The Greatest Books Since 2000 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
232 2666 Roberto Bolaño 2004 Chilean Spanish
262 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 2001 German German
397 Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel 2009 British English
420 The Human Stain Philip Roth 2000 American English
574 The Known World Edward P. Jones 2003 American English
597 The Years Annie Ernaux 2008 French French
670 Persepolis Marjane Satrapi 2000 French French
701 The Feast of the Goat Mario Vargas Llosa 2000 Peruvian Spanish
741 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt 2013 American English
885 A Tale of Love and Darkness Amos Oz 2002 Israeli Hebrew
909 The Warmth Of Other Suns Isabel Wilkerson 2010 American English
918 The Plot Against America Philip Roth 2004 American English
1027 Secondhand Time Svetlana Alexievich 2013 Belarusian Russian
1074 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown 2003 American English
1206 Pachinko Min Jin Lee 2017 American English
1209 Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates 2015 American English
1252 Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari 2011 Israeli Hebrew
1392 Evicted Matthew Desmond 2016 American English
1394 Soldiers of Salamis Javier Cercas 2001 Spanish Spanish
1448 Suite Française Irène Némirovsky 2004 French French
1495 Behind the Beautiful Forevers Katherine Boo 2012 American English
1542 The Devil In The White City Erik Larson 2003 American English
1638 Postwar Tony Judt 2005 British English
1672 Pulphead John Jeremiah Sullivan 2011 American English
1701 The New Jim Crow Michelle Alexander 2010 American English
1704 Celestial Harmonies Peter Esterhazy 2000 Hungarian Hungarian
1817 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot 2010 American English
1844 The Sixth Extinction Elizabeth Kolbert 2014 American English
1884 The Looming Tower Lawrence Wright 2006 American English
1958 Let the Great World Spin Colum McCann 2009 Irish English
1974 The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010 American English
1995 Say Nothing Patrick Radden Keefe 2018 American English
2076 Thinking, Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman 2011 Israeli English
2107 Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver 2022 American English
2202 The Kindly Ones Jonathan Littell 2006 French French
2218 The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes 2011 British English
2229 A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles 2016 American English
2324 Being Mortal Atul Gawande 2014 American English
2334 How to be both Ali Smith 2014 British English
2336 There There Tommy Orange 2018 American English
2338 Master of the Senate Robert Caro 2002 American English
2487 Measuring the World Daniel Kehlmann 2005 German German
2522 The Passage Of Power Robert Caro 2012 American English
2626 Capital in the Twenty-First Century Thomas Piketty 2013 French French
2678 H Is For Hawk Helen MacDonald 2014 British English
2705 Lost Children Archive Valeria Luiselli 2019 Mexican English
2805 James Percival Everett 2024 American English
2898 Moneyball Michael M. Lewis 2003 American English
2911 Tu Patricia Grace 2004 New Zealand English
2926 The Return Hisham Matar 2016 Libyan English
2935 The Better Angels Of Our Nature Steven Pinker 2011 American English
2991 Frederick Douglass David W. Blight 2018 American English
3064 The Secret River Kate Grenville 2005 Australian English
3069 Caramelo Sandra Cisneros 2002 American English
3077 River Town Peter Hessler 2001 American English
3089 Factory Girls Leslie T. Chang 2008 American English
3097 Open City Teju Cole 2011 American English
3123 Carpentaria Alexis Wright 2006 Australian English
3132 The Man Who Loved Dogs Leonardo Padura 2009 Cuban Spanish
3183 Minor Detail Adania Shibli 2017 Palestinian Arabic
3211 Homo Deus Yuval Noah Harari 2015 Israeli Hebrew
3238 The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson 2000 American English
3258 Killers Of The Flower Moon David Grann 2017 American English
3472 We Do Not Part Han Kang 2021 Korean Korean
3479 The Bookseller of Kabul Asne Seierstad 2002 Norwegian Norwegian
3520 Nothing to Envy Barbara Demick 2009 American English
3522 Bad Blood John Carreyrou 2018 American English
3532 Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo 2019 British English
3564 The Eighth Life Nino Haratishvili 2014 Georgian German
3573 Notes from No Man's Land Eula Biss 2009 American English
3589 Just Mercy Bryan Stevenson 2014 American English
3600 Debt David Graeber 2011 American English
3604 Limonov Emmanuel Carrère 2011 French French
3623 Sepharad Antonio Muñoz Molina 2001 Spanish Spanish
3914 Sudden Death Alvaro Enrigue 2013 Mexican Spanish
4151 American Genius Lynne Tillman 2006 American English
4162 The Good Lord Bird James McBride 2013 American English
4187 Age of Ambition Evan Osnos 2014 American English
4363 The Anatomy Of A Moment Javier Cercas 2009 Spanish Spanish
4418 The Swerve Stephen Greenblatt 2011 American English
4501 Parallel Stories Péter Nádas 2005 Hungarian Hungarian
4505 North Woods Daniel Mason 2023 American English
4507 The Book about Blanche and Marie Per Olov Enquist 2004 Swedish Swedish
4587 Columbine Dave Cullen 2009 American English
4588 The Nickel Boys Colson Whitehead 2019 American English
4608 Here Richard McGuire 2014 American English
4613 Gulag Anne Applebaum 2003 American English
4622 The Party Richard McGregor 2010 Unknown English
4626 The Opium War Julia Lovell 2011 British English
4636 Darkmans Nicola Barker 2007 British English
4637 The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse Louise Erdrich 2001 American English
4651 The Forever War Dexter Filkins 2008 American English
4674 The Time of Our Singing Richard Powers 2003 American English
4732 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation M. T. Anderson 2006 American English
4750 The Omnivore's Dilemma Michael Pollan 2006 American English
4813 Dreamland Sam Quinones 2015 American English
4844 The Last Quarter Of The Moon Chi Zijian 2005 Chinese English
4865 The Love Songs Of W.E.B. Dubois Honorée Fanonne Jeffers 2021 American English
4886 The Secret Scripture Sebastian Barry 2008 Irish English
4896 The Book Of Fame Lloyd Jones 2000 New Zealand English
4948 Dark Money Jane Mayer 2016 American English
4979 The Hare with Amber Eyes Edmund de Waal 2010 British English
5006 Against the Day Thomas Pynchon 2006 American English
5086 Imperial Life in the Emerald City Rajiv Chandrasekaran 2006 American English
5092 Amity and Prosperity Eliza Griswold 2018 American English
5108 Dancing In Odessa Ilya Kaminsky 2004 Ukrainian English
5119 Baudolino Umberto Eco 2000 Italian Italian
5151 Midnight In Peking Paul French 2012 British English
5263 The Great Influenza John Barry 2004 American English
5267 A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah 2007 Sierra Leonean English
5313 A General Theory Of Oblivion José Eduardo Agualusa 2012 Angolan Portuguese
5329 Grant Ron Chernow 2017 American English
5343 White Girls Hilton Als 2013 American English
5352 Stasiland Anna Funder 2002 Australian English
5358 Team of Rivals Doris Kearns Goodwin 2005 American English
5374 Packing For Mars Mary Roach 2010 American English
5387 In Memory Of Memory Maria Stepanova 2017 Russian Russian
5405 Murambi, The Book Of Bones Boubacar Boris Diop 2000 Senegalese French
5425 Glorious Exploits Ferdia Lennon 2024 Irish English
5458 Forgotten Ally Rana Mitter 2013 British English