The Greatest Books of All Time on Individualism

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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
77 Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman 1855 American English
92 The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton 1920 American English
108 Walden Henry David Thoreau 1854 American English
154 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey 1962 American English
169 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark 1961 British, Scottish English
171 Steppenwolf Hermann Hesse 1927 German German
185 U.S.A. Trilogy John Dos Passos 1930 American English
222 Thus Spake Zarathustra Friedrich Nietzsche 1883 German German
275 The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1782 French French
280 The Adventures of Augie March Saul Bellow 1953 American English
321 We Yevgeny Zamyatin 1924 Russian Russian
368 Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein 1961 American English
384 Ferdydurke Witold Gombrowicz 1937 Polish Polish
410 The Razor's Edge W. Somerset Maugham 1944 British English
429 The Baron in the Trees Italo Calvino 1957 Italian Italian
434 The Fountainhead Ayn Rand 1943 American English
450 Way of All Flesh Samuel Butler 1903 British English
461 Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand 1957 American English
482 Jakob Von Gunten Robert Walser 1909 Swiss German
487 Rainbow D.H. Lawrence 1915 British English
553 The Dispossessed Ursula K. Le Guin 1974 American English
564 Main Street Sinclair Lewis 1920 American English
646 The Varieties of Religious Experience William James 1902 American English
743 On Liberty John Stuart Mill 1859 British English
829 The Road to Serfdom Friedrich von Hayek 1944 Austrian English
850 The Revolt of the Masses José Ortega y Gasset 1930 Spanish Spanish
851 Essays, First And Second Series Ralph Waldo Emerson 1841 American English
880 Orthodoxy G. K. Chesterton 1908 British English
935 Martin Eden Jack London 1909 American English
939 Émile Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1762 French French
941 Collected Essays of George Orwell George Orwell 1968 British English
1034 The Bostonians Henry James 1886 American English
1188 The Quest for Community Robert Nisbet 1953 American English
1255 Jonathan Livingston Seagull Richard Bach 1970 American English
1403 The Outsider Colin Wilson 1956 British English
1447 Minima Moralia Theodor Adorno 1951 German German
1504 Sometimes a Great Notion Ken Kesey 1964 American English
1583 The Civilization Of The Renaissance In Italy Jacob Burckhardt 1860 Swiss German
1603 On the Edge of Reason Miroslav Krleža 1938 Croatian Croatian
1608 The Loneliness of the Long-distance Runner Alan Sillitoe 1959 British English
1629 Point Counter Point Aldous Huxley 1928 British English
1656 Arrowsmith Sinclair Lewis 1925 American English
1671 The Ordeal Of Richard Feverel George Meredith 1859 British English
1802 Kallocain Karin Boye 1940 Swedish Swedish
1932 On Self Reliance Ralph Waldo Emerson 1841 American English
1935 Autobiography Benvenuto Cellini 1728 Italian Italian
1944 My Name Is Asher Lev Chaim Potok 1972 American English
2355 The Fruits of the Earth André Gide 1897 French French
2372 The Autobiography Of John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill 1873 British English
2380 The Will To Power Friedrich Nietzsche 1901 German German
2410 The Fear Of Freedom Erich Fromm 1941 German English
2553 Disobedience Alberto Moravia 1948 Italian Italian
2684 Selected Plays of Henrick Ibsen Henrik Ibsen 1900 Norwegian Norwegian
2923 The Poems of Walt Whitman Walt Whitman 1855 American English
3108 Beyond Good and Evil Friedrich Nietzsche 1886 German German
3221 Ecce Homo Friedrich Nietzsche 1908 German German
3435 On Wings Of Song Thomas M. Disch 1979 American English
3452 The Closing of the American Mind Allan Bloom 1987 American English
3524 The Good Society Walter Lippmann 1937 American English
3638 The Queen's Tiara Carl Jonas Love Almqvist 1834 Swedish Swedish
3638 The Thaw Ilya Ehrenburg 1954 Russian Russian
3638 The People Of Seldwyla Gottfried Keller 1872 Swiss German
3638 The Century Of The Child Ellen Key 1900 Swedish Swedish
3638 The Roads To Freedom Jean Paul Sartre 1945 French French
3638 The Road Into The Open Arthur Schnitzler 1908 Austrian German
3829 Bacacay Witold Gombrowicz 1957 Polish Polish
3870 Walden Two B. F. Skinner 1948 American English
3908 Homo Sociologicus Ralf Dahrendorf 1958 German German
3953 Το Θείο Τραγί Yiannis Skarimbas 1935 Greek Greek
4105 Summerhill Alexander Sutherland Neill 1960 British English
4188 Age of Ambition Evan Osnos 2014 American English
4262 Essays of Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau 1862 American English
4278 Fallen Leaves Vasily Rozanov 1913 Russian Russian
4309 Three Soldiers John Dos Passos 1921 American English
4415 Diary Witold Gombrowicz 1986 Polish Polish
4461 Collected Works of Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay 1956 American English
4799 Nature Ralph Waldo Emerson 1836 American English
4899 The Discovery Of Freedom Rose Wilder Lane 1943 American English
5333 Starship Troopers Robert A. Heinlein 1959 American English
5628 Ego Monster Sayd Bahodine Majrouh 1985 Afghan French
5750 Flight Of Ashes Monika Maron 1981 German German
6002 Three Women Robert Musil 1924 Austrian German
6332 A Preface to Morals Walter Lippmann 1929 American English
6371 The Promise of American Life Herbert Croly 1909 American English
6422 The Lonely Crowd David Riesman 1950 American English
6491 Living My Life Emma Goldman 1931 American English
6504 The Origins Of Totalitarian Democracy J. L. Talmon 1952 British English
7055 Golden Age Wang Xiaobo 1997 Chinese Chinese
7215 Selected Writings Jules Laforgue 1901 French French
7215 Journals Ralph Waldo Emerson 1820 American English
7215 Studies In Classic American Literature D. H. Lawrence 1923 British English
7615 The Heretic Miguel Delibes 1998 Spanish Spanish
7792 The Gay Science Friedrich Nietzsche 1882 German German
7977 Anthem Ayn Rand 1938 American English
7994 We The Living Ayn Rand 1936 American English
8334 The Rebellion Of Yale Marrat Robert H. Rimmer 1964 American English
8358 Anarchy, State And Utopia Robert Nozick 1974 American English
8442 Generation Golf Florian Illies 2000 German German
8619 Age Of Fracture Daniel T. Rodgers 2011 American English
9283 Even Cowgirls Get The Blues Tom Robbins 1976 American English
9570 Beneath The Wheel Hermann Hesse 1906 German German
9595 The Noodle Maker Ma Jian 2004 Chinese Chinese
9856 Democratic Vistas Walt Whitman 1871 American English
10103 Orwell And Politics George Orwell 2001 British English
10398 The Triumph of the Therapeutic Philip Rieff 1966 American English
10960 Heartsnatcher Boris Vian 1953 French French
10977 Love Must Not Be Forgotten Jie Zhang 1980 Chinese Chinese
11063 The Complete Works Of Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft 1989 British English
11362 Refusal To Obey Jean Giono French French
11574 Inside The Whale And Other Essays George Orwell 1940 British English
11647 Dead Poets Society N. H. Kleinbaum 1989 American English
11660 Walt Whitman Justin Kaplan 1980 American English
11660 Walt Whitman Paul Zweig 1984 American English
11939 Eden's Outcasts Jon Matteson 2007 American Unknown
11939 Whitman Emory Holloway 1926 American English
13359 Democratic Vistas And Other Papers Walt Whitman 1871 American English
13599 Raboliot Maurice Genevoix 1925 French French
14067 Sanin Mikhail Artsybashev 1907 Russian Russian
14086 The Burnout Society Byung-Chul Han 2010 German German
14180 Facial Justice L. P. Hartley 1960 British English