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
5511 Now in November Josephine Winslow Johnson 1934 American English
5621 Wealth and Poverty George Gilder 1981 American English
5667 Rich Man, Poor Man Irwin Shaw 1969 American English
5692 All God’s Dangers Theodore Rosengarten 1974 American English
5700 The Little Virtues Natalia Ginzburg 1962 Italian Italian
5709 Διηγήματα Michail Mitsakis 1987 Greek Greek
5725 White Mule William Carlos Williams 1937 American English
5783 Il Ventre Di Napoli Matilde Serao 1884 Italian Italian
5783 Il Mare Non Bagna Napoli Anna Maria Ortese 1953 Italian Italian
5809 Prairie Fires Caroline Fraser 2017 American English
5817 Epigrams Martial 86 Latin Latin
5825 Moralia Plutarch -100 Greek Greek
5847 The Last Shot Darcy Frey 1994 American English
5853 Chatterton Alfred de Vigny 1835 French French
5854 Major Barbara George Bernard Shaw 1905 British English
5889 House With The Green Shutters George Douglas Brown 1901 Scottish English
5894 The Power Of Darkness Leo Tolstoy 1886 Russian Russian
5902 The Beggar's Opera John Gay 1728 British English
5958 House Of Hunger Dambudzo Marechera 1978 Zimbabwean English
5988 Ham On Rye Charles Bukowski 1982 American English
6005 The People Of The Abyss Jack London 1903 American English
6005 Waiting For Nothing And Other Writings Tom Kromer 1935 American English
6083 The Lamplighter Maria Susanna Cummins 1854 American English
6130 Negroland Margo Jefferson 2015 American English
6144 The Time Ludmila Petrushevskaya 1992 Russian Russian
6155 Women As Lovers Elfriede Jelinek 1975 Austrian German
6202 Amantul Colivăresei Radu Aldulescu 1996 Romanian Romanian
6205 The Earth Émile Zola 1887 French French
6218 The Sound Of Our Steps Ronit Matalon 2008 Israeli Hebrew
6227 Kaffir Boy Mark Mathabane 1986 South African English
6275 Owls Do Cry Janet Frame 1957 New Zealand English
6283 Union Street Pat Barker 1982 British English
6321 My Brother Jamaica Kincaid 1997 Antiguan English
6322 A Fortunate Life A. B. Facey 1981 Australian English
6339 Centesimus Annus Pope John Paul II 1991 Vatican City Latin
6382 The Condition Of The Working Class In England Friedrich Engels 1845 German German
6470 The Spinning Heart Donal Ryan 2012 Irish English
6493 Life In The Iron Mills Rebecca Harding Davis 1861 American English
6493 Ruth Hall Fanny Fern 1854 American English
6525 The Mars Room Rachel Kushner 2018 American English
6531 Born A Crime Trevor Noah 2016 South African English
6561 The Tortilla Curtain T. Coraghessan Boyle 1995 American English
6605 Hillbilly Elegy J. D. Vance 2016 American English
6614 Lars Hård Jan Fridegård 1935 Swedish Swedish
6655 Invisible Child Andrea Elliott 2021 American English
6663 Preparation for the Next Life Atticus Lish 2014 American English
6681 Blacktop Wasteland S. A. Cosby 2020 American English
6682 Barren Lives Graciliano Ramos 1965 Brazilian Portuguese
6695 The Stories Of Breece D'j Pancake Breece D'J Pancake 1983 American English
6717 The Son of a Servant August Strindberg 1886 Swedish Swedish
6734 The Poverty of Power Barry Commoner 1976 American English
6748 The Garlic Ballads Yan Mo 1988 Chinese Chinese
6767 Mark, The Match Boy Horatio Alger Jr. 1869 American English
6767 Sotileza Jose M. de Pereda 1885 Spanish Spanish
6813 La Barraca Vicente Blasco Ibáñez 1898 Spanish Spanish
6835 There Are No Children Here Alex Kotlowitz 1991 American English
6886 Dr. Johnson & Mr. Savage Richard Holmes 1993 British English
6887 The Ginger Man J. P. Donleavy 1955 Irish English
6903 Ain't No Makin' It Jay MacLeod 1987 American English
6921 São Bernardo Graciliano Ramos 1934 Brazilian Portuguese
6957 There Will Be No Miracles Here Casey Gerald 2018 American English
6974 The Good Life Elsewhere Vladimir Lorchenkov 2008 Russian Russian
7063 Nightcrawling Leila Mottley 2022 American English
7136 Chronicler Of The Winds Henning Mankell 1995 Swedish Swedish
7161 Saved Edward Bond 1965 British English
7193 O Quinze Rachel de Queiroz 1930 Brazilian Portuguese
7216 Little Novels Of Sicily Giovanni Verga 1883 Italian Italian
7216 The She Wolf And Other Stories Giovanni Verga 1880 Italian Italian
7216 Poems Of Thomas Hood Thomas Hood 1826 British English
7216 Christmas Stories Charles Dickens 1852 British English
7216 An Egyptian Childhood Taha Husayn 1929 Egyptian Arabic
7216 Vein Of Iron Ellen Glasgow 1935 American English
7215 The Jailing Of Cecelia Capture Janet Campbell Hale 1985 American English
7216 Pather Panchali Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay 1929 Indian Bengali
7616 Dirty Havana Trilogy Pedro Juan Gutierrez 1998 Cuban Spanish
7706 Poverty, By America Matthew Desmond 2023 American English
7712 Child Of The Dark Carolina Maria De Jesus 1960 Brazilian Portuguese
7731 Fraternity John Galsworthy 1909 British English
7757 Shuggie Bain Douglas Stuart 2020 Scottish English
7786 The Wig Charles Wright 1966 American English
7858 Jennie Gerhardt Theodore Dreiser 1911 American English
7872 Poor Cow Nell Dunn 1967 British English
8032 An Area Of Darkness V. S. Naipaul 1964 British English
8107 Call Home The Heart Olive Tilford Dargan 1932 American English
8107 Daughter Of Earth Agnes Smedley 1929 American English
8107 Early Spring Tove Ditlevsen 1940 Danish Danish
8107 Weeds Edith Summers Kelley 1923 Canadian English
8189 A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But A Sandwich Alice Childress 1973 American English
8198 A Daughter Of Han Ning Lao Tai-Tai, told to Ida Pruitt 1945 Chinese English
8230 Solito Javier Zamora 2022 Unknown English
8234 The Promised Land Nicholas Lemann 1991 American English
8253 The Old Curiosity Shop Charles Dickens 1841 British English
8266 Coming Of Age In Mississippi Anne Moody 1968 American English
8323 Dream Of Ding Village Yan Lianke 2006 Chinese Chinese
8352 The Farming of Bones Edwidge Danticat 1998 Haitian English
8356 Chanda's Secrets Allan Stratton 2004 Canadian English
8376 The Seed Is Mine Charles Van Onselen 1996 South African English
8406 Meek Heritage Frans Eemil Sillanpää 1919 Finnish Finnish
8424 Coming Apart Charles Murray 2012 American English
8438 Morte E Vida Severina João Cabral de Melo Neto 1955 Brazilian Portuguese
8589 Sold Patricia McCormick 2006 American English
8617 Enrique's Journey Sonia Nazario 2006 American English
8638 Other Russias Victoria Lomasko 2017 Russian Russian
8655 The Dollmaker Harriette Arnow 1954 American English
8738 The End Of Eddy Édouard Louis 2014 French French
8801 World Light Halldor Laxness 1937 Icelandic Icelandic
8818 Man Gone Down Michael Thomas 2007 American English
8846 Our Kids Robert D. Putnam 2015 American English
8927 How Children Succeed Paul Tough 2012 Canadian English
8930 The Slum Aluísio Azevedo 1890 Brazilian Portuguese
8957 The Vagrants Yiyun Li 2009 American English
8976 The Mother Pearl S. Buck 1934 American English
8977 The Great Divide Joseph Stiglitz 2015 American English
9043 Against The Loveless World Susan Abulhawa 2020 Palestinian English
9044 A Simple Path Mother Teresa 1995 Unknown English
9132 My Name Is Lucy Barton Elizabeth Strout 2016 American English
9184 A Theology Of Liberation Gustavo Gutierrez 1971 Peruvian Spanish
9192 Kieron Smith, Boy James Kelman 2008 Scottish English
9192 American Rust Philipp Meyer 2009 American English
9274 Naples 44 Norman Lewis 1978 British English