The Greatest Books of All Time on Urban Life

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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
178 The Flowers of Evil Charles Baudelaire 1857 French French
201 Berlin Alexanderplatz Alfred Döblin 1929 German German
538 Zazie in the Metro Raymond Queneau 1959 French French
587 The Man with the Golden Arm Nelson Algren 1949 American English
651 Manhattan Transfer John Dos Passos 1925 American English
812 Collected Poems of T.S. Eliot T. S. Eliot 1963 British English
910 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
1392 Evicted Matthew Desmond 2016 American English
1659 The Americans Robert Frank 1959 American English
1760 Desperate Characters Paula Fox 1970 American English
2175 Paris Spleen Charles Baudelaire 1869 French French
2537 Jazz Toni Morrison 1992 American English
3074 Lunch Poems Frank O'Hara 1964 American English
3188 City, Sister, Silver Jáchym Topol 1994 Czech Czech
3416 Bécon Les Bruyères Emmanuel Bove 1927 French French
3548 The Wolfen Whitley Strieber 1978 American English
3569 My City Xi Xi 1975 Chinese Chinese
3953 Ο Εξώστης Nikos Kakhtitsis 1963 Greek Greek
4663 The Fan Man William Kotzwinkle 1974 American English
4669 The Painter Of Modern Life Charles Baudelaire 1863 French French
4763 Metropole Ferenc Karinthy 1970 Hungarian Hungarian
6265 Pan In Oslo Knut Faldbakken 1985 Norwegian German
6554 The Bottom Of The Harbor Joseph Mitchell 1959 American English
6556 Žmogus, Kuris Miega Georges Perec 1967 French French
6737 My Misspent Youth Meghan Daum 2001 American English
6787 Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments Saidiya Hartman 2019 American English
6984 Sleeping It Off in Rapid City August Kleinzahler 2008 American English
7565 Selected Poems Frank O'Hara 1974 American English
7736 The Wanderers Richard Price 1974 American English
8032 London Perceived V. S. Pritchett 1962 British English
8074 Chronic City Jonathan Lethem 2009 American English
8711 A Alma Encantadora Das Ruas João Do Rio 1908 Brazilian Portuguese
10306 Street Games Rosellen Brown 1974 American English
10547 Rat Bohemia Sarah Schulman 1995 American English
10893 The Odd Woman And The City Vivian Gornick 2015 American English
11187 Lost In The City Edward P. Jones 1992 American English
11392 Poor Caleb Femi 2020 British English
11937 Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun Geoffrey Canada 1995 American English
12406 Shapeshifters Aimee Cox 2015 American English
13362 London Labour and the London Poor Henry Mayhew 1851 British English
13804 The Drunkard Liu Yichang 1963 Chinese Chinese
14520 Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara Frank O'Hara 1971 American English
14898 Maggie Stephen Crane 1893 American English
15802 Collected Poems Of T. S. Eliot 1909 1935 T. S. Eliot 1936 American English
15787 Marcovaldo Italo Calvino 1963 Italian Italian
15817 A World I Never Made James T. Farrell 1936 American English
15910 A Walker in the City Alfred Kazin 1951 American English
15910 Montage Of A Dream Deferred Langston Hughes 1951 American English
17152 Swing Hammer Swing! Jeff Torrington 1992 Scottish English
17152 A Shock Keith Ridgway 2021 Irish English
17152 Jitney August Wilson 1982 American English
17152 The Cliff Dwellers Henry Blake Fuller 1893 American English
17152 Leave Me Alone Murong Xuecun 2002 Chinese Chinese
17152 Tūla Jurgis Kunčinas 1993 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17152 The Beast Walter Dean Myers 2003 American English
16848 The Belly Of Paris Émile Zola 1873 French French
17152 Tokyo Express Taiyō Matsumoto Unknown Unknown
17152 Communion Town Sam Thompson 2012 British English
17152 In The Shade Of Spring Leaves Ichiyō Higuchi 1981 Japanese Japanese
17152 Was It For This Hannah Sullivan 2023 British English
17152 Angel & Hannah Ishle Park 2021 Unknown English
17152 The Bronx Nobody Knows William B Helmreich American English
17152 Certain Dark Things Silvia Moreno-Garcia 2016 Canadian English
17152 Will Eisner's New York Will Eisner 2006 American English
17152 How Did You Get This Number Sloane Crosley 2010 American English