The Greatest Books of All Time on Power

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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
4802 The Confessions Of Lady Nijo Lady Nijo 1307 Japanese Japanese
4871 Music and Silence Rose Tremain 1999 British English
4887 The Crimson Petal And The White Michel Faber 2002 British English
4900 King John William Shakespeare 1700 British English
4935 Who Fears Death Nnedi Okorafor 2010 Nigerian English
4941 In the Heart of the Country J. M. Coetzee 1977 South African English
4951 Aggression Friedrich Hacker 1971 Unknown German
4951 Sergeant Getúlio João Ubaldo Ribeiro 1971 Brazilian Portuguese
4956 Lorenzaccio Alfred de Musset 1834 French French
4957 Figures Of Earth James Branch Cabell 1921 American English
4981 The Emperor Ryszard Kapuscinski 1978 Polish Polish
5022 The King David Report Stefan Heym 1972 German German
5095 The Suns of Independence Ahmadou Kourouma 1968 French French
5116 Дъщерята на Калояна Fani Popova-Mutafova 1943 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5121 Baudolino Umberto Eco 2000 Italian Italian
5123 Creation Gore Vidal 1981 American English
5127 Αντιποίησις Αρχής Alexandros Kotzias 1979 Greek Greek
5161 Самуил Dimitar Talev 1956 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5242 La Saga/ Fuga de J. B./ The Saga/ Escape of J.B. Gonzalo Torrente Ballester 1972 Spanish Spanish
5242 Cavaliers And Roundheads Christopher Hibbert 1968 British English
5259 Solomon Gursky Was Here Mordecai Richler 1989 Canadian English
5276 The Stone Sky N. K. Jemisin 2017 American English
5311 The Town House Norah Lofts 1959 British English
5325 If He Hollers Let Him Go Chester Himes 1945 American English
5377 The Town in Black Kálmán Mikszáth 1910 Hungarian Hungarian
5393 Complete Plays And Poems Christopher Marlowe 1587 British English
5423 A Hungarian Nabob Mór Jókai 1899 Hungarian Hungarian
5448 Imperium Ryszard Kapuscinski 1993 Polish Polish
5467 In The Solitude Of Cotton Fields Bernard-Marie Koltès 1986 French French
5469 L'étrange Destin De Wangrin Amadou Hampâté Bâ 1973 French French
5474 The Unicorn Iris Murdoch 1963 British English
5502 The Crowned Wanderer Rahim Esenov 1994 Turkmen Unknown
5512 The Visit Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1956 Swiss German
5531 The White Disease Karel Čapek 1937 Czech Czech
5583 Democracy Joan Didion 1984 American English
5619 Our Share of Night Mariana Enríquez 2019 Argentinian Spanish
5633 Queens' Play Dorothy Dunnett 1964 British English
5638 The Alteration Kingsley Amis 1976 British English
5651 The Last Enchantment Mary Stewart 1979 British English
5702 Ancillary Justice Ann Leckie 2013 American English
5703 A Place of Greater Safety Hilary Mantel 1992 British English
5704 The Persian Boy Mary Renault 1972 British English
5735 Anne Of The Thousand Days Maxwell Anderson 1950 American English
5743 Diaries Alan Clark 1993 British English
5758 Brown Girl In The Ring Nalo Hopkinson 1998 Canadian English
5783 The Old And The Young Luigi Pirandello 1913 Italian Italian
5815 The Malcontent John Marston 1604 British English
5837 Six Tragedies Seneca 54 Roman Latin
5846 Andromache Jean Racine 1667 French French
5863 The Changeling Thomas, William Rowley Middleton 1622 British English
5862 Mary Stuart Friedrich Schiller 1800 German German
5863 Elders And Betters Ivy Compton-Burnett 1944 British English
5890 The Girl With The Golden Eyes Honoré de Balzac 1835 French French
5889 House With The Green Shutters George Douglas Brown 1901 Scottish English
5901 Parables, Fragments, Aphorisms Franz Kafka 1935 Czech German
5918 A Guest Of Honour Nadine Gordimer 1970 South African English
5908 The Ring Of The Nibelung Richard Wagner 1876 German German
5909 Complete Prose Tales Alexander Pushkin 1831 Russian Russian
5916 The Caucasian Chalk Circle Bertolt Brecht 1944 German German
5918 The Tale Of The 1002nd Night Joseph Roth 1938 Austrian German
5955 A Good Man In Africa William Boyd 1981 British English
5979 The Ogre Michel Tournier 1970 French French
5990 The Homecoming Harold Pinter 1965 British English
5991 Bloodchild Octavia E. Butler 1984 American English
5992 The Eight Katherine Neville 1988 American English
6005 Bound To Violence Yambo Ouologuem 1968 Malian French
6005 Seven Gothic Tales Karen Blixen 1934 Danish Danish
6005 The Ratcatcher Marina Tsvetaeva 1926 Russian Russian
6081 The Power Of The Dog Don Winslow 2005 American English
6102 Life and a Half Sony Labou Tansi 1979 French French
6105 A Storm Of Swords George R. R. Martin 2000 American English
6123 The Lives Of Christopher Chant Diana Wynne Jones 1988 British English
6128 Selected Poems, 1965-1975 Margaret Atwood 1976 Canadian English
6138 The Queen Of The South Arturo Pérez-Reverte 2002 Spanish Spanish
6152 The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob De Zoet David Mitchell 2010 British English
6158 Pawn In Frankincense Dorothy Dunnett 1969 British English
6177 The Mansion William Faulkner 1959 American English
6183 Kenilworth Sir Walter Scott 1821 British English
6184 The Accursed Kings Series Maurice Druon 1955 French French
6188 Claudius The God Robert Graves 1935 British English
6190 Guerrillas V. S. Naipaul 1975 Trinidadian English
6224 Power Politics Martin Wright 1946 British Unknown
6236 The Cannibal John Hawkes 1949 American English
6244 Volpone Ben Jonson 1607 British English
6246 A Discovery Of Witches Deborah Harkness 2011 American English
6265 The Other Boleyn Girl Philippa Gregory 2001 British English
6276 American Tabloid James Ellroy 1995 American English
6278 Citizens Simon Schama 1989 British English
6294 The Ringed Castle Dorothy Dunnett 1971 British English
6308 The Lost Symbol Dan Brown 2009 American English
6343 Kriminalgeschichte Des Christentums Karlheinz Deschner 1986 German German
6448 Kapo Aleksandar Tišma 1987 Serbian Serbo-croatian
6472 Anthills Of The Savannah Chinua Achebe 1987 Nigerian English
6488 This Is The Hour Lion Feuchtwanger 1951 German German
6493 Moses, Man Of The Mountain Zora Neale Hurston 1939 American English
6508 Arcadia Jim Crace 1992 British English
6508 Indigo Marina Warner 1992 British English
6526 The Private Life of Chairman Mao Li Zhi-Sui 1994 Chinese English
6558 Hernani Victor Hugo 1830 French French
6597 Flood Robert Penn Warren 1964 American Unknown
6619 The Struggle For Mastery In Europe A. J. P. Taylor 1954 British English
6629 No Man's Land Harold Pinter 1975 British English
6637 The Ruin Of Kasch Roberto Calasso 1983 Italian Italian
6657 Aus Dem Wörterbuch Des Unmenschen Dolf Sternberger 1989 German German
6670 The Balcony Jean Genet 1957 French French
6700 It's A Good Life Jerome Bixby 1953 American English
6703 Seventh Son Orson Scott Card, Patrick Couton 1987 American English
6711 Ooga-Booga Frederick Seidel 2006 American English
6734 The Poverty of Power Barry Commoner 1976 American English
6737 Political Fictions Joan Didion 2001 American English
6746 The Seven Solitudes Of Lorsa Lopez Sony Labou Tansi 1985 Congolese French
6748 De Advocaat Van De Hanen A. F. Th. van der Heijden 1990 Dutch Dutch
6762 The World's Illusion Jakob Wassermann 1920 German German
6763 Citizen And Subject Mahmood Mamdani 1996 Ugandan English
6767 Doña Perfecta Benito Pérez Galdós 1876 Spanish Spanish
6790 The Eleven Pierre Michon 2009 French French
6793 Men Explain Things To Me Rebecca Solnit 2014 American English
6795 An Analysis Of The Communist System Milovan Djilas 1957 Serbian Serbo-croatian
6808 The Queen Of The Damned Anne Rice 1988 American English
6843 A History of the World in 100 Objects Neil MacGregor 2010 British English