The Greatest Books of All Time on Immigration

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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
160 My Antonia Willa Cather 1918 American English
183 The Jungle Upton Sinclair 1906 American English
221 White Teeth Zadie Smith 2000 British English
244 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith 1943 American English
406 Ragtime E. L. Doctorow 1975 American English
418 Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides 2002 American English
443 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 Nigerian English
519 Call It Sleep Henry Roth 1934 American English
565 Amerika Franz Kafka 1927 Czech German
738 The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan 1989 American English
847 Only Yesterday Shmuel Yosef Agnon 1945 Israeli Hebrew
885 A Tale of Love and Darkness Amos Oz 2002 Israeli Hebrew
989 The Lonely Londoners Sam Selvon 1956 Trinidadian English
1036 The Fortunes Of Richard Mahony Henry Handel Richardson 1917 Australian English
1037 The Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kingston 1976 American English
1097 My Name Is Aram William Saroyan 1940 American English
1129 The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri 2003 American English
1206 Pachinko Min Jin Lee 2017 American English
1241 The Life Before Us Romain Gary 1975 French French
1329 Exodus Leon Uris 1958 American English
1445 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
1497 How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Julia Alvarez 1991 Dominican English
1514 Pelle The Conqueror Martin Andersen Nexø 1906 Danish Danish
1615 Giants in the Earth Ole Edvart Rolvaag 1927 Norwegian Norwegian
1643 Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt 1996 American English
1654 O Pioneers! Willa Cather 1913 American English
1775 Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri 1999 American English
1878 East Goes West Younghill Kang 1937 American English
2008 Job Joseph Roth 1930 Austrian German
2071 The Assistant Bernard Malamud 1957 American English
2098 The Bean Trees Barbara Kingsolver 1988 American English
2125 Tell Me a Riddle Tillie Olsen 1961 American English
2139 Shadows on the Rock Willa Cather 1931 American English
2164 Bread Givers Anzia Yezierska 1925 American English
2165 The Buddha in the Attic Julie Otsuka 2011 American English
2176 Hawaii James A. Michener 1959 American English
2192 American Gods Neil Gaiman 2001 British English
2249 Twenty Years at Hull-House Jane Addams 1910 American English
2294 Family Life Akhil Sharma 2014 Indian English
2354 Enemies, A Love Story Isaac Bashevis Singer 1972 American Yiddish
2366 Brooklyn Colm Toibin 2009 Irish English
2394 The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love Oscar Hijuelos 1989 American English
2411 The Americanization of Edward Bok Edward Bok 1920 American English
2427 A View From The Bridge Arthur Miller 1955 American English
2485 Small Island Andrea Levy 2004 British English
2526 On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous Ocean Vuong 2019 American English
2633 Tripmaster Monkey Maxine Hong Kingston 1989 American English
2829 A Contract With God Will Eisner 1978 American English
2956 The Inheritance of Loss Kiran Desai 2006 Indian English
3097 Second-class Citizen Buchi Emecheta 1974 Nigerian English
3474 Native Speaker Chang-rae Lee 1995 American English
3536 Netherland Joseph O'Neill 2008 Irish English
3579 Mercy Of A Rude Stream Henry Roth 1994 American English
3638 Letters from an American Farmer J. Crevecoeur 1782 American English
3638 The Battle with the Slum Jacob A. Riis 1902 Danish English
3946 The Arrival Shaun Tan 2006 Australian English
3953 Συναξάρι Αντρέα Κορδοπάτη Thanassis Valtinos 1964 Greek Greek
4114 Brick Lane Monica Ali 2003 British English
4286 In The Skin Of A Lion Michael Ondaatje 1987 Canadian English
4519 Sour Sweet Timothy Mo 1982 British English
4740 Tell Me How It Ends Valeria Luiselli 2017 Mexican English
4996 The Sun Is Also A Star Nicola Yoon 2016 American English
5083 Nowhere In Africa Stefanie Zweig 1995 German German
5247 Jews Without Money Michael Gold 1930 American English
5337 Ellis Island Georges Perec 1980 French French
5349 How the Other Half Lives Jacob A. Riis 1890 Danish English
5403 Our Sister Killjoy Ama Ata Aidoo 1977 Ghanaian English
5496 Ethnic America Thomas Sowell 1981 American English
5595 The Lazarus Project Aleksandar Hemon 2008 Bosnian English
5722 White Mule William Carlos Williams 1937 American English
5816 The Russian Debutante’s Handbook Gary Shteyngart 2002 American English
5926 Go Went Gone Jenny Erpenbeck 2015 German German
6119 The Best We Could Do Thi Bui 2017 American English
6147 In The Distance Hernan Díaz 2017 American English
6214 The Sound Of Our Steps Ronit Matalon 2008 Israeli Hebrew
6338 No No Boy John Okada 2024 American English
6559 The Tortilla Curtain T. Coraghessan Boyle 1995 American English
6662 Preparation for the Next Life Atticus Lish 2014 American English
6754 I Hotel Karen Tei Yamashita 2010 American English
6821 Collected Stories Of William Saroyan William Saroyan 1943 American English
6916 The Paper Menagerie And Other Stories Ken Liu 2016 American English
7105 Brother, I'm Dying Edwidge Danticat 2007 Haitian English
7147 Captains And The Kings Taylor Caldwell 1972 American English
7215 Poems Of Moshe Leib Halpern Moshe-Leib Halpern 1919 Yiddish Yiddish
7215 The Rise Of David Levinsky Abraham Cahan 1917 American English
7754 Infidel Ayaan Hirsi Ali 2007 Dutch English
7899 Capital John Lanchester 2012 British English
8025 The Dew Breaker Edwidge Danticat 2004 American English
8160 Born Confused Tanuja Desai Hidier 2002 American English
8196 Fifth Chinese Daughter Jade Snow Wong 1945 American English
8248 Funny in Farsi Firoozeh Dumas 2003 Iranian English
8283 Nowhere Man Aleksandar Hemon 2002 Bosnian English
8402 The Art Of Losing Alice Zeniter 2017 French French
8443 Russian Disco Wladimir Kaminer 2000 German German
8489 The Book Of My Lives Aleksandar Hemon 2013 American English
8615 Enrique's Journey Sonia Nazario 2006 American English
8666 Brás, Bexiga E Barra Funda Antônio De Alcântara Machado 1927 Brazilian Portuguese
8921 In My Father's Court Isaac Bashevis Singer 1966 Polish Yiddish
9007 The Translator Leila Aboulela 1999 British English
9025 The Other Americans Laila Lalami 2019 Moroccan English
9072 Alexander Hamilton Ron Chernow 2004 American English
9261 Unaccustomed Earth Jhumpa Lahiri 2008 Indian English
9261 Absurdistan Gary Shteyngart 2006 Russian English
9325 The Road Home Rose Tremain 2007 British English
9548 Selected Poems Jacob Glatstein 1972 Polish Yiddish
9625 This Hostel Life Melatu Uche Okorie 2018 Irish English
9793 Crossings Chuang Hua 1968 American English
9912 Miracle Creek Angie Kim 2019 American English
9969 Chai Time At Cinnamon Gardens Shankari Chandran 2022 Unknown English
10158 Transmission Hari Kunzru 2004 British English
10184 Immigrant, Montana Amitava Kumar 2017 American English
10232 A Step From Heaven An Na 2001 American English
10402 Nice Big American Baby Judy Budnitz 2005 American English
10450 Homeland Elegies Ayad Akhtar 2020 American English
10450 The World Is What It Is Patrick French 2008 Trinidadian English
10665 Our Migrant Souls Héctor Tobar 2023 American English
10851 The Stories Bernard Malamud 1983 American English
10872 Lost In Translation Eva Hoffman 1989 Canadian English
10905 Singing Softly Carmen De Monteflores 1979 American English
10937 The Leavers Lisa Ko 2017 American English