin
3307 The Amber Witch Wilhelm Meinhold 1838 German German
3323 Confusion Stefan Zweig 1927 Austrian German