The Greatest Books of All Time on Poverty

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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
11 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky 1866 Russian Russian
26 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 1939 American English
40 Les Misérables Victor Hugo 1862 French French
47 David Copperfield Charles Dickens 1849 British English
48 Journey to the End of The Night Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1932 French French
57 The Idiot Fyodor Dostoevsky 1869 Russian Russian
79 As I Lay Dying William Faulkner 1930 American English
93 Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1868 American English
107 Native Son Richard Wright 1940 American English
170 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck 1937 American English
183 The Jungle Upton Sinclair 1906 American English
209 Hunger Knut Hamsun 1890 Norwegian Norwegian
216 A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens 1843 British English
223 A House for Mr. Biswas V. S. Naipaul 1961 Trinidadian English
239 Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller 1934 American English
244 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith 1943 American English
265 Cry, the Beloved Country Alan Paton 1948 South African English
281 The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck 1931 American English
288 Independent People Halldor Laxness 1934 Icelandic Icelandic
296 The Lover Marguerite Duras 1984 French French
308 The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison 1970 American English
322 Household Tales Brothers Grimm 1812 German German
329 History Elsa Morante 1974 Italian Italian
336 Sister Carrie Theodore Dreiser 1900 American English
339 The Adventures of Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 1837 British English
341 The Human Comedy Honoré de Balzac 1830 French French
351 Moll Flanders Daniel Defoe 1722 British English
356 Germinal Émile Zola 1885 French French
371 History of My Life Giacomo Casanova 1822 Italian French
439 North and South Elizabeth Gaskell 1855 British English
456 Let Us Now Praise Famous Men James Agee 1941 American English
490 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton 1911 American English
492 The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Robert Tressell, Peter Miles 1914 British English
519 Call It Sleep Henry Roth 1934 American English
533 Cousin Bette Honoré de Balzac 1846 French French
544 The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes Unknown 1554 Spanish Spanish
549 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry 1995 Indian English
557 The Souls of Black Folk W. E. B. Du Bois 1903 American English
559 Christ Stopped at Eboli Carlo Levi 1945 Italian Italian
575 I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith 1948 British English
587 The Man with the Golden Arm Nelson Algren 1949 American English
601 The House of the Seven Gables Nathaniel Hawthorne 1851 American English
606 New Grub Street George Gissing 1891 British English
630 The Swindler Francisco de Quevedo 1626 Spanish Spanish
640 Black Boy Richard Wright 1945 American English
643 Silas Marner George Eliot 1861 British English
685 Them Joyce Carol Oates 1969 American English
692 The Hive Camilo José Cela 1951 Spanish Spanish
695 Boys Alive Pier Paolo Pasolini 1955 Italian Italian
722 Bastard Out of Carolina Dorothy Allison 1992 American English
746 Nervous Conditions Tsitsi Dangarembga 1988 Zimbabwean English
761 Goodbye to Berlin Christopher Isherwood 1939 British English
764 Mother Maxim Gorky 1906 Russian Russian
771 God's Bits of Wood Ousmane Sembène 1960 Senegalese French
792 A Kestrel for a Knave Barry Hines 1968 British English
817 Rickshaw Boy Lao She 1936 Chinese Chinese
852 The Last Chronicle of Barset Anthony Trollope 1867 British English
857 Midaq Alley Naguib Mahfouz 1947 Egyptian Arabic
882 The Hour of the Star Clarice Lispector 1977 Brazilian Portuguese
888 Drunkard Émile Zola 1877 French Unknown
901 Last Exit to Brooklyn Hubert Selby 1964 American English
914 The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 1938 American English
928 Tobacco Road Erskine Caldwell 1932 American English
931 The House by the Medlar Tree Giovanni Verga 1881 Italian Italian
937 The Sea Wall Marguerite Duras 1950 French French
941 Collected Essays of George Orwell George Orwell 1968 British English
942 Cannery Row John Steinbeck 1945 American English
949 Nada Carmen Laforet 1944 Spanish Spanish
973 The Burning Plain and Other Stories Juan Rulfo 1953 Mexican Spanish
1049 Works and Days Hesiod -700 Greek Ancient greek
1078 Death on Credit Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1936 French French
1119 The Street Ann Petry 1946 American English
1143 Tevye The Dairyman And The Railroad Stories Sholem Aleichem 1894 Jewish Yiddish
1146 Nicholas Nickleby Charles Dickens 1839 British English
1154 True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey 2000 Australian English
1165 The Horse's Mouth Joyce Cary 1944 British English
1204 Nickel And Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich 2001 American English
1206 Pachinko Min Jin Lee 2017 American English
1222 Studs Lonigan James T. Farrell 1932 American English
1225 Untouchable Mulk Raj Anand 1935 Indian English
1241 The Life Before Us Romain Gary 1975 French French
1245 Down and Out in Paris and London George Orwell 1933 British English
1316 The Fountain Overflows Rebecca West 1956 British English
1333 Barefoot Zaharia Stancu 1948 Romanian Romanian
1365 Nectar in a Sieve Kamala Markandaya 1954 Indian English
1368 Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward 2011 American English
1377 Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl 1964 British English
1392 Evicted Matthew Desmond 2016 American English
1433 Random Family Adrian Nicole LeBlanc 2003 American English
1450 Mary Barton Elizabeth Gaskell 1848 British English
1464 Little Dorrit Charles Dickens 1855 British English
1477 An Essay on the Principle of Population Thomas Robert Malthus 1798 British English
1495 Behind the Beautiful Forevers Katherine Boo 2012 American English
1502 The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born Ayi K. Armah 1968 Ghanaian English
1505 The Famished Road Ben Okri 1991 Nigerian English
1514 Pelle The Conqueror Martin Andersen Nexø 1906 Danish Danish
1523 Guzmán de Alfarache Mateo Alemán 1599 Spanish Spanish
1556 The Poems of Francois Villon François Villon 1489 French Middle french
1608 The Loneliness of the Long-distance Runner Alan Sillitoe 1959 British English
1634 The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros 1984 American English
1643 Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt 1996 American English
1670 The Emigrants Vilhelm Moberg 1949 Swedish Swedish
1711 Woyzeck Georg Buchner 1879 German German
1729 Requiem for a Dream Hubert Selby 1978 American English
1733 My Childhood Maxim Gorky 1913 Russian Russian
1743 Life & Times of Michael K J. M. Coetzee 1983 South African English
1752 Men We Reaped Jesmyn Ward 2013 American English
1770 The Emperor of Portugallia Selma Lagerlöf 1914 Swedish Swedish
1772 Hard Times Charles Dickens 1854 British English
1776 Flowering Nettle Harry Martinson 1935 Swedish Swedish
1781 Juno And The Paycock Sean O'Casey 1924 Irish English
1820 Fontamara Ignazio Silone 1933 Italian Italian
1900 Collected Stories Of O. Henry O. Henry 1908 American English
1915 A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works Jonathan Swift 1729 Irish English
1926 Stories of Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Gogol 1831 Russian Russian
1936 Ask The Dust John Fante 1939 American English
1954 They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Horace McCoy 1935 American English
1996 A Childhood Harry Crews 1978 American English
2008 Job Joseph Roth 1930 Austrian German
2019 The Berlin Stories Christopher Isherwood 1945 British English