The Greatest Western Books of All Time

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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
11438 Philadelphia fire John Edgar Wideman 1990 American English
11439 A History Of Bombing Sven Lindqvist 1999 Swedish Swedish
11441 In the Shadow of Man Jane Goodall 1971 British English
11440 Field Notes From A Catastrophe Elizabeth Kolbert 2006 American English
11442 Il Colombre Dino Buzzati 1966 Italian Italian
11443 Teatro Grottesco Thomas Ligotti 2006 American English
11444 Readme.Txt Chelsea Manning 2022 American English
11455 Alice Adams Booth Tarkington 1921 American English
11455 The Able McLaughlins Margaret Wilson 1923 American English
11455 Early Autumn Louis Bromfield 1926 American English
11455 Scarlet Sister Mary Julia Peterkin 1928 American English
11455 Years of Grace Margaret Ayer Barnes 1930 American English
11455 The Store Thomas Sigismund Stribling 1932 American English
11455 Lamb in His Bosom Caroline Miller 1933 American English
11455 In This Our Life Ellen Glasgow 1941 American English
11455 Journey in the Dark Martin Flavin 1943 American English
11455 The Town Conrad Richter 1950 American English
11455 The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters Robert Lewis Taylor 1958 American English
11455 The Edge of Sadness Edwin O'Connor 1961 American English
11455 Elbow Room James Alan McPherson 1977 American English
11455 Martin Dressler Steven Millhauser 1996 American English
11445 A Farm Under A Lake Martha Bergland 1985 American English
11445 The Land Of Look Behind Michelle Cliff 1985 American English
11445 Later The Same Day Grace Paley 1985 American English
11445 The Magnificent Spinster May Sarton 1985 American English
11445 Mohawk Trail Beth Brant 1985 Canadian English
11445 Various Miracles Carol Shields 1985 Canadian English
11469 The Real Charlotte Edith Somerville, Violet Florence Martin 1894 Irish English
11470 Furnace Livia Llewellyn 2016 American English
11471 Batouala René Maran 1921 French French
11472 Please, Momma Chesya Burke 2015 American Unknown
11473 Lonesome Places August Derleth 1962 American English
11473 The Surly Sullen Bell Russell Kirk 1962 American English
11473 Dark Mind, Dark Heart August Derleth 1962 American English
11473 A Biography Of Dracula Harry Ludlam 1962 British English
11479 Vicky Angel Jacqueline Wilson 2000 British English
11480 Jessica Bryce Courtenay 1998 Australian English
11481 Victory Over Japan Ellen Gilchrist 1984 American English
11483 Ali Jonathan Eig 2017 American English
11483 The Sparsholt Affair Alan Hollinghurst 2017 British English
11483 The Darkening Age Catherine Nixey 2017 British English
11483 Ninety Nine Glimpses Of Princess Margaret Craig Brown 2017 British English
11483 Why Comics? Hillary L. Chute 2017 American English
11489 Mary Reilly Valerie Martin 1990 American English
11488 The Living Landscape In Sweden Sten Selander 1955 Swedish Swedish
11492 When Everything Changed Gail Collins 2009 American English
11489 I Shall Not Be Moved Maya Angelou 1990 American English
11493 Day In Day Out Terézia Mora 2004 German German
11494 Red at the Bone Jacqueline Woodson 2019 American English
11495 A Drama In Muslin George Moore 1886 Irish English
11496 Esther Waters George Moore 1894 British English
11497 The Black Prophet William Carleton 1847 Irish English
11503 State Of Wonder Ann Patchett 2011 American English
11505 The Nature Of Nature Enric Sala 2020 Spanish English
11506 The White Masai Corinne Hofmann 1998 Swiss German
11512 Bowlaway Elizabeth McCracken 2019 American English
11507 How To Build A Time Machine Paul Davies 2002 British English
11508 Collected Poems John Berryman 1989 American English
11508 Native Tongue Suzette Haden Elgin 1984 American English
11508 The Roaring Girl Greg Hollingshead 1995 Canadian English
11508 The Coming Bad Days Sarah Bernstein 2021 Canadian English
11513 Race Experts Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn 2001 American English
11514 On The Line Joseph Ponthus 2019 French French
11516 The Other Slavery Andrés Reséndez 2016 American English
11518 The Intellectuals And The Masses John Carey 1992 British English
11519 The Dare Game Jacqueline Wilson 2000 British English
11520 Enchiridion Of Epictetus Epictetus 135 Greek Greek
11522 All The Single Ladies Rebecca Traister 2016 American English
11521 Spelunky Derek Yu 2015 American English
11525 206 Bones Kathy Reichs 2009 American English
11526 Memorabilia Xenophon -371 Greek Ancient greek
11527 On The Crown Demosthenes -330 Greek Ancient greek
11529 Selected Speeches Demosthenes, Robin Waterfield -322 Greek Greek
11531 Journals (Cook) James Cook 1768 British English
11530 Mr. George, And Other Odd Persons August Derleth 1963 American English
11533 Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa Mungo Park 1799 British English
11539 Benito Cereno Herman Melville 1855 American English
11537 Thyestes Seneca 62 Roman Latin
11538 Timaeus Plato -360 Greek Ancient greek
11535 Countdown To Zero Day Kim Zetter 2014 American English
11542 The Economic Consequences of the Peace John Maynard Keynes 1919 British English
11540 Perdido Street Station China Miéville 2000 British English
11541 The Innocents Abroad Mark Twain 1869 American English
11547 The Course in Positive Philosophy Auguste Comte 1830 French French
11543 How to Be a Domestic Goddess Nigella Lawson 2000 British English
11547 Nineteen Nineteen John Dos Passos 1932 American English
11547 Enemies of Promise Cyril Connolly 1938 British English
11547 Old St Paul's William Harrison Ainsworth 1841 British English
11547 Valentine Vox Henry Cockton 1839 British English
11547 The Romance Of War James Grant 1846 Scottish English
11547 Rory O'more Samuel Lover 1837 Irish English
11547 Ten Thousand A Year Samuel Warren 1839 British English
11547 Lest Darkness Fall L. Sprague de Camp 1939 American English
11544 Humiliated And Insulted Fyodor Dostoevsky 1861 Russian Russian
11547 Utilitarianism John Stuart Mill 1863 British English
11547 The Poems Of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1845 American English
11547 Idyls Of The King Alfred Tennyson 1859 British English
11546 Hildegard Of Bingen Hildegard of Bingen 1152 German Latin
11545 Half The Sky Nicholas Kristof 2009 American English
11547 Beautiful Losers Leonard Cohen 1966 Canadian English
11547 The Ten Thousand Things Maria Dermoût 1955 Dutch Dutch
11566 Trick Mirror Jia Tolentino 2019 American English
11565 Nox Anne Carson 2010 Canadian English
11564 Hinze Kunze Roman Volker Braun 1985 German German
11567 The Sickness Unto Death Soren Kierkegaard 1849 Danish Danish
11570 Ghostwritten David Mitchell 1999 British English
11569 The Swallower Swallowed Réjean Ducharme 1966 Canadian French
11568 The Imitation Of Christ Thomas à Kempis 1418 German Latin
11572 Scepticism and Animal Faith George Santayana 1923 Spanish English
11571 The French Revolution Thomas Carlyle 1837 British English
11573 Men Without Women Ernest Hemingway 1927 American English
11579 Abraham Lincoln Carl Sandburg 1939 American English
11578 The Last Days of Hitler Hugh Trevor-Roper 1947 British English
11581 Paradise Toni Morrison 1997 American English
11576 The Inner Game Of Tennis W. Timothy Gallwey 1974 American English
11574 The Citadel A. J. Cronin 1937 British English
11577 Inside The Whale And Other Essays George Orwell 1940 British English
11579 Dirty Snow Georges Simenon 1948 Belgian French
11575 The Painted Veil W. Somerset Maugham 1925 British English
11582 Copper Crown Lane Von Herzen 1986 American English