The Greatest Books of All Time on History

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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
557 The Souls of Black Folk W. E. B. Du Bois 1903 American English
558 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Dee Alexander Brown 1970 American English
559 Christ Stopped at Eboli Carlo Levi 1945 Italian Italian
560 Sula Toni Morrison 1973 American English
564 Main Street Sinclair Lewis 1920 American English
574 The Known World Edward P. Jones 2003 American English
577 Anniversaries Uwe Johnson 1970 German German
580 Black Lamb and Grey Falcon Rebecca West 1941 British English
585 Tao Te Ching Lao Tsu -300 Chinese Classical chinese
588 The Pillars Of The Earth Ken Follett 1989 British English
591 Stories of Guy de Maupassant Guy de Maupassant 1880 French French
596 The History of the Peloponnesian War Thucydides -410 Greek Ancient greek
597 The Years Annie Ernaux 2008 French French
598 Night Elie Wiesel 1958 French French
601 The House of the Seven Gables Nathaniel Hawthorne 1851 American English
608 Canto General Pablo Neruda 1950 Chilean Spanish
610 Requiem Anna Akhmatova 1963 Russian Russian
613 The Persians Aeschylus -471 Greek Ancient greek
614 Facundo Domingo Faustino Sarmiento 1845 Argentinian Spanish
618 Poems of W. H. Auden W. H. Auden 1930 British English
621 Analects Confucius -479 Chinese Classical chinese
624 The Histories of Herodotus Herodotus -450 Greek Ancient greek
630 The Swindler Francisco de Quevedo 1626 Spanish Spanish
635 Johnny Got His Gun Dalton Trumbo 1939 American English
639 Reflections on the Revolution in France Edmund Burke 1790 British English
640 Black Boy Richard Wright 1945 American English
642 Testament Of Youth Vera Brittain 1933 British English
645 A Study of History Arnold J. Toynbee 1934 British English
646 The Varieties of Religious Experience William James 1902 American English
651 Manhattan Transfer John Dos Passos 1925 American English
652 Dispatches Michael Herr 1977 American English
653 Summa Theologica Thomas Aquinas 1274 Italian Latin
655 Stories of Ernest Hemingway Ernest Hemingway 1987 American English
658 Angle of Repose Wallace Stegner 1971 American English
664 Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy Joseph A. Schumpeter 1942 Austrian English
668 Rabbit Redux John Updike 1971 American English
669 Beowulf Unknown 1000 Unknown Old english
670 Persepolis Marjane Satrapi 2000 French French
682 The Open Society and Its Enemies Karl Popper 1945 British English
685 Them Joyce Carol Oates 1969 American English
688 From Here to Eternity James Jones 1951 American English
689 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin 1791 American English
693 Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder 1935 American English
697 The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald 1995 German German
701 The Feast of the Goat Mario Vargas Llosa 2000 Peruvian Spanish
705 Oroonoko Aphra Behn 1688 British English
708 Captain Hornblower R.N. C. S. Forester 1937 British English
713 The Killer Angels Michael Shaara 1974 American English
714 Encyclopedia Britannica Encyclopedia Britannica 1768 British English
716 Mein Kampf Adolf Hitler 1925 German German
715 The Sketch Book Of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Washington Irving 1819 American English
720 The Professor's House Willa Cather 1925 American English
737 The Custom of the Country Edith Wharton 1913 American English
741 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt 2013 American English
743 On Liberty John Stuart Mill 1859 British English
749 The Fire Next Time James Baldwin 1963 American English
756 The Labyrinth of Solitude Octavio Paz 1950 Mexican Spanish
768 A Glastonbury Romance John Cowper Powys 1932 British English
782 Three Men in a Boat Jerome K. Jerome 1889 British English
783 Anabasis Xenophon -390 Greek Ancient greek
787 Quotations from Chairman Mao Mao 1964 Chinese Chinese
788 Roots Alex Haley 1976 American English
799 Kaputt Curzio Malaparte 1944 Italian Italian
802 Romance of the Three Kingdoms Guanzhong Luo 1400 Chinese Chinese
806 The Story of Art Ernest H. Gombrich 1950 British English
807 The Book of the City of Ladies Christine De Pizan 1405 French French
816 The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia Samuel Johnson, Abraham Raimbach, Robert Smirke 1759 British English
829 The Road to Serfdom Friedrich von Hayek 1944 Austrian English
830 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Edward Gibbon 1776 British English
831 Riddle of the Sands Erskine Childers 1903 British English
832 The Last Of The Just André Schwarz-Bart 1959 French French
835 The Art of War Sun Tzu -500 Chinese Classical chinese
844 Civilization and Its Discontents Sigmund Freud 1930 Austrian German
848 Der Judenstaat Theodor Herzl 1896 Austro-Hungarian German
851 Essays, First And Second Series Ralph Waldo Emerson 1841 American English
853 Mc Teague Frank Norris 1899 American English
855 A Moveable Feast Ernest Hemingway 1964 American English
863 Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems Galileo 1632 Italian Italian
865 The Pillow Book Sei Shōnagon 1002 Japanese Japanese
868 Henry James Leon Edel 1953 American English
870 Economy and Society Max Weber 1922 German German
873 Call to Arms Lu Xun 1922 Chinese Chinese
881 Utopia Thomas More 1516 British Latin
885 A Tale of Love and Darkness Amos Oz 2002 Israeli Hebrew
887 Herland Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1915 American English
899 Stoner John Williams 1965 American English
900 The Poems of Sappho Sappho -569 Greek Ancient greek
903 Wild Swans Jung Chang 1991 Chinese English
905 Coming of Age in Samoa Margaret Mead 1928 American English
906 Up from Slavery Booker T. Washington 1901 American English
909 The Warmth Of Other Suns Isabel Wilkerson 2010 American English
911 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Max Weber 1905 German German
913 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass 1845 American English
918 The Plot Against America Philip Roth 2004 American English
921 Master and Commander Patrick O'Brian 1969 British English
923 The World Of Yesterday Stefan Zweig 1942 Austrian German
926 Journey to the Center of the Earth Jules Verne 1864 French French
928 Tobacco Road Erskine Caldwell 1932 American English
934 The Theory of the Leisure Class Thorstein Veblen 1899 American English
935 Martin Eden Jack London 1909 American English
939 Émile Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1762 French French
942 Cannery Row John Steinbeck 1945 American English
943 The Bacchae Euripides -405 Greek Ancient greek
950 Richard III William Shakespeare 1592 British English
952 Two Treatises of Government John Locke 1689 British English
958 The Periodic Table Primo Levi 1975 Italian Italian
965 Eminent Victorians Lytton Strachey 1918 British English
969 Storm of Steel Ernst Jünger 1920 German German
971 The Discovery of Heaven Harry Mulisch 1992 Dutch Dutch
977 Couples John Updike 1968 American English
979 The Worst Journey in the World Apsley Cherry-Garrard 1922 British English
985 Mythology Edith Hamilton 1942 American English
1006 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Alan Sillitoe 1958 British English
1007 The Death and Life of Great American Cities Jane Jacobs 1961 American English
1016 Poems Of C. P. Cavafy C. P. Cavafy 1935 Greek Greek
1018 Principia Mathematica Isaac Newton 1687 British Latin
1020 Slouching Towards Bethlehem Joan Didion 1968 American English
1021 If Not Now, When? Primo Levi 1982 Italian Italian
1027 Secondhand Time Svetlana Alexievich 2013 Belarusian Russian
1028 Schindler's List Thomas Keneally 1982 Australian English