The Greatest Books of All Time on Violence

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
6957 The Field Of Blood Joanne B. Freeman 2018 American English
7025 Precarious Life Judith Butler 2004 American English
7037 Bright Shiny Morning James Frey 2008 American English
7051 The Sisters Brothers Patrick DeWitt 2011 Canadian English
7075 The Glorious Heresies Lisa McInerney 2015 Irish English
7086 There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbour’s Baby Ludmila Petrushevskaya 2009 Russian Russian
7096 Try Dennis Cooper 1994 American English
7096 Guide Dennis Cooper 1994 American English
7107 Kiss The Girls James Patterson 1995 American English
7130 Beauty Is A Wound Eka Kurniawan 2002 Indonesian Indonesian
7140 E. Luminata Diamela Eltit 1983 Chilean Spanish
7141 Jade City Fonda Lee 2017 Chinese English
7161 Saved Edward Bond 1965 British English
7189 Close To The Knives David Wojnarowicz 1991 American English
7202 Gb84 David Peace 2004 British English
7203 The Surgeon Tess Gerritsen 2001 American English
7205 Animalinside László Krasznahorkai, Max Neumann 2010 Hungarian Hungarian
7211 Boy Swallows Universe Trent Dalton 2018 Australian English
7215 'Tis Pity She's A Whore John Ford 1633 British English
7215 Stories And Poems Of Stephen Crane Stephen Crane 1900 American English
7215 The Shadow Of A Gunman Sean O'Casey 1923 Irish English
7215 Lulu Plays Frank Wedekind 1895 German German
7215 Selected Tales Leonid Andreyev 1900 Russian Russian
7215 Poems Of Robinson Jeffers Robinson Jeffers 1920 American English
7215 A Cool Million Nathanael West 1934 American English
7215 Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye Horace McCoy 1948 American English
7215 Europe After The Rain Alan Burns 1965 British English
7215 Seasons Of Anomy Wole Soyinka 1973 Nigerian English
7571 The Conformist Alberto Moravia 1951 Italian Italian
7593 For Those Who Hunt The Wounded Down David Adams Richards 1993 Canadian English
7603 Sin Remedio Antonio Caballero 1984 Colombian Spanish
7615 Dirty Havana Trilogy Pedro Juan Gutierrez 1998 Cuban Spanish
7622 The Little Red Chairs Edna O'Brien 2015 Irish English
7711 Child Of The Dark Carolina Maria De Jesus 1960 Brazilian Portuguese
7735 The Wanderers Richard Price 1974 American English
7749 The Screwfly Solution Raccoona Sheldon 1977 American English
7754 Infidel Ayaan Hirsi Ali 2007 Dutch English
7753 Mr. Fox Helen Oyeyemi 2011 British English
7765 As If I Am Not There Slavenka Drakulic 1999 Croatian English
7785 The Wig Charles Wright 1966 American English
7809 Bullet Park John Cheever 1969 American English
7840 Stick Elmore Leonard 1983 American English
7842 Black And Blue Ian Rankin 1997 British English
7845 Kingdom Cons Yuri Herrera 2008 Mexican Spanish
7860 The Barbarous Coast Ross Macdonald 1956 American English
7877 Forever Peace Joe Haldeman 1997 American English
7880 Safe Area Joe Sacco 2000 American English
7880 13 Hours Deon Meyer 2008 South African Afrikaans
7910 The Lesson Eugène Ionesco 1951 French French
7936 Acqua Alta Donna Leon 1996 Italian English
7936 The Keys To The Street Ruth Rendell 1996 British English
7939 The Fourth World Diamela Eltit 1988 Chilean Spanish
7956 The House Gun Nadine Gordimer 1997 South African English
7958 La Casa De La Fuerza Angélica Liddell 2009 Spanish Spanish
8025 The Dew Breaker Edwidge Danticat 2004 American English
8056 Cutting The Rose Efua Doorkenoo 1994 Ghanaian English
8142 Suspicious River Laura Kasischke 1999 American English
8159 The Choirboys Joseph Wambaugh 1975 American English
8164 Child Of God Cormac McCarthy 1973 American English
8173 A Demon In My View Ruth Rendell 1976 British English
8184 One Step Behind Henning Mankell 1997 Swedish Swedish
8204 Waking the Moon Elizabeth Hand, Elisabeth Hand 1994 American English
8229 Frankenstein In Baghdad Ahmed Saadawi 2013 Iraqi Arabic
8238 Nineteen Seventy Seven David Peace 2000 British English
8241 19 Knives Mark Anthony Jarman 1997 Canadian English
8264 Coming Of Age In Mississippi Anne Moody 1968 American English
8287 Night They Missed The Horror Show Joe R. Lansdale 1988 American English
8313 The Bottoms Joe R. Lansdale 2000 American English
8324 Lush Life Richard Price 2008 American English
8351 River Thieves Michael Crummey 2001 Canadian English
8428 Those Across The River Christopher Buehlman 2011 American English
8432 A Running Duck Paula Gosling 1978 American English
8443 The Natashas Yelena Moskovich 2016 Russian English
8462 Seeing Red David J. Schow 1990 American English
8508 The Broken Shore Peter Temple 2005 Australian English
8521 The History Of The Franks Gregory of Tours 594 French Latin
8536 Morituri Yasmina Khadra 1997 Algerian French
8540 Plays Of John Arden John Arden 1961 British English
8555 The Tall Man Chloe Hooper 2008 Australian English
8558 Under The Banner Of Heaven Jon Krakauer 2003 American English
8590 The Monkey's Raincoat Robert Crais 1987 American English
8636 Somersault Kenzaburō Ōe 1999 Japanese Japanese
8645 The Raj Quartet Paul Scott 1976 British English
8673 Marabou Stork Nightmares Irvine Welsh 1995 British English
8696 Inner City Blues Paula L. Woods 1999 American English
8695 Too Much Lip Melissa Lucashenko 2018 Australian English
8699 Millennium People J. G. Ballard 2003 British English
8735 The End Of Eddy Édouard Louis 2014 French French
8773 Eroticism Georges Bataille 1957 French French
8793 Here Are The Young Men Rob Doyle 2014 Irish English
8823 Plenilunio Antonio Muñoz Molina 1997 Spanish Spanish
8848 The Munch Mancini Mystery Series Barbara Seranella 1997 American English
8860 The Warrior's Honor Michael Ignatieff 1997 Canadian English
8880 Hard Revolution George P. Pelecanos 2004 American English
8906 Unravelling Oliver Liz Nugent 2014 Irish English
8937 Memorial Drive Natasha Trethewey 2020 American English
8953 Money To Burn Ricardo Piglia 1997 Argentinian Spanish
9007 A Change Of Skin Carlos Fuentes 1967 Mexican Spanish
9051 Built From The Fire Victor Luckerson 2023 Unknown English
9072 Billy Bathgate E. L. Doctorow 1989 American English
9111 Cruddy Lynda Barry 1999 American English
9174 Homeland Fernando Aramburu 2016 Spanish Spanish
9191 Kieron Smith, Boy James Kelman 2008 Scottish English
9191 American Rust Philipp Meyer 2009 American English
9191 How To Slowly Kill Yourself And Others In America Kiese Laymon 2013 American English
9236 Primal Fear William Diehl 1993 American English
9261 From Beirut to Jerusalem Thomas L. Friedman 1989 American English
9261 The Yellow Birds Kevin Powers 2012 American English
9274 Angels Denis Johnson 1983 American English
9292 Project For A Revolution In New York Alain Robbe-Grillet 1970 French French
9292 Casualties John Pepper Clark 1970 Nigerian English
9303 The Seven Moons Of Maali Almeida Shehan Karunatilaka 2022 Sri Lankan English
9308 Down To The Dirt Joel Hynes 2004 Canadian English
9313 Exterminate All The Brutes Sven Lindqvist 1992 Swedish Swedish
9322 Terra Nullius Sven Lindqvist 2007 Swedish Swedish
9349 Eileen Ottessa Moshfegh 2015 American English
9363 Night Watch Terry Pratchett 2002 British English
9365 Rosario Tijeras Jorge Franco 1999 Colombian Spanish
9375 Edgar Huntly Charles Brockden Brown 1799 American English
9375 In The Midst Of Life Ambrose Bierce 1891 American English