The Greatest Books of All Time on Play

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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
424 A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen 1879 Norwegian Norwegian
529 Life Is a Dream Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1635 Spanish Spanish
572 Three Sisters Anton Chekhov 1901 Russian Russian
778 The Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss 1957 American English
877 The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov 1904 Russian Russian
1035 Uncle Vanya Anton Chekhov 1897 Russian Russian
1084 Mother Courage and Her Children Bertolt Brecht 1941 German German
1308 Cyrano de Bergerac Edmond Rostand 1897 French French
1386 Six Characters in Search of an Author Luigi Pirandello 1921 Italian Italian
2260 The Iceman Cometh Eugene O'Neill 1946 American English
2429 The Physicists Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1962 Swiss German
3224 Much Ado about Nothing William Shakespeare 1600 British English
3274 The Complete Plays of Jean Racine Jean Racine 1677 French French
3417 Plays Pierre Corneille 1641 French French
3514 Rhinoceros and Other Plays Eugène Ionesco 1959 Romanian French
3584 The Would-Be Gentleman Molière 1670 French French
3637 Homo Ludens Johan Huizinga 1938 Dutch Dutch
4138 Three plays Paul Claudel 1912 French French
4290 Finite And Infinite Games James P. Carse 1986 American English
4730 Don Carlos Friedrich Schiller 1787 German German
4788 The Master Builder Henrik Ibsen 1892 Norwegian Norwegian
4794 The Good Person of Szechwan Bertolt Brecht 1943 German German
4952 The Trickster of Seville and His Guest of Stone Tirso de Molina 1630 Spanish Spanish
5273 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Tennessee Williams 1955 American English
5439 Marivaux Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux 1968 French Unknown
7652 Wave Suzy Lee 2008 Unknown English
10303 Man, Play And Games Roger Caillois 1958 French French
13359 An Enemy of the People Henrik Ibsen 1882 Norwegian Norwegian
14170 A Child's Garden Of Verses Robert Louis Stevenson 1885 American English
14872 The Real Mother Goose Blanche Fisher Wright 1916 American English
15897 The Works of George Peele George Peele 1593 British English
15897 A Hole Is To Dig Ruth Krauss 1952 American English
16553 Playing And Reality Donald Winnicott 1971 British English
17114 Free To Learn Peter O. Gray 2013 American English
17114 The Essential Calvin And Hobbes Bill Watterson 1988 American English
17114 The Wander Society Keri Smith 2016 Canadian English
17114 Peepo! Janet Ahlberg, Allan Ahlberg 1981 British English