The Greatest Books of All Time on Power Dynamics

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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
14 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov 1955 American English
132 The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood 1985 Canadian English
154 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey 1962 American English
332 Clarissa Samuel Richardson 1748 British English
471 The Man Who Loved Children Christina Stead 1940 Australian English
503 Pamela Samuel Richardson 1740 British English
550 Max Havelaar Multatuli 1860 Dutch Dutch
554 Satyricon Petronius 65 Roman Latin
989 The Grass Is Singing Doris May Lessing 1950 British English
1059 The True History of the Conquest of New Spain Bernal Díaz del Castillo 1632 Spanish Spanish
1322 A Question of Power Bessie Head 1973 Botswanan English
1438 Édes Anna Dezső Kosztolányi 1926 Hungarian Hungarian
1458 The Ballad of the Sad Cafe Carson McCullers 1951 American English
1928 Ten Days That Shook the World John Reed 1919 American English
2172 Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman 2001 British English
2473 Roll, Jordan, Roll Eugene Genovese 1974 American English
2584 Dawn Octavia E. Butler 1987 American English
2642 The Power Naomi Alderman 2016 British English
2838 The Bottle Factory Outing Beryl Bainbridge 1974 British English
2929 The Waiting Years Fumiko Enchi 1957 Japanese Japanese
3117 The Nine Guardians Rosario Castellanos 1957 Mexican Spanish
3323 Memoirs of My Nervous Illness Daniel Paul Schreber 1903 German German
3583 Married Life David Vogel 1986 Jewish English
3637 Bolwieser Oskar Maria Graf 1931 German German
3637 The Captain Of Köpenick Carl Zuckmayer 1931 German German
4141 Le Pauvre Christ De Bomba Mongo Beti 1956 French French
4431 Das Große Protokoll Gegen Zwetschkenbaum Albert Drach 1964 Austrian German
4450 Shibumi Trevanian 1979 American English
4582 The Zone Sergei Dovlatov 1982 Russian Russian
4740 At Play in the Fields of the Lord Peter Matthiessen 1965 American English
4857 Der Tod Im Reisfeld Peter Scholl-Latour 1970 German German
5589 Caste Isabel Wilkerson 2020 American English
6005 The Ratcatcher Marina Tsvetaeva 1926 Russian Russian
6237 Tar Baby Toni Morrison 1981 American English
6438 History Of The Conquest Of Mexico William H. Prescott 1843 American English
6611 The Russian Revolution Richard Pipes 1990 American English
6855 Male Daughters, Female Husbands Ifi Amadiume 1987 Nigerian English
6913 With The Animals Noëlle Revaz 2002 Swiss French
7028 Going Clear Lawrence Wright 2013 American English
7216 Poems, Plays, And Masques Ben Jonson 1601 British English
7216 The Spider's House Paul Bowles 1955 American English
8446 Trilogie Des Mittelalters Dieter Kühn 2000 German German
8581 In Thrall Jane DeLynn 1982 Unknown English
8843 The Chalice And The Blade Riane Eisler 1987 American English
8929 The End Of Men Hanna Rosin 2012 American English
9149 The World For Sale Jack Farchy, Javier Blas 2021 British English
9330 René’S Flesh Virgilio Piñera 1988 Cuban Spanish
9342 Not Before Sundown Johanna Sinisalo 2000 Finnish Finnish
9661 Schubumkehr Robert Menasse 2013 Austrian German
9768 The Reign Of Greed José Rizal 1891 Filipino Spanish
9810 America, América Greg Grandin 2009 Unknown English
9966 The Wife Meg Wolitzer 2003 American English
10241 Putin's World Angela Stent 2019 American English
10573 Caliban's War James S. A. Corey 2012 American English
10718 Burn It Down Maureen Ryan 2023 Unknown English
10769 Close Quarters William Golding 1987 British English
10786 Cassandra Speaks Elizabeth Lesser 2020 American English
10785 Act Of The Damned António Lobo Antunes 1985 Portuguese Portuguese
10812 The Gypsy Goddess Meena Kandasamy 2014 Indian English
10817 ‘Gapô Lualhati Bautista 1988 Filipino Filipino
10857 American Appetites Joyce Carol Oates 1989 American English
10950 Five Spice Street Can Xue 1988 Chinese Chinese
11068 Fire Down Below William Golding 1989 British English
11085 Praying for Sheetrock Melissa Fay Greene 1991 American English
11168 A World Lit Only By Fire William Manchester 1992 American English
11168 Ghost Wall Sarah Moss 2018 British English
12326 Conquest Of Mexico Hugh Thomas 1993 British English
12957 Clown Town Mick Herron 2025 British Unknown
13083 Talk To Me Rich Benjamin 2025 American English
13321 Downbelow Station C. J. Cherryh 1981 American English
13340 River Of Smoke Amitav Ghosh 2011 Indian English
13362 Rain And Other South Sea Stories W. Somerset Maugham 1921 British English
13600 Brazil Red Jean-Christophe Rufin 2001 French French
13716 The Headmaster Ritual Taylor Antrim 2007 American English
13742 Darconville's Cat Alexander Theroux 1981 American English
13772 Flood Of Fire Amitav Ghosh 2015 Indian English
14986 Ender's Shadow Orson Scott Card 1999 American English
14986 House Of X Powers Of X Jonathan Hickman 2019 American English
14986 Normal Women Philippa Gregory 2023 British English
15670 Born In Blackness Howard W. French 2021 American English
15689 River Spirit Leila Aboulela 2023 Sudanese English
15921 Rules For Radicals Saul D. Alinsky 1971 American English
15921 The Cornerstone Zoe Oldenbourg 1953 French French
15921 The Unhurrying Chase Hilda Prescott 1949 British English
17173 Newjack Ted Conover 2000 American English
16868 Mr Puntila And His Man Matti Bertolt Brecht 1940 German German
17173 Fefu And Her Friends María Irene Fornés 1977 American English
17173 Political Order And Inequality Carles Boix 2015 Spanish English
17173 Season Of The Swamp Yuri Herrera 2022 Unknown English
17173 The Favorites Layne Fargo Unknown Unknown
17173 Status And Culture Karl Marx Unknown Unknown
17173 Lights Out Navessa Allen Unknown Unknown
17052 Winged Pharaoh Joan Grant 1937 British English
17173 Habitus Emma Rooksby Unknown Unknown
17173 Murder Against The Grain Emma Lathen 1967 American English
17173 The Investigation Dorothy Uhnak 1977 American English
17173 Great Expectations Kathy Acker 1989 American English
17173 Revolutionary Spring Christopher Clark 2023 British English
17173 The Middle Kingdoms Martyn Rady 2023 Unknown English
16859 The Belly Of Paris Émile Zola 1873 French French
17173 Inés Da Minha Alma Isabel Allende 2006 Chilean Spanish
17173 Svolení Vanessa Springora 2020 French French
17173 The Rise & Fall Of The Zulu Nation John Laband 1995 Unknown English
17173 Twisted Lies Ana Huang 2022 Unknown English
17173 Velvet Was The Night Silvia Moreno-Garcia 2021 Mexican English
17173 Wordslut Amanda Montell 2023 American English
17173 Then The Fish Swallowed Him Amir Ahmadi Arian 2020 Iranian English
17173 Kafka Gilles Deleuze 1975 French French
17173 An Insular Possession Timothy Mo 1986 British English
17173 The Coin Of Carthage Bryher 1963 British English
17173 The Antagonists Ernest K. Gahn 1971 Unknown English
17173 Sword Of Pleasure Peter Green 1957 British English
17173 Sir William David Stacton 1965 American English
17173 From A Far Land Robert S. Elegant 1986 Unknown English
17173 Peking Anthony Grey 1988 British English
17173 Silk And Steel Stephen Alter 1980 Unknown English
17173 The Patriarchs Angela Saini 2023 British English
17173 Beware The Woman Megan Abbott 2023 American English
17173 Some People Need Killing Patricia Evangelista 2023 Unknown English
17173 Vengeance Is Mine Marie NDiaye 2023 French French