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
1600 The Unfortunate Traveller Thomas Nashe 1594 British English
1601 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
1708 The Clown Heinrich Böll 1963 German German
1712 Woyzeck Georg Buchner 1879 German German
1732 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
2020 The Berlin Stories Christopher Isherwood 1945 British English
2032 History Of The Reformation In Germany Leopold von Ranke 1834 German German
2032 Cosmos Alexander von Humboldt 1845 German German
2032 The History Of Rome Theodor Mommsen 1854 German German
2032 Gedanken Und Erinnerungen Otto von Bismarck 1898 German German
2088 A German Officer in Occupied Paris Ernst Jünger 1949 German German
2115 All Souls' Day Cees Nooteboom 1998 Dutch Dutch
2117 Siebenkäs Jean Paul 1796 German German
2117 The Treasure Chest Johann Peter Hebel 1811 German German
2134 I Will Bear Witness Victor Klemperer 1995 German German
2146 Cryptonomicon Neal Stephenson 1999 American English
2152 Conversations Of Goethe With Johann Peter Eckermann Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann 1836 German German
2203 The Kindly Ones Jonathan Littell 2006 French French
2205 The Quest for Christa T. Christa Wolf 1968 German German
2215 The Lake of the Bees Theodor Storm 1849 German German
2223 The Theory And Practice Of Hell Eugen Kogon 1950 German German
2237 Billiards at Half-Past Nine Heinrich Böll 1959 German German
2246 Poems Of Gottfried Benn Gottfried Benn 1948 German German
2250 Emil And The Detectives Erich Kästner 1929 German German
2285 Smiley's People John le Carré 1979 British English
2287 The Cloister and the Hearth Charles Reade 1861 British English
2315 Ship Of Fools Katherine Anne Porter 1962 American English
2374 The Tales Of Hoffmann E. T. A. Hoffmann 1814 German German
2382 The Will To Power Friedrich Nietzsche 1901 German German
2390 It Can't Always Be Caviar Johannes Mario Simmel 1960 Austrian German
2481 The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich William L. Shirer 1960 American English
2489 Measuring the World Daniel Kehlmann 2005 German German
2500 Psychopathia Sexualis Richard von Krafft-Ebing 1886 German German
2516 The New Sorrows of Young W. Ulrich Plenzdorf 1972 German German
2518 Hippolytus Euripides -428 Greek Ancient greek
2550 Stories Heinrich von Kleist 1810 German German
2561 The Human Condition Hannah Arendt 1958 German English
2564 The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology Edmund Husserl 1936 German German
2635 Logical Investigations Edmund Husserl 1900 German German
2639 Fatherland Robert Harris 1992 British English
2643 Perpetual Peace Immanuel Kant 1795 German German
2649 Gemini Michel Tournier 1975 French French
2664 Debit And Credit Gustav Freytag 1855 German German
2726 The Discovery Of Slowness Sten Nadolny 1983 German German
2737 Philosophical Writings Novalis 1798 German German
2752 Struwwelpeter, Or, Merry Rhymes and Funny Pictures... Heinrich Hoffmann 1845 German German
2752 Mephisto Klaus Mann 1936 German German
2751 Decisive Moments in History Stefan Zweig 1927 Austrian German
2749 Physica Hildegard of Bingen 1150 German Latin
2748 Poor Henry Hartmann von Aue 1190 German Middle high german
2752 Fabian Erich Kästner 1931 German German
2772 The Twilight of the Idols and The Antichrist Friedrich Nietzsche 1888 German German
2774 Max And Moritz Wilhelm Busch 1865 German German
2777 Helmbrecht Wernher der Gartenaere 1250 German Middle high german
2776 Gedichte Walther von der Vogelweide 1200 German Middle high german
2780 Lay Down Your Arms! Bertha von Suttner 1889 Austrian German
2790 The Weavers Gerhart Hauptmann 1892 German German
2786 The Philosophy Of Symbolic Forms Ernst Cassirer 1929 German German
2789 A Cultural History Of The Modern Age Egon Friedell 1927 Austrian English
2785 Märchenalmanach Auf Das Jahr 1828 Wilhelm Hauff 1827 German German
2792 The Island Of Second Sight Albert Vigoleis Thelen 1953 German English
2793 Dog Years Günter Grass 1963 German German
2795 The Eagle Has Landed Jack Higgins 1975 British English
2798 The Theory Of Communicative Action Jürgen Habermas 1981 German German
2827 Lottie And Lisa Erich Kästner 1949 German German
2835 The Luzhin Defense Vladimir Nabokov 1930 Russian Russian
2849 The Museum of Unconditional Surrender Dubravka Ugrešić 1997 Croatian Croatian
2862 The Sorcerer's Apprentice Hanns Heinz Ewers 1910 German German
2884 Physics And Beyond Werner Heisenberg 1971 German German
2897 Speculations About Jakob Uwe Johnson 1959 German German
2924 The African Queen C. S. Forester 1935 British English
2938 Jauche Und Levkojen Christine Brückner 1975 German German
2939 Dracula's Guest Bram Stoker 1914 British English
2939 Tales Of A Traveller Washington Irving 1824 American English
2990 The Robber Hotzenplotz Otfried Preußler 1962 German German
2993 A Book Of Memories Péter Nádas 1986 Hungarian Hungarian
3022 The Memoirs Of Barry Lyndon William Makepeace Thackeray 1844 British English
3042 The Great Impersonation E. Phillips Oppenheim 1920 British English
3087 Summer in Baden-Baden Leonid Tsypkin 1980 Russian Russian
3109 Beyond Good and Evil Friedrich Nietzsche 1886 German German
3141 Als Wär’s Ein Stück Von Mir Carl Zuckmayer 1966 German German
3158 The Flounder Günter Grass 1977 German German
3193 The Aesthetics Of Resistance Peter Weiss 1975 German German
3222 Ecce Homo Friedrich Nietzsche 1908 German German
3224 Forever Flowing Vasily Grossman 1970 Russian Russian
3233 The Books Of Jacob Olga Tokarczuk 2014 Polish Polish
3243 Death Is My Trade Robert Merle 1952 French French
3264 Die Reise Bernward Vesper 1977 German German
3270 The Twins Tessa De Loo 1993 Dutch Dutch
3299 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