The Greatest Books of All Time on World War Ii

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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
33 Catch-22 Joseph Heller 1961 American English
91 The Tin Drum Günter Grass 1959 German German
113 The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank 1947 Dutch Dutch
169 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark 1961 British, Scottish English
248 Atonement Ian McEwan 2001 British English
325 A Dance to the Music of Time Anthony Powell 1951 British English
501 W, or the Memory of Childhood Georges Perec 1975 French French
545 The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie Agota Kristof 1986 Hungarian French
644 The English Patient Michael Ondaatje 1992 Canadian English
688 From Here to Eternity James Jones 1951 American English
726 The Caine Mutiny Herman Wouk 1951 American English
761 Goodbye to Berlin Christopher Isherwood 1939 British English
799 Kaputt Curzio Malaparte 1944 Italian Italian
956 The Girls of Slender Means Muriel Spark 1963 British English
967 The Heat of the Day Elizabeth Bowen 1949 British English
1023 Transit Anna Seghers 1944 German German
1028 Schindler's List Thomas Keneally 1982 Australian English
1040 The German Lesson Siegfried Lenz 1968 German German
1085 The Book Thief Markus Zusak 2005 Australian English
1104 Maus Art Spiegelman 1980 American English
1269 The Unknown Soldier Väinö Linna 1954 Finnish Finnish
1376 Tales of the South Pacific James A. Michener 1947 American English
1391 A Separate Peace John Knowles 1959 American English
1401 Silence of the Sea Vercors 1942 French French
1435 Life After Life Kate Atkinson 2013 British English
1448 Suite Française Irène Némirovsky 2004 French French
1494 Eye Of The Needle Ken Follett 1978 British English
1520 The Slaves of Solitude Patrick Hamilton 1947 British English
1569 Empire of the Sun J. G. Ballard 1984 British English
1580 The Struggle for Europe Chester Wilmot 1952 British English
1627 Dora Bruder Patrick Modiano 1997 French French
1750 The Making of the Atomic Bomb Richard Rhodes 1986 American English
1890 Obasan Joy Kogawa 1981 Canadian English
1934 Corelli's Mandolin Louis de Bernières 1994 British English
2010 The Notebook Nicholas Sparks 1996 American English
2024 The Chosen Chaim Potok 1967 American English
2061 The Last World Christoph Ransmayr 1988 Austrian German
2108 The Shell Seekers Rosamunde Pilcher 1987 British English
2145 Cryptonomicon Neal Stephenson 1999 American English
2198 The Last Lion William Manchester 1983 American English
2283 Goodnight Mister Tom Michelle Magorian 1981 British English
2388 It Can't Always Be Caviar Johannes Mario Simmel 1960 Austrian German
2460 Men At Arms Evelyn Waugh 1952 British English
2479 The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich William L. Shirer 1960 American English
2510 Life With A Star Jiří Weil 1949 Czech Czech
2558 Death Sentence Maurice Blanchot 1948 French French
2616 The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman Andrzej Szczypiorski 1986 Polish Polish
2702 The Nightingale Kristin Hannah 2015 American English
2710 Alan Turing Andrew Hodges 1983 British English
2793 The Eagle Has Landed Jack Higgins 1975 British English
2817 The Great Fire Shirley Hazzard 2003 Australian English
2885 Everything Is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer 2002 American English
2910 Tu Patricia Grace 2004 New Zealand English
2952 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
2955 Fugitive Pieces Anne Michaels 1996 Canadian English
3067 An Artist of the Floating World Kazuo Ishiguro 1986 British English
3140 Als Wär’s Ein Stück Von Mir Carl Zuckmayer 1966 German German
3497 The Thin Red Line James Jones 1962 American English
3525 Strange Defeat Marc Bloch 1946 French French
3629 Green For Danger Christianna Brand 1944 British English
3638 And where Were You, Adam? Heinrich Böll 1951 German German
3638 The Crusaders Stefan Heym 1948 German English
3638 The Language Of The Third Reich Victor Klemperer 1947 German German
3638 Stalingrad Theodor Plievier 1948 German German
3810 A Pale View of Hills Kazuo Ishiguro 1982 British English
4159 China To Me Emily Hahn 1944 American English
4371 The Long Voyage Jorge Semprún 1963 French French
4507 Truman David McCullough 1992 American English
4554 When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit Judith Kerr 1971 German English
4577 No Ordinary Time Doris Kearns Goodwin 1994 American English
5130 All But My Life Gerda Weissmann Klein 1957 American English
5408 Last Days of Summer Steve Kluger 1998 American English
5457 Forgotten Ally Rana Mitter 2013 British English
5469 And There Was Light Jacques Lusseyran 1963 French French
5529 The Cowards Josef Škvorecký 1958 Czech Czech
5529 Mr. Theodore Mundstock Ladislav Fuks 1963 Czech Czech
5639 The Kites Romain Gary 1980 French French
5692 How I Came To Know Fish Ota Pavel 1971 Czech Czech
5711 The Gallery John Horne Burns 1947 American English
5718 Warlight Michael Ondaatje 2018 Canadian English
5750 Shadows On The Tundra Dalia Grinkevičiutė 1997 Lithuanian Lithuanian
5780 Men And Not Men Elio Vittorini 1945 Italian Italian
5780 The Sergeant In The Snow Mario Rigoni Stern 1953 Italian Italian
5965 Pornografia Witold Gombrowicz 1960 Polish Polish
6002 Night Edgar Hilsenrath 1964 German German
6143 Roosevelt James MacGregor Burns 1970 American English
6195 Girl in Hyacinth Blue Susan Vreeland 1999 American English
6340 In Hitler's Germany Bernt Engelmann 1986 German English
6445 Kapo Aleksandar Tišma 1987 Serbian Serbo-croatian
6907 Spies Michael Frayn 2002 British English
7151 The Shawl Cynthia Ozick 1989 American English
7215 The Two-Ocean War Samuel Eliot Morison 1963 American English
7741 The Third Reich Of Dreams Charlotte Beradt 1966 German German
7765 Pavel's Letters Monika Maron 1999 German German
7765 In Search of Klingsor Jorge Volpi Escalante 1999 Mexican Spanish
7811 The Blind Side of the Heart Julia Franck 2007 German German
7877 Blackout/All Clear Connie Willis 2010 American English
8097 Day A. L. Kennedy 2007 British English
8291 The Author Of Himself Marcel Reich-Ranicki 1999 German German
8334 The Light Years Elizabeth Jane Howard 1990 British English
8427 To Say Nothing of the Dog Connie Willis 1997 American English
8433 Shadow Divers Robert Kurson 2004 American English
8585 The Postcard Anne Berest 2021 French French
8591 Sonnenschein Daša Drndić 2007 Croatian Croatian
8744 The Key To Rebecca Ken Follett 1980 British English
9191 The Saboteur Paul Kix 2017 Unknown English
9315 Russia Is Burning Maria Bloshteyn 2020 Russian English
9545 Stilwell and the American Experience in China Barbara Wertheim Tuchman 1971 American English
9584 The Director Daniel Kehlmann 2023 German English
9754 The Years of Extermination Saul Friedlander 2007 Israeli English
10066 The Silences Of Hammerstein Hans Magnus Enzensberger 2008 German German
10299 Judgment At Tokyo Gary J. Bass 2023 Unknown English
10417 Eleanor and Franklin Joseph P. Lash 1971 American English
10450 Churchill Andrew Roberts 2018 British English
10490 Remember Us To Life Joanna Rubin Dranger 2022 Unknown English
11136 The Rising Sun John Toland 1970 American English
11136 Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan Herbert P. Bix 2000 American English
11160 The Forbidden Garden Simon Parkin 2024 Unknown English
11219 The Teacher Of Nomad Land Daniel Nayeri American English
11402 A God in Ruins Kate Atkinson 2015 British English