The Greatest Books of All Time on Social Change

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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
179 Fathers and Sons Ivan Turgenev 1862 Russian Russian
380 American Pastoral Philip Roth 1997 American English
382 Parade's End Ford Madox Ford 1924 British English
439 North and South Elizabeth Gaskell 1855 British English
564 Main Street Sinclair Lewis 1920 American English
572 Three Sisters Anton Chekhov 1901 Russian Russian
873 Call to Arms Lu Xun 1922 Chinese Chinese
877 The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov 1904 Russian Russian
1029 Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon Jorge Amado 1958 Brazilian Portuguese
1115 The Cairo Trilogy Naguib Mahfouz 1956 Egyptian Arabic
1230 The Magnificent Ambersons Booth Tarkington 1918 American English
1253 Absolute Beginners Colin MacInnes 1959 British English
1754 Changing Places David Lodge 1975 British English
2051 Palace Walk Naguib Mahfouz 1956 Egyptian Arabic
2070 The Age of Reform Richard Hofstadter 1955 American English
2305 Stockholm series Per Anders Fogelström 1960 Swedish Swedish
2403 The City Of Marvels Eduardo Mendoza 1986 Spanish Spanish
2458 Shirley Charlotte Brontë 1849 British English
2459 Lark Rise To Candleford Flora Thompson 1945 British English
2593 Tales Of Hulan River Xiao Hong 1942 Chinese Chinese
2660 The Years with Laura Diaz Carlos Fuentes 1999 Mexican Spanish
3236 The Radiant Way Margaret Drabble 1987 British English
3402 Brothers Yu Hua 2005 Chinese Chinese
3505 Heavy Wings Jie Zhang 1981 Chinese Chinese
4420 The Madras House Harley Granville Barker 1910 British English
4658 Lanterns on the Levee William Alexander Percy 1941 American English
4784 The Princess Casamassima Henry James 1886 British English
4872 Heat and Dust Ruth Prawer Jhabvala 1975 Indian English
5022 The City And The Mountains Eça de Queirós 1901 Portuguese Portuguese
5095 Where Do We Go From Here Martin Luther King 1967 American English
5417 A Dictionary Of Maqiao Han Shaogong 1996 Chinese Chinese
5483 The Painter Of Signs R. K. Narayan 1976 Indian English
5861 A Modern Instance William Dean Howells 1882 American English
6487 This Is The Hour Lion Feuchtwanger 1951 German German
6965 Bowling Alone Robert D. Putnam 2000 American English
8105 The Convert Elizabeth Robins 1907 British English
8105 Letters Of A Javanese Princess Raden Adjeng Kartini 1911 Indonesian Dutch
8105 Purple Springs Nellie L. McClung 1921 Canadian English
8196 A Daughter Of Han Ning Lao Tai-Tai, told to Ida Pruitt 1945 Chinese English
8620 Age Of Fracture Daniel T. Rodgers 2011 American English
9833 Fountain And Tomb Naguib Mahfouz 1975 Egyptian Arabic
10305 History Of The Russian Revolution Leon Trotsky 1930 Russian Russian
10571 Women Of The Shadows Ann Cornelisen 1976 American English
10886 Architecture For The Poor Hassan Fathy 1973 Egyptian English
11062 Midnight Mao Dun 1933 Chinese Chinese
11452 The Store Thomas Sigismund Stribling 1932 American English
11442 Rich Like Us Nayantara Sahgal 1985 Indian English
11661 In Her Own Right Elisabeth Griffith 1984 American English
11661 Winners Take All Anand Giridharadas 2018 American English
12143 The History Manifesto Johanna Hanink 2014 American English
12258 Exile In The Promised Land Marcia Freedman 1990 American English
12258 May You Be The Mother Of A Hundred Sons Elisabeth Bumiller 1990 American English
12258 Out Of Time Paula Martinac 1990 American English
12832 Daughter Of Persia Sattareh Farman-Farmaian 1992 Iranian English
13307 倪煥之 Ye Shengtao 1928 Chinese Chinese
13528 Palace of Desire Naguib Mahfouz 1957 Egyptian Arabic
13559 The Path to Power Robert Caro 1982 American English
14093 The London Novels Colin MacInnes 1957 British English
14376 Late Call Angus Wilson 1964 British English
14429 A Small Town Called Hibiscus Gu Hua 1983 Chinese Chinese
14434 The Foundation Joel L. Fleishman 2007 American English
14457 Money Well Spent Paul Brest, Hal Harvey 2008 American English
14488 A Certain Rich Man William Allen White 1909 American English
14548 An Oxcart For Dowry Wang Chen-ho 1988 Taiwanese Chinese
14550 Turbulence Jia Pingwa 1987 Chinese Chinese
14553 Give Smart Thomas J. Tierney 2011 American English
14553 The City That Became Safe Franklin E. Zimring 2011 American English
14852 City Of The Queen Shin Shu-ching 1994 Chinese Chinese
14984 Eva Luna Isabel Allende 1987 Chilean Spanish
14984 The Heidi Chronicles Wendy Wasserstein 1989 American English
15561 Stories T. C. Boyle 1998 American English
15899 Pioneers In Ingolstadt Marieluise Fleißer 1928 German German
16532 Torregreca Ann Cornelisen 1969 Torregreca English
16613 Summerfolk Maxim Gorky 1904 Russian Russian
16614 Fanshen William Hinton 1966 American English
17120 In the Days of McKinley Margaret Leech 1959 American English
16885 Kanthapura Raja Rao 1938 Indian English
17120 Ring Around The Sun Clifford D. Simak 1952 American English
17120 The Ice Age Margaret Drabble 1977 British English
17120 The Great Leveler Walter Scheidel 2017 American English
17120 The Village Of Waiting George Packer 1988 American English
17120 A Fool's Errand, By One Of The Fools Albion Winegar Tourgee 1879 American English
17120 At Home Bill Bryson 2010 American English
17120 Edge Of Eternity Ken Follett 2014 British English