🏛️
Best Politics & Society Books
Political and social non-fiction maps the world as it is — its power structures, its inequalities, its contradictions — and sometimes imagines what it could be. The tradition runs from Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America and John Stuart Mill's On Liberty through Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism and James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time to contemporary analysts like Ta-Nehisi Coates, Naomi Klein, and Yuval Noah Harari. These books change how readers see their world, and the best of them have changed the world itself.
50 titles ranked · Scored across 40+ editorial sources
#1
literary-fiction
The White Tiger
Aravind Adiga· 2008
★Nobel Prize in Literature★Booker Prize
Editorial Score100/100
#2
biography-memoir
The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between
Hisham Matar· 2016
★Pulitzer Prize
Editorial Score91/100
#3
science-fiction
The Power
Naomi Alderman· 2016
★Women's Prize for Fiction
Editorial Score90/100
#4
biography-memoir
Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster
Svetlana Alexievich· 1997
★Nobel Prize in Literature
Editorial Score89/100
#5
science-fiction
The Dispossessed
Ursula K. Le Guin· 1975
★Hugo Award★Nebula Award
Editorial Score83/100
#6
literary-fiction
The Lizard Cage
Karen Connelly· 2005
★Women's Prize for Fiction
Editorial Score81/100
#7
biography-memoir
Unbowed: A Memoir
Wangari Maathai· 2006
★Nobel Prize in Literature
Editorial Score78/100
#8
science-fiction
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood· 1985
★Women's Prize for Fiction
Editorial Score71/100
#9
literary-fiction
The Autumn of the Patriarch
Gabriel García Márquez· 1975
★Nobel Prize in Literature
Editorial Score70/100
#10
biography-memoir
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Azar Nafisi· 2003
★Booker Prize
Editorial Score70/100
#11
philosophy
The Labyrinth of Solitude
Octavio Paz· 1950
★Nobel Prize in Literature
Editorial Score64/100
#12
literary-fiction
The Hive
Camilo José Cela· 1951
★Nobel Prize in Literature
Editorial Score63/100
#13
literary-fiction
All the King's Men
Robert Penn Warren· 1947
★Pulitzer Prize
Editorial Score62/100
#14
politics-society
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum
Heinrich Böll· 1974
★Nobel Prize in Literature
Editorial Score60/100
#15
politics-society
The President
Miguel Ángel Asturias· 1946
★Nobel Prize in Literature
Editorial Score60/100
#16
literary-fiction
The Interpreters
Wole Soyinka· 1965
★Nobel Prize in Literature
Editorial Score60/100
#17
history
The Gulag Archipelago
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn· 1973
★Nobel Prize in Literature
Editorial Score60/100
#18
literary-fiction
The Conservationist
Nadine Gordimer· 1974
★Booker Prize
Editorial Score60/100
#19
literary-fiction
Life & Times of Michael K
J.M. Coetzee· 1983
★Booker Prize
Editorial Score60/100
#20
short-stories
An Elegy for Easterly
Petina Gappah· 2009
Guardian 100 Best Novels
Editorial Score58/100
#21
science-fiction
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Robert A. Heinlein· 1967
★Hugo Award
Editorial Score57/100
#22
literary-fiction
The First Woman
Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi· 2020
★Women's Prize for Fiction
Editorial Score57/100
#23
science-fiction
1984
George Orwell· 1949
TIME 100 Best NovelsBBC Big Read
Editorial Score55/100
#24
literary-fiction
Black Moses
Alain Mabanckou· 2015
★Booker Prize
Editorial Score55/100
#25
literary-fiction
The Art of War
孙武 (Sun Tzu)· 1900
Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Score55/100
#26
literary-fiction
The Prince
Niccolò Machiavelli· 1515
Publishers Weekly
Editorial Score55/100
#27
literary-fiction
Анна Каренина
Лев Толстой· 1876
Publishers Weekly
Editorial Score55/100
#28
literary-fiction
πολιτεία
Plato· 1554
Library Journal
Editorial Score55/100
#29
literary-fiction
The Jungle
Upton Sinclair· 1791
Library Journal
Editorial Score55/100
#30
literary-fiction
The Minister's Wooing
Harriet Beecher Stowe· 1800
Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Score55/100
#31
historical-fiction
The Orchard of Lost Souls
Nadifa Mohamed· 2013
★Women's Prize for Fiction
Editorial Score53/100
#32
historical-fiction
The Italian
Shukri Mabkhout· 2014
★Booker Prize
Editorial Score53/100
#33
literary-fiction
We Need New Names
NoViolet Bulawayo· 2013
★Booker Prize
Editorial Score52/100
#34
mystery-thriller
The Dove's Necklace
Raja Alem· 2010
★Booker Prize
Editorial Score51/100
#35
literary-fiction
The Spinning Heart
Donal Ryan· 2012
★Booker Prize
Editorial Score50/100
#36
historical-fiction
Burnt Shadows
Kamila Shamsie· 2009
★Women's Prize for Fiction
Editorial Score50/100
#37
literary-fiction
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin· 1791
Library Journal
Editorial Score50/100
#38
literary-fiction
De la démocratie en Amérique
Alexis de Tocqueville· 1835
Library Journal
Editorial Score50/100
#39
literary-fiction
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer· 1890
Publishers Weekly
Editorial Score50/100
#40
literary-fiction
Доктор Живаго
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak· 1957
Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Score50/100
#41
classic-literature
The story of my life
Helen Keller· 1903
Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Score50/100
#42
classic-literature
Signs of change
William Morris· 1888
Publishers Weekly
Editorial Score50/100
#43
science-fiction
Toll the hounds
Steven Erikson· 2008
Library Journal
Editorial Score50/100
#44
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biography-memoir
Kokuritsu Kokkai Toshokan shozō Meijiki kankō tosho maikuro-ban shūsei
Kokuritsu Kokkai Toshokan (Japan)· 1991
Publishers Weekly
Editorial Score50/100
#45
literary-fiction
Smile As They Bow
Nu Nu Yi· 2008
★Booker Prize
Editorial Score49/100
#46
literary-fiction
In the Country of Men
Hisham Matar· 2006
★Booker Prize
Editorial Score48/100
#47
mystery-thriller
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad· 1907
Guardian 100 Best Novels
Editorial Score46/100
#48
literary-fiction
Germinal
Émile Zola· 1885
Times Literary SupplementALA Notable Books
Editorial Score46/100
#49
politics-society
How to Be an Antiracist
Ibram X. Kendi· 2019
Goodreads Choice Award
Editorial Score46/100
#50
politics-society
Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes
Jean-Jacques Rousseau· 1922
Notable Work
Editorial Score46/100
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