The Greatest Books of All Time on Society

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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
1189 A Writer's Diary Virginia Woolf 1953 British English
1200 Mating Norman Rush 1991 American English
1202 The Country Girls Edna O'Brien 1960 Irish English
1204 Nickel And Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich 2001 American English
1208 Love in a Cold Climate Nancy Mitford 1949 British English
1229 Songs of Innocence and Experience William Blake 1789 British English
1231 Patience And Sarah Isabel Miller 1969 American English
1233 The History Of Gil Blas Of Santillana Alain-René Lesage 1715 French French
1235 Cheri Colette 1920 French French
1248 The Conservative Mind Russell Kirk 1953 American English
1282 The Plum in the Golden Vase Unknown 1610 Chinese Chinese
1292 Two Serious Ladies Jane Bowles 1943 American English
1337 A Legacy Sybille Bedford 1956 German English
1363 The Liberal Imagination Lionel Trilling 1950 American English
1383 The Birds Aristophanes -414 Greek Ancient greek
1384 Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond 1997 American English
1403 The Outsider Colin Wilson 1956 British English
1406 The Life of Charlotte Brontë Elizabeth Gaskell 1857 British English
1416 Rights of Man Thomas Paine 1791 British English
1424 Our Ancestors Italo Calvino 1952 Italian Italian
1426 Mars Fritz Zorn 1977 Swiss German
1427 Vile Bodies Evelyn Waugh 1930 British English
1429 Aphorisms Georg Christoph Lichtenberg 1902 German German
1447 Minima Moralia Theodor Adorno 1951 German German
1463 Camera Obscura Nicolaas Beets 1839 Dutch Dutch
1466 Don Juan Lord Byron 1819 British English
1471 Aurélien Louis Aragon 1944 French French
1475 Lettres de madame de Sévigné Marie de Rabutin-Chantal marquise de Sévigné 1671 French French
1476 Flatland Edwin A. Abbott 1884 British English
1482 Eline Vere Louis Couperus 1889 Dutch Dutch
1502 The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born Ayi K. Armah 1968 Ghanaian English
1516 The Alberta Trilogy Cora Sandel 1926 Norwegian Norwegian
1523 Guzmán de Alfarache Mateo Alemán 1599 Spanish Spanish
1534 The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr E. T. A. Hoffmann 1819 German German
1545 Understanding Media Marshall McLuhan 1964 Canadian English
1549 Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont Elizabeth Taylor 1971 British English
1566 Love In A Fallen City Eileen Chang 1943 Chinese Chinese
1583 The Civilization Of The Renaissance In Italy Jacob Burckhardt 1860 Swiss German
1590 Germania Cornelius Tacitus 98 Roman Latin
1600 On the Edge of Reason Miroslav Krleža 1938 Croatian Croatian
1611 Crome Yellow Aldous Huxley 1921 British English
1618 The Pursuit Of Love Nancy Mitford 1945 British English
1622 Fortress Besieged Qian Zhongshu 1947 Chinese Chinese
1624 The Mediterranean And The Mediterranean World In The Age Of Philip Ii Fernand Braudel 1949 French French
1629 Point Counter Point Aldous Huxley 1928 British English
1660 The Waste Books Georg Christoph Lichtenberg 1770 German German
1673 Penguin Island Anatole France 1908 French French
1678 A Time To Be Born Dawn Powell 1942 American English
1691 Cat Country Lao She 1932 Chinese Chinese
1699 That Awful Mess On Via Merulana Carlo Emilio Gadda 1957 Italian Italian
1717 The Clown Heinrich Böll 1963 German German
1725 A Harlot High And Low Honoré de Balzac 1839 French French
1738 The Bedbug And Selected Poetry Vladimir Mayakovsky 1920 Russian Russian
1745 Couples, Passersby Botho Strauß 1981 German German
1766 Who Do You Think You Are? Alice Munro 1978 Canadian English
1778 The Strudlhof Steps Heimito von Doderer 1951 German German
1788 Heartbreak House George Bernard Shaw 1919 British English
1794 My Past And Thoughts Alexander Herzen 1861 Russian Russian
1870 The George Sand-Gustave Flaubert Letters Gustave Flaubert 1921 French French
1874 The Proud Tower Barbara Wertheim Tuchman 1966 American English
1881 The Machiavellians James Burnham 1943 American English
1891 The Journal of Jules Renard Jules Renard 1887 French French
1898 Tenth of December George Saunders 2013 American English
1905 The Road to Klockrike Harry Martinson 1948 Swedish Swedish
1916 Group Portrait with Lady Heinrich Böll 1971 German German
1918 The Lady Of The Camellias Alexandre Dumas 1848 French French
1924 Pages From The Goncourt Journal Edmond de Goncourt 1887 French French
1938 The Spectator Joseph Addison 1711 British English
1953 Titus Alone Mervyn Peake 1959 British English
1959 Discipline and Punish Michel Foucault 1975 French French
1992 Headlong Hall Thomas Love Peacock 1816 British English
2004 A School For Fools Sasha Sokolov 1976 Russian Russian
2014 A Journal Of The Plague Year Daniel Defoe 1722 British English
2017 Riddley Walker Russell Hoban 1980 British English
2019 The Berlin Stories Christopher Isherwood 1945 British English
2052 The Misanthrope Molière 1666 French French
2050 Momo Michael Ende 1973 German German
2064 The Egghead Republic Arno Schmidt 1957 German German
2083 The Memoirs of a Survivor Doris May Lessing 1974 British English
2087 A German Officer in Occupied Paris Ernst Jünger 1949 German German
2116 Stories of Mr. Keuner Bertolt Brecht 1926 German German
2116 The Life Story And Real Adventures Of The Poor Man Of Toggenburg Ulrich Bräker 1789 Swiss German
2131 Seven Brothers Aleksis Kivi 1870 Finnish Finnish
2172 Essays Charles Lamb 1823 British English
2200 Death Of A Hero Richard Aldington 1929 British English
2259 Advertisements for Myself Norman Mailer 1959 American English
2306 The Old Forest Peter Taylor 1985 American English
2314 Ship Of Fools Katherine Anne Porter 1962 American English
2352 The Box Man Kobo Abé 1973 Japanese Japanese
2373 Put Out More Flags Evelyn Waugh 1942 British English
2373 South Wind Norman Douglas 1917 British English
2399 The Blazing World Margaret Cavendish 1666 British English
2402 The Charwoman's Daughter James Stephens 1912 Irish English
2411 The Fear Of Freedom Erich Fromm 1941 German English
2418 The Age of Jackson Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr 1945 American English
2420 The Melancholy of Resistance László Krasznahorkai 1989 Hungarian Hungarian
2461 Men At Arms Evelyn Waugh 1952 British English
2465 Non Stop Brian Aldiss 1958 British English
2475 Essays And Criticism William Hazlitt 1823 British English
2481 Mangeclous Albert Cohen 1938 French French
2489 The Millstone Margaret Drabble 1965 British English
2501 Rebellion In The Backlands Euclides da Cunha 1902 Brazilian Portuguese
2507 Mrs. Bridge Evan S. Connell 1959 American English
2513 Howl, Kaddish And Other Poems Allen Ginsberg 1956 American English
2515 The New Sorrows of Young W. Ulrich Plenzdorf 1972 German German
2518 Rites of Passage William Golding 1980 British English
2532 Day Of The Owl Leonardo Sciascia 1961 Italian Italian
2541 Pilgrimage Dorothy Richardson 1915 British English
2542 The Artamonov Business Maxim Gorky 1925 Russian Russian
2543 Camilla Fanny Burney 1796 British English
2547 The Thinking Reed Rebecca West 1936 British English
2556 Dangling Man Saul Bellow 1944 American English
2554 Disobedience Alberto Moravia 1948 Italian Italian
2567 The Caves Of Steel Isaac Asimov 1954 American English
2583 Good Behaviour Molly Keane 1981 Irish English
2623 Border Town Shen Congwen 1934 Chinese Chinese
2642 The Power Naomi Alderman 2016 British English
2664 Debit And Credit Gustav Freytag 1855 German German
2685 Selected Plays of Henrick Ibsen Henrik Ibsen 1900 Norwegian Norwegian
2710 Les Caractères Jean de La Bruyère 1688 French French