The Greatest Books of All Time on Social Sciences

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
229 Democracy in America Alexis de Tocqueville 1835 French French
305 The Confusions of Young Törless Robert Musil 1906 Austrian German
456 Let Us Now Praise Famous Men James Agee 1941 American English
486 Tristes Tropiques Claude Lévi-Strauss 1955 French French
492 The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Robert Tressell, Peter Miles 1914 British English
755 The Well of Loneliness Radclyffe Hall 1928 British English
818 The African Child Camara Laye 1953 Guinean French
888 Drunkard Émile Zola 1877 French Unknown
920 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
1095 The Swimming-Pool Library Alan Hollinghurst 1988 British English
1222 Studs Lonigan James T. Farrell 1932 American English
1412 The Constitution of Liberty Friedrich von Hayek 1960 Austrian English
1433 Random Family Adrian Nicole LeBlanc 2003 American English
1572 Nature and Destiny of Man Reinhold Niebuhr 1941 American English
1577 Deep Rivers José María Arguedas 1958 Peruvian Spanish
1901 The Power Broker Robert Caro 1974 American English
2134 I Will Bear Witness Victor Klemperer 1995 German German
2550 Death in Rome Wolfgang Koeppen 1954 German German
2654 Suicide Emile Durkheim 1897 French French
2666 The Mismeasure of Man Stephen Jay Gould 1981 American English
2844 Children of Crisis Robert Coles 1967 American English
3016 The American Henry James 1877 American English
3102 Reading Lolita in Tehran Azar Nafisi 2003 Iranian English
3148 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
3235 When Breath Becomes Air Paul Kalanithi 2016 American English
3280 Before Night Falls Reinaldo Arenas 1992 Cuban Spanish
3314 Satires Juvenal 100 Roman Latin
3324 Compassion Benito Pérez Galdós 1897 Spanish Spanish
3468 The Story Of English Robert McCrum 1986 British English
3490 Democracy and Leadership Irving Babbitt 1924 American English
3507 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
3573 Notes from No Man's Land Eula Biss 2009 American English
3600 Debt David Graeber 2011 American English
3637 The House on Henry Street Lillian D. Wald 1915 American English
3637 Charter of the United Nations United Nations 1945 Multiple English
3637 The Tomb Of Tutankhamun Howard Carter 1954 British English
3637 The Sexual Revolution Wilhelm Reich 1936 German German
3637 The Papalagi Erich Scheurmann 1920 German German
3637 Ich Suchte Adam Herbert Wendt 1954 German German
3850 JR William Gaddis 1975 American English
3906 Homo Sociologicus Ralf Dahrendorf 1958 German German
3947 Antériorité Des Civilisations Nègres Cheikh Anta Diop 1954 Senegalese French
3952 The End of History and the Last Man Francis Fukuyama 1992 American English
4105 Summerhill Alexander Sutherland Neill 1960 British English
4227 Introduction To The Sociology Of Music Theodor Adorno 1962 German English
4265 Ancestral Voices Etienne van Heerden 1986 South African Afrikaans
4687 The Myth Of The Eternal Return Mircea Eliade 1949 Romanian French
4687 The Idea Of The Holy Rudolf Otto 1917 German English
4800 Home to Harlem Claude McKay 1928 American English
5287 Gandhi's Truth Erik H. Erikson 1969 American English
5344 White Girls Hilton Als 2013 American English
5362 On Suicide Jean Améry 1976 Unknown German
5362 The Hite Report Shere Hite 1976 American English
5608 The Imperative Of Responsibility Hans Jonas 1979 German German
5635 A Life's Work Rachel Cusk 2001 British English
5807 Five Days at Memorial Sheri Fink 2013 American English
5928 Hope in the Dark Rebecca Solnit 2004 American English
5939 The Turning Point Fritjof Capra 1982 American English
5939 The Spiral Of Silence Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann 1982 German German
5951 Talk Dirty To Me Sallie Tisdale 1994 American English
5971 Falling Leaves Adeline Yen Mah 1997 Chinese English
5982 Soulstealers Philip A. Kuhn 1990 American English
6122 The Best We Could Do Thi Bui 2017 American English
6222 Justice Michael J. Sandel 2007 American English
6266 Lowest Of The Low Günter Wallraff 1985 German German
6301 Ecology Of Fear Mike Davis 1998 American English
6422 The Laws Connie Palmen 1991 Dutch Dutch
6605 Hillbilly Elegy J. D. Vance 2016 American English
6717 Track Ernst Bloch 1949 German Unknown
6795 Models Of Man, Social And Rational Herbert Simon 1957 American English
6974 Origins Reconsidered Roger Lewin, Richard Leakey 1992 Multiple English
7094 The Color Of Law Richard Rothstein 2017 American English
7195 Social Theory And Social Structure Robert K. Merton 1949 American English
7216 The Journal Of Albion Moonlight Kenneth Patchen 1941 American English
7216 Strange Tales From A Chinese Studio Pu Songling 1740 Chinese Classical chinese
7664 Against Interpretation Susan Sontag 1966 American English
7766 Pavel's Letters Monika Maron 1999 German German
7790 The Mind and Society Vilfredo Pareto 1916 Italian Italian
7856 Salvation on Sand Mountain Dennis Covington 1995 American English
7900 The Gentrification of the Mind Sarah Schulman 2012 American English
7904 The Social Transformation of American Medicine Paul Starr 1982 American English
7904 Move Your Shadow Joseph Lelyveld 1986 American English
7929 Abundance Ezra Klein 2025 American English
8076 Nurture Shock Po Bronson, Ashley Merryman 2008 American English
8168 Returning To Reims Didier Eribon 2009 French French
8212 Dark Emu Bruce Pascoe 2014 Australian English
8233 The Unabomber Manifesto Theodore Kaczynski 1995 American English
8285 The Other Side Of Desire Daniel Bergner 2009 American English
8293 Die Gesellschaft Der Gesellschaft Niklas Luhmann 1999 German German
8466 The Fiddler In The Subway Gene Weingarten 2010 American English
8466 Being Wrong Kathryn Schulz 2010 American English
8681 Adapt Tim Harford 2011 British English
8704 W.E.B. Du Bois David Levering Lewis 2000 American English
8752 The Creation Of Patriarchy Gerda Lerner 1986 American English
8927 Hidden America Jeanne Marie Laskas 2012 American English
8927 The End Of Men Hanna Rosin 2012 American English
9028 Desert Flower Waris Dirie, Cathleen Miller 1998 American English
9040 Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here Jonathan Blitzer 2024 Unknown English
9065 Soldiers And Kings Jason De León 2024 Unknown English
9192 But What If We're Wrong? Chuck Klosterman 2016 American English
9192 The Confidence Game Maria Konnikova 2015 American English
9192 The Geography Of Madness Frank Bures 2016 Unknown English
9259 Moving Beyond Words Gloria Steinem 1993 American English
9262 Malcolm X Manning Marable 2011 American English
9565 Cunt Inga Muscio 1998 American English
9566 Reviving Ophelia Mary Pipher 1994 American English
9569 Les Naufragés Patrick Declerck 2001 French French
9640 Unbearable Weight Susan Bordo 1993 American English
9641 Sisters Of The Yam bell hooks 1993 American English
9687 Leftover Women Leta Hong Fincher 2014 Unknown English
9709 Society And The Holy In Late Antiquity Peter Brown 1982 British English
9756 The Dragons of Eden Carl Sagan 1977 American English
9940 One Child Mei Fong 2016 Unknown English
9986 Pictures At A Revolution Mark Harris 2008 American English
10006 The Dawn Of Everything David Graeber, David Wengrow 2021 British English
10086 Disciplined Minds Jeff Schmidt 2000 American English
10094 Manifesta Jennifer Baumgardner, Amy Richards 2000 American English
10119 The Taming of Chance Ian Hacking 1990 Canadian English
10191 Little Soldiers Lenora Chu 2017 Unknown English
10245 The New Science of Politics Eric Voegelin 1952 Austrian English