The Greatest Books of All Time on Terrorism

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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
172 Man's Fate Andre Malraux 1933 French French
380 American Pastoral Philip Roth 1997 American English
415 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
470 The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad 1907 British English
495 Casino Royale Ian Fleming 1953 British English
730 Petersburg Andrei Bely 1913 Russian Russian
947 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 American English
959 A Tomb for Boris Davidovich Danilo Kiš 1976 Serbian Serbo-croatian
1538 Snow Orhan Pamuk 2002 Turkish Turkish
1856 Under Western Eyes Joseph Conrad 1911 British English
1884 The Looming Tower Lawrence Wright 2006 American English
1971 Parable of the Talents Octavia E. Butler 1998 American English
1978 Great Tales Of Terror And The Supernatural Herbert A. Wise 1944 American English
1995 Say Nothing Patrick Radden Keefe 2018 American English
2100 From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 British English
2426 Platform Michel Houellebecq 2001 French French
2599 The Witness Juan José Saer 1983 Argentinian Spanish
2931 Tourist Season Carl Hiaasen 1986 American English
3092 Disturbance Philippe Lançon 2018 French French
3112 Leviathan Paul Auster 1992 American English
3199 Mao II Don DeLillo 1991 American English
3637 Memoirs Of A Revolutionist Vera Figner 1920 Russian Russian
4083 The Day of the Dolphin Robert Merle 1967 French French
4523 The True Confessions Of An Albino Terrorist Breyten Breytenbach 1983 South African English
4652 The Forever War Dexter Filkins 2008 American English
4755 Home Fire Kamila Shamsie 2017 British English
5148 Dawn Elie Wiesel 1961 Romanian French
5293 The Terrorists Maj Sjöwall 1975 Swedish Swedish
5429 Black Sunday Thomas Harris 1975 American English
5617 Shadow 81 Lucien Nahum 1978 American English
5740 Anil's Ghost Michael Ondaatje 2000 Canadian English
5741 One Of Us Asne Seierstad 2013 Norwegian Norwegian
5930 Marathon Man William Goldman 1974 American English
6239 Harry’s Game Gerald Seymour 1975 British English
6266 Der Baader Meinhof Komplex Stefan Aust 1985 German German
6329 No Good Men Among The Living Anand Gopal 2014 American English
6676 The Mountain And The Wall Alisa Ganieva 2015 Russian Russian
6730 Saturday Ian McEwan 2005 British English
6851 Apeirogon Colum McCann 2020 Irish English
6920 The Reluctant Fundamentalist Mohsin Hamid 2007 Pakistani English
6938 Clear And Present Danger Tom Clancy 1989 American English
7025 Precarious Life Judith Butler 2004 American English
7127 The Redbreast Jo Nesbø 2000 Norwegian Norwegian
7216 The Shadow Of A Gunman Sean O'Casey 1923 Irish English
7623 The Little Red Chairs Edna O'Brien 2015 Irish English
7641 The Literature Of Terror David Punter 1980 British English
7692 Opernball Josef Haslinger 1995 Austrian German
7739 No Turning Back Rania Abouzeid 2018 Unknown English
7766 Underground Haruki Murakami 2006 Japanese Japanese
7799 The Windup Girl Paolo Bacigalupi 2009 American English
7842 The Little Drummer Girl John le Carré 1983 British English
7900 Capital John Lanchester 2012 British English
8030 Falling Man Don DeLillo 2007 American English
8231 Frankenstein In Baghdad Ahmed Saadawi 2013 Iraqi Arabic
8290 They Will Drown In Their Mother’s Tears Johannes Anyuru 2017 Swedish Swedish
8326 The Night Sessions Ken MacLeod 2008 Scottish English
8382 American War Omar El Akkad 2017 Canadian English
8466 The Gun C. J. Chivers 2010 American English
8538 Morituri Yasmina Khadra 1997 Algerian French
8567 Ghost Wars Steve Coll 2004 American English
8701 Millennium People J. G. Ballard 2003 British English
8759 Night Draws Near Anthony Shadid 2005 American English
8854 How German Is It Walter Abish 1980 American English
9022 The Fall Of A Sparrow Robert Hellenga 1998 American English
9068 Stormbreaker Anthony Horowitz 2000 British English
9175 Homeland Fernando Aramburu 2016 Spanish Spanish
9244 O Que é Isso, Companheiro? Fernando Gabeira 1979 Brazilian Portuguese
9262 From Beirut to Jerusalem Thomas L. Friedman 1989 American English
9602 Girl Edna O'Brien 2019 Irish English
9609 The 9/11 Commission Report 9/11 Commission 2004 American English
9795 We Pierce Andrew Huebner 2002 American English
9948 Retaguardia Roja Fernando del Rey 2019 Spanish Spanish
10122 Dogstar Rising Parker Bilal 2013 Egyptian English
10180 The Kill Artist Daniel Silva 2000 American English
10762 A Moonless, Starless Sky Alexis Okeowo 2017 American English
10822 Skeleton Key Anthony Horowitz 2002 British English
10840 Bleeding Edge Thomas Pynchon 2013 American English
10934 Consent To Kill Vince Flynn 2005 American English
10936 Blowback Brad Thor 2005 American English
11076 London Rules Mick Herron 2018 British English
11140 Black Flags Joby Warrick 2015 American English
11341 The Incendiaries R. O. Kwon 2018 American English
11438 A History Of Bombing Sven Lindqvist 1999 Swedish Swedish
11569 Ghostwritten David Mitchell 1999 British English
11598 Gone Tomorrow Lee Child 2009 British English
11662 The Association Of Small Bombs Karan Mahajan 2016 Indian English
11662 Days Of Fire Peter Baker 2013 American English
11662 The Dark Side Jane Mayer 2008 American English
11662 The Assassins’ Gate George Packer 2005 American English
11662 Veil Bob Woodward 1987 American English
12049 Windows On The World Frédéric Beigbeder 2003 French French
12049 Red April Santiago Roncagliolo 2002 Peruvian Spanish
12585 Scarecrow Matthew Reilly 2003 Australian English
13560 I Am Malala Malala Yousafzai 2013 Pakistani English
13556 Part Of The Solution Ulrich Peltzer 2007 German German
13794 The Ghost In The Shell Shirow Masamune 1989 Japanese Japanese
13886 Pygmy Chuck Palahniuk 2009 American English
13930 The White Lioness Henning Mankell 1993 Swedish Swedish
13964 Das Verschwinden Des Philip S. Ulrike Edschmid 2013 German German
14212 Jim Grant Peter Adamson 2001 British Unknown
14499 Super Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt 2009 American English
14832 21 Lessons For The 21st Century Yuval Noah Harari 2018 Israeli English
14985 The House Of Splendid Isolation Edna O'Brien 1994 Irish English
14985 Blasted Sarah Kane 1995 British English
14985 The Lieutenant Of Inishmore Martin McDonagh 2001 Irish English
14985 The Dervish House Ian McDonald 2010 British English
15799 Runaway Horses Yukio Mishima 1969 Japanese Japanese
16681 The Seven Who Were Hanged Leonid Andreyev 1908 Russian Russian
17158 Directorate S Steve Coll 2018 American English
17158 The Testament Of Jessie Lamb Jane Rogers 2011 British English
17158 Death In Andes Mario Vargas Llosa 1993 Peruvian Spanish
17158 Osama Lavie Tidhar 2011 British English
17158 The Centauri Device M. John Harrison 1974 British English
17158 I Am Pilgrim Terry Hayes 2013 American English
17158 Stuff Happens David Hare 2004 British English
17158 The Nelson De Mille Collection Nelson DeMille 2003 American English
17158 The Last Widow Karin Slaughter 2019 American English
17158 Submergence J. M. Ledgard 2011 British English
17158 Love Is The Drug Alaya Dawn Johnson 2014 American English
17158 Europe In Winter Dave Hutchinson 2016 British English