The Greatest Books of All Time on Heroism

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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
8 Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes 1605 Spanish Spanish
17 The Lord Of The Rings J. R. R. Tolkien 1959 English English
24 The Odyssey Homer -740 Greek Ancient greek
33 Catch-22 Joseph Heller 1961 American English
70 The Aeneid Virgil -19 Roman Latin
146 The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien 1937 British English
264 The Epic Of Gilgamesh Unknown -2100 Multiple Akkadian
314 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon 2000 American English
334 Parallel Lives Plutarch 100 Greek Greek
481 The Lusiad Luís Vaz Camões 1572 Portuguese Portuguese
552 The Red Badge of Courage Stephen Crane 1895 American English
669 Beowulf Unknown 1000 Unknown Old english
699 The Nibelungenlied Unknown 1200 German Middle high german
707 Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson 1830 British English
779 The Outsiders S. E. Hinton 1967 American English
802 Romance of the Three Kingdoms Guanzhong Luo 1400 Chinese Chinese
810 Amadis of Gaul Garci R. de Montalvo 1508 Spanish Spanish
927 Cat and Mouse Günter Grass 1961 German German
951 A Princess Of Mars Edgar Rice Burroughs 1912 American English
972 The Orlando Furioso Lodovico Ariosto 1516 Italian Italian
991 Macunaíma Mario de Andrade 1928 Brazilian Portuguese
1053 The Kalevala Elias Lönnrot 1835 Finnish Finnish
1091 Shahnameh Ferdowsi 1010 Iranian Persian
1124 Ajax Sophocles -440 Greek Ancient greek
1125 Philoctetes Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
1126 Women of Trachis Sophocles -450 Greek Ancient greek
1151 The Water Margin Shi Naian 1370 Chinese Chinese
1169 The History of Mr. Polly H. G. Wells 1910 British English
1198 Lorna Doone R. D. Blackmore 1869 British English
1273 Selected Poems of Lord Byron Lord Byron 1800 British English
1284 The Faerie Queene Edmund Spenser 1590 British English
1330 The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller 2011 American English
1353 William Tell Friedrich Schiller 1804 German German
1394 Soldiers of Salamis Javier Cercas 2001 Spanish Spanish
1440 The Virginian Owen Wister 1902 American English
1466 Don Juan Lord Byron 1819 British English
1544 The Poetic Edda Unknown 1270 Multiple Old norse
1611 The Song of Hiawatha Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1855 American English
1626 The Colour of Magic Terry Pratchett 1983 British English
1658 The Song of Roland Unknown 1100 French Old french
1664 Eclipse of the Crescent Moon Géza Gárdonyi 1899 Hungarian Hungarian
1708 The Guns Of Navarone Alistair MacLean 1957 British English
1805 A Hero Born Jin Yong 1957 Chinese Chinese
1831 The Swords Of Lankhmar Fritz Leiber 1968 American English
1837 Jaws Peter Benchley 1974 American English
1866 The Lion of Flanders Hendrik Conscience 1838 Belgian Dutch
1906 Red Sorghum Yan Mo 1986 Chinese Chinese
2136 Conan The Conqueror Robert E. Howard 1935 American English
2138 The Worm Ouroboros E. R. Eddison 1922 British English
2146 The Night Land William Hope Hodgson 1912 British English
2200 Death Of A Hero Richard Aldington 1929 British English
2345 The Well Of The Unicorn Fletcher Pratt 1948 American English
2431 The Einstein Intersection Samuel R. Delany 1967 American English
2433 The Scarlet Pimpernel Baroness Emmuska Orczy 1905 British English
2501 Popol Vuh Dennis Tedlock 1985 Mayan K'iche'
2624 The Hero with a Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell 1949 American English
2751 Gods And Heroes Gustav Schwab 1838 German German
2781 The Legend Of Thyl Ulenspiegel And Lamme Goedzak Charles de Coster 1867 Belgian French
2802 Stormbringer Michael Moorcock 1965 British English
2880 Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One Rick Riordan 2005 American English
2892 Silverlock John Myers Myers 1949 American English
2911 The Odyssey Nikos Kazantzakis 1938 Greek Greek
2916 Legend David Gemmell 1984 British English
2948 Redwall Brian Jacques 1986 British English
2989 The Tale Of Igor's Campaign Unknown 1187 Russian Old east slavic
3045 Three Hearts And Three Lions Poul Anderson 1953 American English
3105 Alcestis Euripides -438 Greek Ancient greek
3138 Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Ben Fountain 2012 American English
3165 Red Moon and Black Mountain Joy Chant 1970 British English
3305 The Silmarillion J. R. R. Tolkien 1977 British English
3324 Tirant Lo Blanc Joanot Martorell 1490 Spanish Catalan
3324 Sandokan Emilio Salgari 1883 Italian Italian
3442 The Summer Tree Guy Gavriel Kay 1984 Canadian English
3456 Glory Road Robert A. Heinlein 1963 American English
3543 The Dragon And The George Gordon R. Dickson 1976 American English
3558 Magician Raymond E. Feist 1982 American English
3583 Two Sought Adventure Fritz Leiber 1957 American English
3618 The Right Stuff Tom Wolfe 1979 American English
3620 Day Of The Minotaur Thomas Burnett Swann 1966 American English
3638 War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Sassoon 1919 British English
3638 The Works Of John Dryden John Dryden 1808 British English
3831 Lord Foul's Bane Stephen R. Donaldson 1977 American English
3904 The Blue Sword Robin McKinley 1982 American English
3953 Μπολιβαρ Nikos Engonopoulos 1944 Greek Greek
3953 Odes Andreas Kalvos 1824 Greek Greek
3953 The Memoirs Of General Makriyannis Makriyannis 1907 Greek Greek
3953 The Complete Works Dionysios Solomos 1818 Greek Greek
3953 The Free Besieged Dionysios Solomos 1825 Greek Greek
4074 The Bronze Horseman Alexander Pushkin 1837 Russian Russian
4218 Heracles Euripides -416 Greek Ancient greek
4268 Sevastopol Sketches Leo Tolstoy 1855 Russian Russian
4309 The Mark Of Zorro Johnston McCulley 1919 American English
4472 Nifft The Lean Michael Shea 1982 American English
4475 Soundjata Ou L'épopée Mandingue Djibril Tamsir Niane 1960 French French
4510 Out Of The Fire Ales Adamovich, Yanka Bryl, Vladimir Kolesnik 1981 Belarusian Russian
4517 The Black Cauldron Lloyd Alexander 1965 American English
4605 Swords And Deviltry Fritz Leiber 1970 American English
4667 Saint Joan George Bernard Shaw 1923 Irish English
4781 Pharsalia Lucan 61 Roman Latin
4955 Figures Of Earth James Branch Cabell 1921 American English
4992 Utenzi Wa Vita Vya Uhuru Robert Bin Shabaan 1967 Tanzanian Swahili
5149 Ilinden Dimitar Talev 1951 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5391 Jerusalem Delivered Torquato Tasso 1581 Italian Italian
5391 Selected Prose Thomas Carlyle 1800 British English
5408 Last Days of Summer Steve Kluger 1998 American English
5815 Helen Euripides -412 Greek Ancient greek
5860 The Well At The World's End William Morris 1896 British English
5906 The Warlord of Mars Edgar Rice Burroughs 1914 American English
5908 The Ring Of The Nibelung Richard Wagner 1876 German German
5913 Our Lord Don Quixote Miguel de Unamuno 1935 Spanish Spanish
5945 The Wandering Fire Guy Gavriel Kay 1986 Canadian English
5960 Swords Against Wizardry Fritz Leiber 1968 American English
5968 Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands Mary Seacole 1857 Jamaican English
6002 The Oxford Book Of English Verse Arthur Quiller-Couch 1900 British English
6075 The Darkest Road Guy Gavriel Kay 1986 Canadian English
6089 They Burn the Thistles Yaşar Kemal 1969 Turkish Turkish
6097 The History of Rome Livy -27 Roman Latin
6157 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Howard Pyle 1883 American English
6261 Shane Jack Schaefer 1949 American English
6373 The Priory Of The Orange Tree Samantha Shannon 2019 British English