The Greatest Books of All Time on Legacy

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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
43 Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner 1936 American English
123 Memoirs of Hadrian Marguerite Yourcenar 1951 French French
264 The Epic Of Gilgamesh Unknown -2100 Multiple Akkadian
475 Gilead Marilynne Robinson 2004 American English
515 Lives of the Artists Giorgio Vasari 1550 Italian Italian
623 Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry 1985 American English
658 Angle of Repose Wallace Stegner 1971 American English
1233 Children of Gebelawi Naguib Mahfouz 1959 Egyptian Arabic
1257 Lives of the Caesars Suetonius 121 Roman Latin
1685 Burr Gore Vidal 1973 American English
1704 Celestial Harmonies Peter Esterhazy 2000 Hungarian Hungarian
1912 World's End T. C. Boyle 1987 American English
2027 Stanzas about the Death of his Father Jorge Manrique 1476 Spanish Spanish
2083 Santa Evita Tomás Eloy Martínez 1995 Argentinian Spanish
2420 A Mathematician's Apology G. H. Hardy 1940 British English
2650 The House of Scorta Laurent Gaudé 2004 French French
2697 Wise Children Angela Carter 1991 British English
2861 A Ballad for Georg Henig Viktor Paskov 1987 Bulgarian Bulgarian
2890 Olvidado Rey Gudú Ana María Matute 1996 Spanish Spanish
2998 Staying On Paul Scott 1977 British English
3287 The Aspern Papers Henry James 1888 American English
3301 Baburnama Zahir Uddin Muhammad Babur 1530 Baburnama Chagatai turkish
3516 In the American Grain William Carlos Williams 1925 American English
3565 The Eighth Life Nino Haratishvili 2014 Georgian German
4369 The Moor's Last Sigh Salman Rushdie 1995 British English
4421 Memoirs Of The Author Of A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman William Godwin 1798 British English
4522 Last Train to Memphis Peter Guralnick 1994 American English
4638 Darkmans Nicola Barker 2007 British English
4718 A Life of Picasso John Richardson 1991 British English
4898 The Book Of Fame Lloyd Jones 2000 New Zealand English
4991 Madame Curie - A Biography by Eve Curie Eve Curie 1937 French French
5022 The King David Report Stefan Heym 1972 German German
5259 Solomon Gursky Was Here Mordecai Richler 1989 Canadian English
5434 The House At Old Vine Norah Lofts 1961 British English
5483 The House At Sunset Norah Lofts 1962 British English
5648 The Bear William Faulkner 1942 American English
5668 La Famille Boussardel Philippe Heriat 1944 French French
5704 The Persian Boy Mary Renault 1972 British English
5934 Small Fry Lisa Brennan-Jobs 2018 American English
6005 Bound To Violence Yambo Ouologuem 1968 Malian French
6188 Claudius The God Robert Graves 1935 British English
6199 Girl in Hyacinth Blue Susan Vreeland 1999 American English
6259 The Allure Of Chanel Paul Morand 1976 French French
6500 The Black Count Tom Reiss 2012 French English
6508 Arcadia Jim Crace 1992 British English
6508 Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture Apostolos Doxiadis 1992 Greek Greek
6664 How The Word Is Passed Clint Smith 2021 American English
6767 The Charles Men Verner von Heidenstam 1897 Swedish Swedish
6812 Scorched Wajdi Mouawad 2003 French French
7067 O Testamento Do Sr. Napumoceno Da Silva Araújo Germano Almeida 1989 Cape Verdean Portuguese
7073 Augustus John Williams 1972 American English
7147 Captains And The Kings Taylor Caldwell 1972 American English
7159 Midnight Sun Ramsey Campbell 1990 British English
7216 Oraisons funèbres Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet 1689 French French
7216 On Sepulchres Ugo Foscolo 1809 Italian Italian
7635 The Big Music Kirsty Gunn 2012 New Zealander English
8144 Vor Uns Die Sintflut Urs Widmer 1998 Swiss German
8174 Life Keith Richards 2010 British English
8276 Tennyson Christopher Ricks 1972 British English
8314 Vigilia Del Almirante Augusto Roa Bastos 1992 Paraguayan Spanish
8393 de Kooning Mark Stevens, Annalyn Swan 2004 American English
8445 Der Geliebte Der Mutter Urs Widmer 2000 Swiss German
8770 John Adams David McCullough 2001 American English
8990 Tinkers Paul Harding 2009 American English
9074 Cleopatra Stacy Schiff 2010 Egyptian English
9074 Alexander Hamilton Ron Chernow 2004 American English
9711 Katherine Of Aragon Alison Weir 2016 British English
9828 Tristano Dies Antonio Tabucchi 2004 Italian Italian
9917 The Messiah Of Stockholm Cynthia Ozick 1987 American English
9952 The Book Of Fathers Miklós Vámos 2000 Hungarian Hungarian
9989 Ravel Jean Echenoz 2006 French French
10220 What's Bred In The Bone Robertson Davies 1985 Canadian English
10308 Dear Departed Marguerite Yourcenar 1974 French French
10308 Renoir, My Father Jean Renoir 1962 French French
10726 Dominion Calvin Baker 2006 American English
10788 Washington Ron Chernow 2010 American English
10982 Portrait Of An Artist Laurie Lisle 1980 American English
11036 My Life And The Beautiful Game Pele 1977 Brazilian English
11237 The Illustrious House of Ramires Eça de Queirós 1900 Portuguese Portuguese
11445 The Magnificent Spinster May Sarton 1985 American English
11663 The Patriarch David Nasaw 2012 American English
11663 The House Of Broken Angels Luis Alberto Urrea 2018 American English
11941 American Lion Jon Matteson 2008 American English
11941 George Washington Douglas Southall Freeman 1948 American English
11941 Lindbergh A. Scott Berg 1998 American English
12050 The Death Of Napoleon Simon Leys 1986 Belgian French
12242 Brother Brontë Fernando A. Flores 2023 Unknown English
12515 Family Album Claribel Alegría 1991 Nicaraguan Spanish
13362 The Lives Of The Poets Samuel Johnson 1779 British English
13567 Johnny Cash Reinhard Kleist 2006 German German
13886 Elmer Gerry Alanguilan 2009 Unknown English
14211 Queen Victoria Lytton Strachey 1921 British English
14232 Founding Brothers Joseph Ellis 2000 American English
14232 The Damned Utd David Peace 2006 British English
14348 Shadow Country Peter Matthiessen 2008 American English
14435 Einstein Walter Isaacson 2007 American English
14458 A Champion's Mind Pete Sampras 2008 American English
14680 Being Nixon Evan Thomas 2015 American English
14985 The Hemingses of Monticello Annette Gordon-Reed 2008 American English
14985 Imperial Caesar Rex Warner 1960 British English
14985 Short Nights Of The Shadow Catcher Timothy Egan 2012 American English
14985 The Skystone (The Camulod Chronicles, Book 1) Jack Whyte 1992 Canadian English
14985 The 1619 Project Nikole Hannah-Jones 2020 American English
14985 Forward The Foundation Isaac Asimov 1993 American English
14985 In The Freud Archives Janet Malcolm 1984 American English
14985 Fatherland Burkhard Bilger 2023 Unknown English
14985 The Latecomer Jean Hanff Korelitz 2022 American English
14985 The Most Secret Memory Of Men Mohamed Mbougar Sarr 2023 Senegalese French
14985 Above Ground Clint Smith 2023 American English
15640 舊址 Li Rui 1998 Chinese Chinese
15642 Surrender Bono 2022 Irish English
15914 A Mass For The Dead William Gibson 1968 American English
15914 The Tentmaker Julius Berstl 1935 Unknown German
15914 Conscience Of The King Alfred Duggan 1951 British English
15914 The Florentine Carl Spinatelli 1953 Unknown English
17162 The Great Man Kate Christensen 2007 American English
17162 George Mills Stanley Elkin 1982 American English
17162 Sons of Mississippi Paul Hendrickson 2003 American English
17162 Custer's Trials T. J. Stiles 2015 American English
17162 Viking Britain Thomas Williams 2017 British English