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
11663 During The Reign Of The Queen Of Persia Joan Chase 1983 American English
11663 Attlee Kenneth Harris 1982 British English
11663 The Moons Of Jupiter Alice Munro 1982 Canadian English
11663 The Rosenberg File Ronald Radosh, Joyce Milton 1983 American English
11663 Hugging The Shore John Updike 1983 American English
11663 The Bourgeois Experience Peter Gay 1984 American English
11663 Brothers And Keepers John Edgar Wideman 1984 American English
11663 Dawn To The West Donald Keene 1984 American English
11663 Deadly Gambits Strobe Talbott 1984 American English
11663 Him With His Foot In His Mouth And Other Stories Saul Bellow 1984 American English
11663 In Her Own Right Elisabeth Griffith 1984 American English
11663 Lives Of The Poets E. L. Doctorow 2001 American English
11663 The Quality Of Mercy William Shawcross 1994 British English
11663 Walt Whitman Paul Zweig 1984 American English
11663 With A Daughter's Eye Mary Catherine Bateson 1984 American English
11663 The Abandonment Of The Jews David S. Wyman 1984 American English
11663 All Fall Down Gary Sick 1985 American English
11663 Crossing The Line William Finnegan 1986 American Unknown
11663 Fdr Kenneth S. Davis 1972 American English
11663 Keynes Robert Skidelsky 1983 British English
11663 A Machine That Would Go Of Itself Michael Kammen 1987 American English
11663 Roger's Version John Updike 1986 American English
11663 Velazquez Jonathan Brown 1986 American English
11663 Whites Norman Rush 1986 American English
11663 An Arrow In The Wall Andrey Voznesensky 1987 Russian Russian
11663 The Embarrassment Of Riches Simon Schama 1987 British English
11663 The Ice Stephen J. Pyne 1986 American English
11663 Staring At The Sun Julian Barnes 1986 British English
11663 Veil Bob Woodward 1987 American English
11663 Bernard Shaw, Vol. 1 Michael Holroyd 1988 British English
11663 The Magic Lantern Ingmar Bergman 1987 Swedish Swedish
11663 Original Intent And The Framers' Constitution Leonard W. Levy 1988 American English
11663 The Tenants Of Time Thomas Flanagan 1988 American English
11663 Federico Garcia Lorca Ian Gibson 1989 Spanish English
11663 Macmillan Alistair Horne 1988 American English
11663 How War Came Donald Cameron Watt 1989 British English
11663 If The River Was Whiskey T. Coraghessan Boyle 1989 American English
11663 Winners Take All Anand Giridharadas 2018 American English
11663 Into The Raging Sea Rachel Slade 2018 American English
11663 Macbeth Jo Nesbø 2018 Norwegian English
11663 Wade In The Water Tracy K. Smith 2018 American English
11663 American Dialogue Joseph Ellis 2018 American English
11663 Brown Kevin Young 2018 American English
11663 Cherry Nico Walker 2018 American English
11663 Eternal Life Dara Horn 2018 American English
11663 Everything Under Daisy Johnson 2018 British English
11663 The Female Persuasion Meg Wolitzer 2018 American English
11663 Friday Black Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 2018 American English
11663 The House Of Broken Angels Luis Alberto Urrea 2018 American English
11663 Lake Success Gary Shteyngart 2018 American English
11663 Last Stories William Trevor 2018 Irish English
11663 Only To Sleep Lawrence Osborne 2018 British English
11663 The Parking Lot Attendant Nafkote Tamirat 2018 American English
11663 Property Lionel Shriver 2018 American English
11663 Pure Hollywood Christine Schutt 2018 American English
11663 A State Of Freedom Neel Mukherjee 2018 British English
11663 A View Of The Empire At Sunset Caryl Phillips 2018 British English
11663 The Witch Elm Tana French 2018 Irish English
11663 Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg 2018 American English
11663 Dead Girls Alice Bolin 2018 American English
11663 The Dinosaur Artist Paige Williams 2018 American English
11663 Fly Girls Keith O'Brien 2018 American English
11663 God Save Texas Lawrence Wright 2018 American English
11663 In Pieces Sally Field 2018 American English
11663 She Has Her Mother's Laugh Carl Zimmer 2018 American English
11663 The Souls Of Yellow Folk Wesley Yang 2018 American English
11663 We The Corporations Adam Winkler 2018 American English
11797 A Case of Conscience James Blish 1958 American English
11798 The Snow Queen Joan D. Vinge 1980 American English
11798 The Uplift War David Brin 1987 American English
11798 Cyteen C. J. Cherryh 1988 American English
11798 Leviathan Falls James S. A. Corey 2021 American English
11802 The Ballad Of Black Tom Victor LaValle 2016 American English
11803 The Attention Merchants Tim Wu 2016 American English
11804 Point Blanc Anthony Horowitz 2001 British English
11805 Culture Creep Alice Bolin 2021 American English
11806 The Doll Who Ate His Mother Ramsey Campbell 1976 British English
11807 X, Y Michael Blumlein 1993 American English
11810 The Reason For God Timothy J. Keller 2008 American English
11807 Passages Gail Sheehy 1976 American English
11811 Little Labors Rivka Galchen 2016 American English
11813 Lover's Choice Becky Birtha 1987 American English
11813 Memory Board Jane Rule 1987 Canadian English
11813 My Father's House Sylvia Fraser 1987 Canadian English
11813 On The Golden Porch Tatyana Tolstaya 1987 Russian Russian
11813 Rich In Love Josephine Humphreys 1987 American English
11813 The Riverhouse Stories Andrea Carlisle 1987 American English
11813 Road Song Natalie Kusz 1987 American English
11813 Rosie The Riveter Revisited Sherna Berger Gluck 1987 American English
11813 Windbreak Linda M. Hasselstrom 1987 American English
11813 Ecology, Community And Lifestyle Arne Naess 1989 Norwegian Norwegian
11813 On The Passage Of A Few People Through A Rather Brief Moment In Time Peter Wollen 1989 British English
11813 When I Was Puerto Rican Esmeralda Santiago 1993 American English
11826 The Wax Child Olga Ravn, Martin Aitken 2023 Danish English
11827 Lilith's Brood Octavia E. Butler 1987 American English
11827 I Am Woman Lee Maracle 1988 Canadian English
11830 Phantoms And Fantasies Rudyard Kipling 1965 British Unknown
11830 The Sixth Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories Robert Aickman 1965 British English
11830 Worlds Of Weird Leo Marguiles 1965 American English
11829 The Mother Of All Questions Rebecca Solnit 2017 American English
11833 61 Hours Lee Child 2010 British English
11834 Cibola Burn James S. A. Corey 2014 American English
11834 Wayfarers Becky Chambers 2014 American English
11836 These Days Lucy Caldwell 2022 British English
11838 Sleepovers Jacqueline Wilson 2001 British English
11840 In Bluebeard's Castle George Steiner 1971 British English
11843 Freaks Of Fortune Jonathan Levy 2012 American English
11841 Reality Bites Back Jennifer L. Pozner 2009 American English
11844 The Fate Of Rome Kyle Harper 2017 American English
11849 Them Francine du Plessix Gray 2005 French English
11845 Dustbin Baby Jacqueline Wilson 2001 British English
11846 Le Pavillon Des Enfants Fous Valérie Valère 1978 French French
11847 The House Of Government Yuri Slezkine 2017 American English
11847 Ghosts Of The Tsunami Richard Lloyd Parry 2017 British English
11851 The Demon Hubert Selby 1976 American English
11855 Children's Island P. C. Jersild 1976 Swedish Swedish
11854 Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation Allen Guelzo 2004 American English
11853 Chosen Peoples Anthony D. Smith 2003 British English
11857 Mahmoud Ou La Montée Des Eaux Antoine Wauters 2021 Belgian French
11856 You Left On A May Day Yannis Ritsos Greek Greek