The Greatest Books of All Time Set in Kenya

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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
416 Out of Africa Isak Dinesen 1937 Danish Danish
1884 The Looming Tower Lawrence Wright 2006 American English
1981 West With the Night Beryl Markham 1942 British English
2268 A Grain Of Wheat Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1967 Kenyan English
2752 Out Of Africa Karen Blixen 1937 Danish Danish
2814 Matigari Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1987 Kenyan Gikuyu
2838 Facing Mount Kenya Jomo Kenyatta 1938 Kenyan English
3880 The River Between Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1965 Kenyan English
4261 Petals of blood Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1977 Kenyan English
5085 Nowhere In Africa Stefanie Zweig 1995 German German
5531 Africa Jiří Hanzelka, Miroslav Zikmund 1952 Czech Czech
5687 The Constant Gardener John le Carré 2001 British English
6974 Origins Reconsidered Roger Lewin, Richard Leakey 1992 Multiple English
7184 The Winter Rose Jennifer Donnelly 2008 American English
8716 Dark Star Safari Paul Theroux 2002 American English
8733 Kiswahili, Past, Present And Future Horizons Rocha Chimera 1998 Kenyan English
8842 Desertion Abdulrazak Gurnah 2005 Tanzanian English
9003 The Flame Trees Of Thika Elspeth Huxley 1959 British English
9136 How To Write About Africa Binyavanga Wainaina 2005 Kenyan English
9159 Decolonising The Mind Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1986 Kenyan English
9177 China's Second Continent Howard W. French 2014 American English
10376 Green City In The Sun Barbara Wood 1988 American English
11141 Imperial Reckoning Caroline Elkins 2005 British English
11506 The White Masai Corinne Hofmann 1998 Swiss German
11545 Half The Sky Nicholas Kristof 2009 American English
11613 The Next Christendom Philip Jenkins 2002 American English
11614 The Cross Cultural Process In Christian History Andrew Walls 2002 Unknown English
11637 The Means Of Reproduction Michelle Goldberg 2009 American English
11663 Isak Dinesen Judith Thurman 1982 American English
13259 The Idealist Nina Munk 2013 American English
14390 The End Of Poverty Jeffrey D. Sachs 2005 American English
14458 The White Man’s Burden William Russell Easterly 2006 Unknown English
14493 A History Of Burning Janika Oza 2023 Unknown English
14554 Poor Economics Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo 2011 American English
14554 Portfolios Of The Poor Daryl Collins, Jonathan Morduch, Stuart Rutherford, Orlanda Ruthven 2009 Unknown English
14554 It's Our Turn To Eat Michela Wrong 2009 British English
14698 The Bright Continent Dayo Olopade 2014 Unknown English
14731 The Looting Machine Tom Burgis 2015 British English
14881 No Picnic on Mount Kenya Felice Benuzzi 1947 Italian Italian
14985 Say You’re One of Them Uwem Akpan 2008 Nigerian English
15567 Beyond Words Carl Safina 2015 American English
15916 The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber Ernest Hemingway 1936 American English
15916 Born Free Joy Adamson 1960 British English
15916 Neo Colonialism, The Last Stage Of Imperialism Kwame Nkrumah 1965 Ghanaian English
17098 I Married Adventure Osa Johnson 1940 American English
17162 The Wisdom Of Bones Alan Walker, Pat Shipman 1996 American English
17162 Submergence J. M. Ledgard 2011 British English
17162 Sage Philosophy Henry Odera Oruka 1990 Kenyan English
17162 Darwin's Dreampond Tijs Goldschmidt 1994 Dutch Dutch
17162 Warriors Gerald Hanley 1971 British English
17162 The Blockade Fawzia Rasheed 2017 Unknown Unknown
17162 Language For A New Century Nathalie Handal, Tina Chang, Ravi Shankar 2008 Multiple English
17162 Colonel Roosevelt Edmund Morris 2010 American English
17162 Drawdown Paul Hawken 2017 American English
17162 The Jakarta Method Vincent Bevins 2020 American English
17162 Diplomacy Henry A. Kissinger 1994 American English
17162 The Lexus And The Olive Tree Thomas L. Friedman 1999 American English
17162 Circling The Sun Paula McLain 2015 American English
17162 A Primate's Memoir Robert Sapolsky 2001 American English
17162 The Shell Collector Anthony Doerr 2002 American English
17162 Into Africa Martin Dugard 2003 American English
17162 The Hot Zone Richard Preston 1994 American English
17162 Going Solo Roald Dahl 1986 British English
17162 The Silk Roads Peter Frankopan 2015 British English
17162 Endure Alex Hutchinson 2018 Canadian English
17162 The Book Of Secrets M.G. Vassanji 1994 Canadian English
17162 The Sports Gene David Epstein 2013 American English
17162 A History Of South Africa Frank Welsh 1998 Unknown English
17162 I Will Marry When I Want Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1977 Kenyan Gikuyu
17162 Kenya John Halkin 1986 Unknown English
17162 A History Of Burning Janika Oza 2023 Unknown English