The Greatest Books of All Time on Slavery

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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
8856 The Water Dancer Ta-Nehisi Coates 2019 American English
8869 Crisis Of The House Divided Harry V. Jaffa 1959 American English
8931 A Escrava Isaura Bernardo Guimarães 1875 Brazilian Portuguese
8940 Queen Of The Conquered Kacen Callender 2019 American English
8940 The Rage Of Dragons Evan Winter 2019 Canadian English
9031 Citizen Of The Galaxy Robert A. Heinlein 1957 American English
9045 Blues People Leroi Jones 1963 American English
9094 River God Wilbur Smith 1993 South African English
9342 Master Of The Crossroads Madison Smartt Bell 2000 American English
9550 Poems Of Nicolás Guillén Nicolás Guillén 1972 Cuban Spanish
9918 Crooked Plow Itamar Vieira Junior 2019 Brazilian Portuguese
10040 Goat Days Benyamin 2008 Indian Malayalam
10081 Habibi Craig Thompson 2011 American English
10111 Lose Your Mother Saidiya Hartman 2007 American English
10174 March Geraldine Brooks 2005 American English
10295 La Otra Mano De Lepanto Carmen Boullosa 2004 Mexican Spanish
10454 Empire Of Cotton Sven Beckert 2014 American English
10498 Battlefield Earth L. Ron Hubbard 1982 American English
10586 Heartfire Orson Scott Card 1998 American English
10613 The 272 Rachel L. Swarns 2023 Unknown English
10663 Louisiana Maurice Denuzière 1977 French French
10727 Dominion Calvin Baker 2006 American English
10727 The Amalgamation Polka Stephen Wright 2006 American English
10752 The Moor's Account Laila Lalami 2014 American English
10763 A Moonless, Starless Sky Alexis Okeowo 2017 American English
10789 Washington Ron Chernow 2010 American English
10825 Pym Mat Johnson 2011 American English
10871 Copper Sun Sharon M. Draper 2006 American English
10947 Barracoon Zora Neale Hurston 2018 American English
11113 Powers Ursula K. Le Guin 2007 American English
11141 The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture David Brion Davis 1966 American English
11168 Foe J. M. Coetzee 1986 South African English
11216 Ship Breaker Paolo Bacigalupi 2010 American English
11250 The Island Of Slaves Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux 1725 French French
11257 Lemon Swamp And Other Places Mamie Garvin Fields 1983 American English
11390 The Devil In America Kai Ashante Wilson 2014 American English
11445 The Land Of Look Behind Michelle Cliff 1985 American English
11516 The Other Slavery Andrés Reséndez 2016 American English
11539 Benito Cereno Herman Melville 1855 American English
11663 On Juneteenth Annette Gordon-Reed 2021 American English
11663 Shakespeare In A Divided America James Shapiro 2020 American English
11663 A World On Fire Amanda Foreman 2011 British English
11663 The Ordeal Of Elizabeth Marsh Linda Colley 2007 British English
11854 Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation Allen Guelzo 2004 American English
11941 Crusader in Crinoline Forrest Wilson 1941 American English
11941 John C. Calhoun Margaret Louise Coit 1950 American English
11941 Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War David Donald 1960 American English
11941 Grant William S. McFeely 1981 American English
11941 Harriet Beecher Stowe Joan D. Hedrick 1994 American English
11941 Chasing Me To My Grave Winfred Rembert, Erin I. Kelly 2021 American English
12024 The Amulet of Samarkand Jonathan Stroud 2003 British English
12326 Lincoln David Herbert Donald 1995 American English
12326 Cloudsplitter Russell Banks 1998 American English
12450 Changó, The Biggest Badass Manuel Zapata Olivella 1983 Colombian Spanish
12941 Slaves In The Family Edward Ball 1998 American English
13217 The Crisis Winston Churchill 1901 British English
13249 Stamped Ibram X. Kendi, Jason Reynolds 2020 American English
13305 Kushiel's Dart Jacqueline Carey 2001 American English
13362 The Slave Isaac Bashevis Singer 1962 Polish Yiddish
13531 Wild Seed Octavia E. Butler 1980 American English
13533 The Writings Of Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson 1903 American English
13716 The Just City Jo Walton 2015 Canadian English
13886 An Unkindness Of Ghosts Rivers Solomon 2017 American English
13886 Underground Airlines Ben H. Winters 2016 American English
13968 In The Matter Of Nat Turner Christopher Tomlins 2020 Unknown English
14025 Ardency Kevin Young 2011 American English
14160 The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come John Fox Jr. 1903 American English
14232 Foundryside Robert Jackson Bennett 2018 American English
14232 The Carpet Makers Andreas Eschbach 1995 German German
14348 Middle Passage Charles R. Johnson 1990 American English
14363 Water Music T. C. Boyle 1982 American English
14368 A History Of The American People Woodrow Wilson 1902 American English
14499 The Iron Dragon's Daughter Michael Swanwick 1993 American English
14554 волкодав Maria Semyonova 1995 Russian Russian
14667 Sacred Hunger Barry Unsworth 1992 British English
14672 Abraham Lincoln Lord Charnwood 1916 British English
14697 The Brothers Menaechmus Plautus -184 Roman Latin
14985 The March E. L. Doctorow 2005 American English
14985 Freedom Orlando Patterson 1991 Jamaican English
14985 The Hemingses of Monticello Annette Gordon-Reed 2008 American English
14985 A Nation under Our Feet Steven Hahn 2003 American English
14985 The Fiery Trial Eric Foner 2010 American English
14985 The Internal Enemy Alan Taylor 2013 American English
14985 Stamped from the Beginning Ibram X. Kendi 2016 American English
14985 The Freedom Maze Delia Sherman 2011 American English
14985 Property Valerie Martin 2003 American English
14985 The Real Story Stephen R. Donaldson 1991 American English
14985 Crossing The River Caryl Phillips 1993 British English
14985 Native Guard Natasha Trethewey 2006 American English
14985 The Sweetness Of Water Nathan Harris 2021 American English
14985 The 1619 Project Nikole Hannah-Jones 2020 American English
14985 Ship Of Magic Robin Hobb 1998 American English
14985 Salt Earl Lovelace 1996 Trinidadian English
14985 The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman Ernest J. Gaines 1971 American English
14985 Horse Geraldine Brooks 2022 Australian English
15567 The Mosquito Timothy C. Winegard 2019 Canadian English
15667 Born In Blackness Howard W. French 2021 American English
15840 Sapphira And The Slave Girl Willa Cather 1940 American English
15916 The Masters and the Slaves Gilberto Freyre 1933 Brazilian Portuguese
15916 Iola Leroy Frances Harper 1892 American English
15916 The House Of Dies Drear Virginia Hamilton 1968 American English
15916 Mi'raj Al Su'ud Ahmad Baba al-Timbukti, Hunqick J. 1615 Malian Unknown
15916 Blues Fell This Morning Paul Oliver 1960 British English
15916 Lydia Bailey Kenneth Roberts 1940 American English
15916 House Divided Ben Ames Williams 1947 American English
17163 The Land Where the Blues Began Alan Lomax 1993 American English
17163 Rough Crossings Simon Schama 2005 British English
17163 Medical Apartheid Harriet A. Washington 2007 American English
17163 A History of the Civil War James Ford Rhodes 1917 American English
17163 Theory of War Joan Brady 1993 American English
17163 A History of the United States Edward Channing 1905 American English
17163 Washington, Village and Capital, 1800-1878 Constance McLaughlin Green 1962 American English
17163 Neither Black Nor White Carl N. Degler 1971 American English
17163 The Impending Crisis, 1841-1867 David M. Potter 1976 American English
17163 The Dred Scott Case Don E. Fehrenbacher 1978 American English
17163 Been in the Storm So Long Leon F. Litwack 1979 American English
17163 The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790 Rhys L. Isaac 1982 American English
17163 Chesapeake James A. Michener 1978 American English
17163 Delicious Foods James Hannaham 2015 American English
17163 The Silence of the Girls Pat Barker 2018 British English