The Greatest Books of All Time on Justice

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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
11 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky 1866 Russian Russian
16 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 1960 American English
18 The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky 1880 Russian Russian
21 The Trial Franz Kafka 1925 Czech German
23 The Stranger Albert Camus 1942 French French
30 The Divine Comedy Dante Alighieri 1308 Italian Italian
40 Les Misérables Victor Hugo 1862 French French
46 One Thousand and One Nights Unknown 800 Multiple Arabic
78 A Passage to India E. M. Forster 1924 British English
87 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
106 Oedipus the King Sophocles -429 Greek Ancient greek
107 Native Son Richard Wright 1940 American English
109 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
121 Bleak House Charles Dickens 1852 British English
125 Antigone Sophocles -441 Greek Ancient greek
127 Paradise Lost John Milton 1667 British English
131 King Lear William Shakespeare 1608 British English
139 The Woman in White Wilkie Collins 1860 British English
188 A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens 1859 British English
191 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie 1939 British English
195 An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser 1925 American English
205 The Complete Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 1927 British English
212 Darkness at Noon Arthur Koestler 1940 British German
220 The Republic Plato -379 Greek Ancient greek
255 Disgrace J. M. Coetzee 1999 South African English
273 The Betrothed Alessandro Manzoni 1827 Italian Italian
277 The Pickwick Papers Charles Dickens 1836 British English
285 Oresteia Aeschylus -458 Greek Ancient greek
295 Franz Kafka Franz Kafka 1971 Czech Unknown
307 Medea Euripides -431 Greek Ancient greek
310 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
322 Household Tales Brothers Grimm 1812 German German
383 Oedipus at Colonus Sophocles -401 Greek Ancient greek
388 The Complete Works of Plato Plato -387 Greek Ancient greek
402 The Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle -334 Greek Ancient greek
422 Ramayana Valmiki -200 Indian Sanskrit
423 Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie 1934 British English
469 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain 1934 American English
471 Waiting for the Barbarians J. M. Coetzee 1980 South African English
505 The Quran Unknown 610 Arabic Arabic
509 Sanctuary William Faulkner 1931 American English
550 Max Havelaar Multatuli 1860 Dutch Dutch
562 Aesop's Fables Aesop -560 Greek Ancient greek
563 Panchatantra Unknown -300 Multiple Sanskrit
574 The Known World Edward P. Jones 2003 American English
581 The Innocence of Father Brown G. K. Chesterton 1911 British English
588 The Pillars Of The Earth Ken Follett 1989 British English
616 The Rebel Albert Camus 1951 French French
667 The Book of Job Unknown -600 Israeli Hebrew
694 La Fontaine's Fables Jean de La Fontaine 1668 French French
724 Michael Kohlhaas Heinrich von Kleist 1810 German German
726 The Caine Mutiny Herman Wouk 1951 American English
729 Thérèse Desqueyroux François Mauriac 1927 French French
749 The Fire Next Time James Baldwin 1963 American English
751 All the Pretty Horses Cormac McCarthy 1992 American English
763 The Case of Comrade Tulayev Victor Serge 1949 French French
805 Gaudy Night Dorothy L. Sayers 1935 British English
808 Watchmen Alan Moore 1986 American, British English
837 The Sellout Paul Beatty 2015 American English
838 The Book of Daniel E. L. Doctorow 1971 American English
839 Winnetou Karl May 1893 German German
852 The Last Chronicle of Barset Anthony Trollope 1867 British English
864 Reynard the Fox Unknown 1479 Multiple Middle dutch
881 Utopia Thomas More 1516 British Latin
886 Riders of the Purple Sage Zane Grey 1912 American English
916 Malice Aforethought Francis Iles 1931 British English
938 Burger's Daughter Nadine Gordimer 1979 South African English
948 The Poisoned Chocolates Case Anthony Berkeley 1929 British English
975 The Reader Bernhard Schlink 1995 German German
983 A Study In Scarlet Arthur Conan Doyle 1887 British English
986 Electra Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
997 The Judge and His Hangman Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1950 Swiss German
1017 Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban J. K. Rowling 1999 British English
1043 Danny The Champion Of The World Roald Dahl 1975 British English
1049 Works and Days Hesiod -700 Greek Ancient greek
1061 The Case of Sergeant Grischa Arnold Zweig 1927 German German
1065 La Bête humaine Émile Zola 1890 French French
1091 Shahnameh Ferdowsi 1010 Iranian Persian
1094 Gorky Park Martin Cruz Smith 1981 American English
1151 The Water Margin Shi Naian 1370 Chinese Chinese
1156 Apology Plato -389 Greek Ancient greek
1159 Eichmann in Jerusalem Hannah Arendt 1963 German English
1180 Annals Cornelius Tacitus 109 Roman Latin
1192 The Politics Aristotle -350 Greek Ancient greek
1194 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk 2009 Polish Polish
1198 Lorna Doone R. D. Blackmore 1869 British English
1243 Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson 1886 British English
1249 The White Devil John Webster 1612 British English
1254 Death and the Dervish Meša Selimović 1966 Bosnian Serbo-croatian
1256 Prometheus Bound Aeschylus -455 Greek Ancient greek
1264 The Franchise Affair Josephine Tey 1948 British English
1267 Billy Budd Herman Melville 1924 American English
1284 The Faerie Queene Edmund Spenser 1590 British English
1317 To Each His Own Leonardo Sciascia 1966 Italian Italian
1322 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
1351 The Suppliants Aeschylus -463 Greek Ancient greek
1353 William Tell Friedrich Schiller 1804 German German
1362 The Heart Of Midlothian Sir Walter Scott 1818 Scottish English
1410 Poem of the Cid Unknown 1207 Spanish Old spanish
1416 Rights of Man Thomas Paine 1791 British English
1440 The Virginian Owen Wister 1902 American English
1445 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
1450 Mary Barton Elizabeth Gaskell 1848 British English
1459 The City of God Augustine 413 Roman Latin
1489 Abraham Lincoln, Speeches And Letters Abraham Lincoln 1907 American English
1491 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
1503 The Friends Of Eddie Coyle George V. Higgins 1970 American English
1512 The Beast Must Die Nicholas Blake 1938 British English
1521 The Robbers Friedrich Schiller 1781 German German
1528 The Consolation of Philosophy Boethius 524 Roman Latin
1550 Njal's Saga Iceland 1280 Icelandic Old norse
1556 The Poems of Francois Villon François Villon 1489 French Middle french
1573 The Story Of My Experiments With Truth Mahatma Gandhi 1927 Indian Gujarati
1640 The Asphalt Jungle W. R. Burnett 1949 American English
1645 The Pledge Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1958 Swiss German
1647 Phaedo Plato -379 Greek Ancient greek
1677 A Theory of Justice John Rawls 1971 American English
1693 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold 2002 American English
1699 That Awful Mess On Via Merulana Carlo Emilio Gadda 1957 Italian Italian
1714 Go Down, Moses William Faulkner 1942 American English