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
2267 A Grain Of Wheat Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1967 Kenyan English
2750 Out Of Africa Karen Blixen 1937 Danish Danish
2811 Matigari Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1987 Kenyan Gikuyu
2836 Facing Mount Kenya Jomo Kenyatta 1938 Kenyan English
3881 The River Between Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1965 Kenyan English
4260 Petals of blood Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1977 Kenyan English
5082 Nowhere In Africa Stefanie Zweig 1995 German German
5529 Africa Jiří Hanzelka, Miroslav Zikmund 1952 Czech Czech
5684 The Constant Gardener John le Carré 2001 British English
6974 Origins Reconsidered Roger Lewin, Richard Leakey 1992 Multiple English
7183 The Winter Rose Jennifer Donnelly 2008 American English
8712 Dark Star Safari Paul Theroux 2002 American English
8728 Kiswahili, Past, Present And Future Horizons Rocha Chimera 1998 Kenyan English
8838 Desertion Abdulrazak Gurnah 2005 Tanzanian English
8999 The Flame Trees Of Thika Elspeth Huxley 1959 British English
9131 How To Write About Africa Binyavanga Wainaina 2005 Kenyan English
9154 Decolonising The Mind Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1986 Kenyan English
9173 China's Second Continent Howard W. French 2014 American English
10371 Green City In The Sun Barbara Wood 1988 American English
11134 Imperial Reckoning Caroline Elkins 2005 British English
11503 The White Masai Corinne Hofmann 1998 Swiss German
11542 Half The Sky Nicholas Kristof 2009 American English
11610 The Next Christendom Philip Jenkins 2002 American English
11611 The Cross Cultural Process In Christian History Andrew Walls 2002 Unknown English
11634 The Means Of Reproduction Michelle Goldberg 2009 American English
11660 Isak Dinesen Judith Thurman 1982 American English
13256 The Idealist Nina Munk 2013 American English
14389 The End Of Poverty Jeffrey D. Sachs 2005 American English
14457 The White Man’s Burden William Russell Easterly 2006 Unknown English
14492 A History Of Burning Janika Oza 2023 Unknown English
14553 Poor Economics Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo 2011 American 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
14730 The Looting Machine Tom Burgis 2015 British English
14878 No Picnic on Mount Kenya Felice Benuzzi 1947 Italian Italian
14983 Say You’re One of Them Uwem Akpan 2008 Nigerian English
15559 Beyond Words Carl Safina 2015 American English
15897 The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber Ernest Hemingway 1936 American English
15897 Born Free Joy Adamson 1960 British English
15897 Neo Colonialism, The Last Stage Of Imperialism Kwame Nkrumah 1965 Ghanaian English
17055 I Married Adventure Osa Johnson 1940 American English
17117 The Wisdom Of Bones Alan Walker, Pat Shipman 1996 American English
17117 Submergence J. M. Ledgard 2011 British English
17117 Sage Philosophy Henry Odera Oruka 1990 Kenyan English
17117 Darwin's Dreampond Tijs Goldschmidt 1994 Dutch Dutch
17117 Warriors Gerald Hanley 1971 British English
17117 The Blockade Fawzia Rasheed 2017 Unknown Unknown
17117 Language For A New Century Nathalie Handal, Tina Chang, Ravi Shankar 2008 Multiple English
17117 Colonel Roosevelt Edmund Morris 2010 American English
17117 Drawdown Paul Hawken 2017 American English
17117 The Jakarta Method Vincent Bevins 2020 American English
17117 Diplomacy Henry A. Kissinger 1994 American English
17117 The Lexus And The Olive Tree Thomas L. Friedman 1999 American English
17117 Circling The Sun Paula McLain 2015 American English
17117 A Primate's Memoir Robert Sapolsky 2001 American English
17117 The Shell Collector Anthony Doerr 2002 American English
17117 Into Africa Martin Dugard 2003 American English
17117 The Hot Zone Richard Preston 1994 American English
17117 Going Solo Roald Dahl 1986 British English
17117 The Silk Roads Peter Frankopan 2015 British English
17117 Endure Alex Hutchinson 2018 Canadian English
17117 The Book Of Secrets M.G. Vassanji 1994 Canadian English
17117 The Sports Gene David Epstein 2013 American English
17117 A History Of South Africa Frank Welsh 1998 Unknown English
17117 I Will Marry When I Want Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1977 Kenyan Gikuyu
17117 Kenya John Halkin 1986 Unknown English
17117 A History Of Burning Janika Oza 2023 Unknown English