The Greatest Books of All Time on Labor

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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
26 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 1939 American English
183 The Jungle Upton Sinclair 1906 American English
328 Das Kapital Karl Marx 1867 German German
356 Germinal Émile Zola 1885 French French
439 North and South Elizabeth Gaskell 1855 British English
456 Let Us Now Praise Famous Men James Agee 1941 American English
492 The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Robert Tressell, Peter Miles 1914 British English
771 God's Bits of Wood Ousmane Sembène 1960 Senegalese French
817 Rickshaw Boy Lao She 1936 Chinese Chinese
1179 Living Henry Green 1929 British English
1204 Nickel And Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich 2001 American English
1225 Untouchable Mulk Raj Anand 1935 Indian English
1245 Down and Out in Paris and London George Orwell 1933 British English
1450 Mary Barton Elizabeth Gaskell 1848 British English
1504 Sometimes a Great Notion Ken Kesey 1964 American English
1514 Pelle The Conqueror Martin Andersen Nexø 1906 Danish Danish
1771 Stone Butch Blues Leslie Feinberg 1993 American English
1772 Hard Times Charles Dickens 1854 British English
2018 The Death Ship B. Traven 1926 German German
2165 The Buddha in the Attic Julie Otsuka 2011 American English
2263 Georgics Virgil 29 Latin Latin
2362 Sybil Benjamin Disraeli 1845 British English
2417 The Age of Jackson Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr 1945 American English
2471 Roll, Jordan, Roll Eugene Genovese 1974 American English
2560 The Human Condition Hannah Arendt 1958 German English
2750 The Worm Forgives The Plough John Stewart Collis 1947 British English
2788 The Weavers Gerhart Hauptmann 1892 German German
3079 Waiting For Lefty Clifford Odets 1935 American English
3259 The 42nd Parallel John Dos Passos 1930 American English
3293 Looking Backward, 2000 1887 Edward Bellamy 1888 American English
3324 The Harvesters Cesare Pavese 1941 Italian Unknown
4207 Here's to You, Jesusa! Elena Poniatowska 1969 Mexican Spanish
4269 Who Can Be Happy And Free In Russia? Nikolay Nekrasov 1870 Russian Russian
4286 In The Skin Of A Lion Michael Ondaatje 1987 Canadian English
4371 Irrlicht Und Feuer Max von der Grün 1963 German German
4751 Origins of the New South C. Vann Woodward 1951 American English
4787 Two Years Before the Mast Richard Henry Dana 1840 American English
5034 Black Reconstruction In America W. E. B. Du Bois 1935 American English
5246 Jews Without Money Michael Gold 1930 American English
5264 Accumulation On A World Scale Samir Amin 1970 French French
5268 Under The Feet Of Jesus Helena María Viramontes 1995 American English
5348 How the Other Half Lives Jacob A. Riis 1890 Danish English
5472 Working Studs Terkel 1974 American English
5477 Strumpet City James Plunkett 1969 Irish English
5915 Hard Labor Cesare Pavese 1938 Italian Italian
5953 The Education Of Everett Richardson Silver Donald Cameron 1977 Canadian English
6002 Travaux Georges Navel 1945 French French
6213 Indul A Bakterház Sándor Rideg 1973 Hungarian Hungarian
6251 The Craftsman Richard Sennett 2008 American English
6263 Lowest Of The Low Günter Wallraff 1985 German German
6300 Lord Of The Barnyard Tristan Egolf 1998 American English
6331 The Night Watchman Louise Erdrich 2020 American English
6360 The Restraint Of Beasts Magnus Mills 1998 British English
6379 The Principles Of Scientific Management Frederick Winslow Taylor 1911 American English
6491 Life In The Iron Mills Rebecca Harding Davis 1861 American English
6754 I Hotel Karen Tei Yamashita 2010 American English
7120 A Louis Zukofsky 1991 American English
7202 Gb84 David Peace 2004 British English
7215 Unto This Last John Ruskin 1860 British English
7215 What Is To Be Done? Nikolay Chernyshevsky 1863 Russian Russian
8105 Call Home The Heart Olive Tilford Dargan 1932 American English
8373 The Seed Is Mine Charles Van Onselen 1996 South African English
8563 Slavery by Another Name Douglas A. Blackmon 2008 American English
8788 What Work Is Philip Levine 1991 American English
8888 The Fatal Shore Robert Hughes 1987 Australian English
8923 Hidden America Jeanne Marie Laskas 2012 American English
9245 Cities Of Salt Abd al-Rahman Munif 1984 Arabic Arabic
10303 Theory Of Peasant Economy Alexander V. Chayanov 1925 Russian Russian
10303 The Conquest Of Bread Petr Kropotkin 1892 Russian French
10437 The Words Of César Chávez César Chávez 2002 American English
10704 Black Folk Blair L.M. Kelley 2023 Unknown English
10741 Farm Hands Tom Rivers 2012 American English
10767 Career And Family Claudia Goldin 2021 American English
10942 Selected Poems Philip Levine 1984 American English
11059 Midnight Mao Dun 1933 Chinese Chinese
11134 And Their Children After Them Dale Maharidge, Michael Williamson 1989 American English
11511 On The Line Joseph Ponthus 2019 French French
11636 Principles Of Political Economy John Stuart Mill 1848 British English
11660 China Men Maxine Hong Kingston 1980 American English
11811 Rosie The Riveter Revisited Sherna Berger Gluck 1987 American English
11923 Capitalism, Socialism, Ecology Andre Gorz 1991 French French
12081 Shop Class As Soulcraft Matthew B. Crawford 2009 American English
13266 Forged Under The Sun Fran Leeper Buss 1993 American English
13359 Past And Present Thomas Carlyle 1843 British English
13532 The Path Between The Seas David McCullough 1977 American English
14232 Manhattan Beach Jennifer Egan 2017 American English
14232 Sweat Lynn Nottage 2015 American English
14334 Beyond Smoke And Mirrors Douglas S. Massey 2002 American English
14373 Smoke And Steel Carl Sandburg 1920 American English
14713 The Iron Heel Jack London 1908 American English
14983 Poverty, By America Matthew Desmond 2023 American English
15673 Lummox Fannie Hurst 1923 American English
15897 The Acquisitive Society R. H. Tawney 1920 British English
15897 Grundrisse Karl Marx 1857 German German
16487 Coolie Mulk Raj Anand 1936 Indian English
15897 Part Of Our Time Murray Kempton 1955 American English
15897 Christ In Concrete Pietro di Donato 1939 American English
15897 Dynamite Louis Adamic 1931 American English
15897 Labor’s Untold Story Richard Boyer, Herbert Morais 1955 American English
15897 Exploring The Dangerous Trades Alice Hamilton 1943 American English
15897 North Star Country Meridel Le Sueur 1945 American English
15897 Factories In The Fields Carey McWilliams 1939 American English
15897 America Is In The Heart Carlos Bulosan 1946 Filipino English
16525 Oil! Upton Sinclair 1927 American English
16686 Selected Writings Karl Marx 1973 German German
17117 Voyagers to the West Bernard Bailyn 1986 American English
16815 Mr Puntila And His Man Matti Bertolt Brecht 1940 German German
17117 Essential Labor Angela Garbes 2021 American English
17117 Feminism For The 99% Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya, Nancy Fraser 2019 American English
17117 How To Tell When You're Tired Reg Theriault 1995 American English
17117 Simone Weil Simone Weil 1986 French French
17117 A Hazard Of New Fortunes William Dean Howells 1890 American English
17117 The Girl Meridel Le Sueur 1978 American English
17117 On Such A Full Sea Chang-rae Lee 2014 American English
17117 Trampling Out The Vintage Frank Bardacke 2011 American English
17117 The American Crucible Robin Blackburn 2011 British English
17117 Labor And Monopoly Capital Harry Braverman 1974 American English
17117 Detroit Dan Georgakas 1975 Unknown English
16962 Black Majority Peter H. Wood 1974 American English
17117 Aneurin Bevan Michael Foot 1973 British English