The Greatest Books of All Time on International Development

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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
848 Der Judenstaat Theodor Herzl 1896 Austro-Hungarian German
1204 Nickel And Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich 2001 American English
1392 Evicted Matthew Desmond 2016 American English
1477 An Essay on the Principle of Population Thomas Robert Malthus 1798 British English
1495 Behind the Beautiful Forevers Katherine Boo 2012 American English
1762 Small Is Beautiful E. F. Schumacher 1973 British English
2249 Twenty Years at Hull-House Jane Addams 1910 American English
2272 The Wretched of the Earth Frantz Fanon 1961 Algerian French
2951 Exit, Voice, And Loyalty Albert Hirschman 1970 American English
3088 Factory Girls Leslie T. Chang 2008 American English
3427 The Great Transformation Karl Polanyi 1944 Canadian English
3638 Charter of the United Nations United Nations 1945 Multiple English
3861 Native Life In South Africa Sol Plaatje 1916 South African English
4205 Ghana Kwame Nkrumah 1957 Ghanaian English
4477 The Economy of Cities Jane Jacobs 1969 American English
4555 Os Nacionalismos Africanos Mario de Andrade 1961 Brazilian Portuguese
5264 Accumulation On A World Scale Samir Amin 1970 French French
8209 China Shakes The World James Kynge 2006 British English
8631 The Dragon's Gift Deborah Brautigam 2009 Unknown English
8911 Staying Alive Vandana Shiva 1988 Indian English
9173 China's Second Continent Howard W. French 2014 American English
9180 A Theology Of Liberation Gustavo Gutierrez 1971 Peruvian Spanish
10186 Little Soldiers Lenora Chu 2017 Unknown English
10562 The Third Revolution Elizabeth C. Economy 2018 Unknown English
11634 The Means Of Reproduction Michelle Goldberg 2009 American English
11660 Patriot Number One Lauren Hilgers 2018 Unknown English
14492 Cobalt Red Siddharth Kara 2023 Unknown English
14553 Portfolios Of The Poor Daryl Collins, Jonathan Morduch, Stuart Rutherford, Orlanda Ruthven 2009 Unknown English
14553 It's Our Turn To Eat Michela Wrong 2009 British English
14697 The Bright Continent Dayo Olopade 2014 Unknown English
14983 The Question Of Palestine Edward W. Said 1979 American English
15897 The Beveridge Report William Beveridge 1942 British English
15897 Neo Colonialism, The Last Stage Of Imperialism Kwame Nkrumah 1965 Ghanaian English
17117 How Big Things Get Done Bent Flyvbjerg 2023 Unknown English
17117 My Fourth Time, We Drowned Sally Hayden 2022 Irish English
17117 Poverty And Famines Amartya Sen 1981 Indian English
17117 Everybody Loves A Good Drought Palagummi Sainath 1996 Indian English
17117 Ideas For Australian Cities Hugh Stretton 1970 Australian English
17117 Three Letter Plague Jonny Steinberg 2008 South African English
17117 Leaving Fossil Fuels Underground Joyeeta Gupta, Barbara Hogenboom, Arthur Rempel, Malin Olofsson 2024 Unknown English
17117 Post Growth Tim Jackson 2021 British English