GREAT BOOKS OF THE WESTERN WORLD
(ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY WITHIN CATEGORIES)
IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE
HOMER, The Iliad, The Odyssey
AESCHYLUS, Complete Plays
SOPHOCLES, Complete Plays
EURIPIDES, Complete Plays
ARISTOPHANES, Complete Plays
VIRGIL, The Eclogues, The Georgics, The Aeneid
DANTE, The Divine Comedy
CHAUCER, Troilus and Criseyde, The Canterbury Tales
RABELAIS, Gargantua and Pantagruel
SHAKESPEARE, Complete Plays, Sonnets
CERVANTES, Don Quixote
MILTON, English Minor Poems, Paradise Lost, Samson, Agonistes, Areopagitica
SWIFT, Gulliver’s Travels
FIELDING, Tom Jones
STERNE, Tristram Shandy
GOETHE, Faust
MELVILLE, Moby Dick
TOLSTOY, War and Peace
DOSTOEVSKY, The Brothers Karamazov
HISTORY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
HERODOTUS, The History
THUCYDIDES, The History of the Peloponnesian War
PLUTARCH, Complete Lives
TACITUS, The Annals, The Histories
MACHIAVELLI, The Prince
MONTAIGNE, Complete Essays
HOBBES, Leviathan
MONTESQUIEU, The Spirit of Laws
ROUSSEAU, A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, A Discourse on Political Economy, The
Social Contract
SMITH, The Wealth of Nations
GIBBON, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, The Constitution of the United
States of America
BOSWELL, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
HAMILTON, MADISON, and JAY, The Federalist
MILL, On Liberty, Representative Government, Utilitarianism
MARX, Capital
MARX and ENGELS, Manifesto of the Communist Party
NATURAL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS
HIPPOCRATES, Complete Works
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EUCLID, Elements
ARCHIMEDES, Complete Writings
APOLLONIUS OF PERGA, On Conic Sections
NICOMACHUS, Introduction to Arithmetic
GALEN, On the Natural Faculties
PTOLEMY, The Almagest
COPERNICUS, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
GILBERT, On the Loadstone
GALILEO, Two New Sciences
KEPLER, Epitome of Copernican Astronomy, The Harmonies of the World
HARVEY, Medical Writings
HUYGENS, Treatise on Light
NEWTON, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, Optics
LAVOISIER, Elements of Chemistry
FOURIER, Analytical Theory of Heat
FARADAY, Experimental Researches in Electricity
DARWIN, The Origin of Species, The Descent of Man
JAMES, The Principles of Psychology
FREUD, Major Works
PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY
PLATO, Complete Dialogues, The Seventh Letter
ARISTOTLE, Complete Works
LUCRETIUS, On the Nature of Things
EPICTETUS, The Discourses
MARCUS AURELIUS, The Meditations
PLOTINUS, The Six Enneads
ST. AUGUSTINE, The Confessions, The City of God, On Christian Doctrine
AQUINAS, Summa Theologica
BACON, Advancement of Learning, Novum Organum, New Atlantis
DESCARTES, Philosophical Works, The Geometry
PASCAL, The Provincial Letters, Pensées, Scientific Works
SPINOZA, Ethics
LOCKE, A Letter Concerning Toleration, Concerning Civil Government, An Essay Concerning
Human Understanding
BERKELEY, The Principles of Human Knowledge
HUME, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
KANT, Major Philosophical Works
HEGEL, The Philosophy of Right, The Philosophy of History
GATEWAY TO THE GREAT BOOKS
(ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY WITHIN CATEGORIES)
IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE
SHERWOOD ANDERSON, I’m a Fool
ANONYMOUS, Aucassin and Nicolette
LUCIUS APULEIUS, “Cupid and Psyche” (from The Golden Ass)
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HONORÉ DE BALZAC, A Passion in the Desert
IVAN BUNIN, The Gentleman from San Francisco
SAMUEL BUTLER, “Customs and Opinions of the Erewhonians” (from Erewhon)
ANTON CHEKHOV, The Darling, The Cherry Orchard
JOSEPH CONRAD, Youth
STEPHEN CRANE, The Open Boat
DANIEL DEFOE, Robinson Crusoe
CHARLES DICKENS, “A Full and Faithful Report of the Memorable Trial of Bardell Against
Pickwick” (from The Pickwick Papers)
ISAK DINESEN, Sorrow-Acre
FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY, White Nights
GEORGE ELIOT, The Lifted Veil
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz
GUSTAVE FLAUBERT, The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaller
JOHN GALSWORTHY, The Apple-Tree
NIKOLAI GOGOL, The Overcoat
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, Rappaccini’s Daughter
ERNEST HEMINGWAY, The Killers
VICTOR HUGO, “The Battle with the Cannon” (from Ninety-Three)
HENRIK IBSEN, An Enemy of the People
HENRY JAMES, The Pupil
RUDYARD KIPLING, Mowgli’s Brothers
D. H. LAWRENCE, The Rocking-Horse Winner
THOMAS MANN, Mario and the Magician
GUY DE MAUPASSANT, Two Friends
HERMAN MELVILLE, Billy Budd
MOLIÈRE, The Misanthrope, The Doctor in Spite of Himself
EUGENE O’NEILL, The Emperor Jones
EDGAR ALLAN POE, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Masque of the Red Death
ALEXANDER PUSHKIN, The Queen of Spades
SIR WALTER SCOTT, The Two Drovers
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, The Man of Destiny
RICHARD SHERIDAN, The School for Scandal
ISAAC SINGER, The Spinoza of Market Street
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
JOHN M. SYNGE, Riders to the Sea
LEO TOLSTOY, The Death of Ivan Ilyitch, The Three Hermits, What Men Live By
IVAN TURGENEV, First Love
MARK TWAIN, The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
VOLTAIRE, Micromégas
OSCAR WILDE, The Happy Prince
CRITICAL ESSAYS
MATTHEW ARNOLD, The Study of Poetry, Sweetness and Light
SIR FRANCIS BACON, Of Beauty, Of Discourse, Of Studies
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THOMAS DE QUINCEY, Literature of Knowledge and Literature of Power, On the Knocking
at the Gate in “Macbeth”
THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT, Dante, Tradition and the Individual Talent
WILLIAM HAZLITT, My First Acquaintance with Poets, On Swift, Of Persons One Would
Wish to Have Seen
DAVID HUME, Of the Standard of Taste
SAMUEL JOHNSON, Preface to Shakespeare
CHARLES LAMB, My First Play; Dream Children, a Reverie; Sanity of True Genius
SAINTE-BEUVE, What Is a Classic?, Montaigne
FRIEDRICH SCHILLER, On Simple and Sentimental Poetry
ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, On Style, On Some Forms of Literature, On the Comparative
Place of Interest and Beauty in Works of Art
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, A Defence of Poetry
WALT WHITMAN, Preface to Leaves of Grass
VIRGINIA WOOLF, How Should One Read a Book?
HUMANITY AND SOCIETY
HENRY ADAMS, “The United States in 1800” (from History of the United States of America)
SIR FRANCIS BACON, Of Youth and Age, Of Parents and Children, Of Marriage and Single
Life, Of Great Place, Of Seditions and Troubles, Of Custom and Education, Of Followers and
Friends, Of Usury, Of Riches
EDMUND BURKE, Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol
JOHN BAGNELL BURY, Herodotus
JOHN C. CALHOUN, “The Concurrent Majority” (from A Disquisition on Government)
THOMAS CARLYLE, The Hero as King
KARL VON CLAUSEWITZ, “What Is War?” (from On War)
JEAN DE CRÈVECOEUR, “The Making of Americans” (from Letters from an American
Farmer)
DANTE ALIGHIERI, “On World Government” (from De Monarchia)
RALPH WALDO EMERSON, Thoreau
MICHAEL FARADAY, Observations on Mental Education
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge Among the British
Plantations in America, Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania
GREAT DOCUMENTS, The English Bill of Rights, Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen, The Virginia Declaration of Rights, The Declaration of Independence, Charter of the
United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
FRANCOIS GUIZOT, “Civilization” (from History of Civilization in Europe)
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, Sketch of Abraham Lincoln
DAVID HUME, Of Refinement in the Arts, Of Money, Of the Balance of Trade, Of Taxes, Of the
Study of History
WILLIAM JAMES, On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings, The Energies of Men, Great Men
and Their Environment
THOMAS JEFFERSON, “The Virginia Constitution” (from Notes on Virginia), First Inaugural
Address, Biographical Sketches
IMMANUEL KANT, Perpetual Peace
LA BRUYÈRE, Characters
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ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Address at Cooper Institute, First “Inaugural Address, Letter to
Horace Greeley, Meditation on the Divine Will, The Gettysburg Address, Second Inaugural
Address, Last Public Address
HANIEL LONG, The Power Within Us
LUCIAN, The Way to Write History
THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY, Machiavelli
THOMAS ROBERT MALTHUS, “The Principle of Population” (from Population: The First
Essay)
JOHN STUART MILL, “Childhood and Youth” (from Autobiography)
THOMAS PAINE, “A Call to Patriots—December 23, 1776” (from The Crisis)
PLINY THE YOUNGER, “The Eruption of Vesuvius” (from Letters)
PLUTARCH, Of Bashfulness
WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT, “The Land of Montezuma” (from The Conquest of Mexico)
JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU, A Lasting Peace Through the Federation of Europe
JOHN RUSKIN, An Idealist’s Arraignment of the Age
ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, On Education
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, The Lantern-Bearers
JONATHAN SWIFT, Resolutions When I Come to Be Old, An Essay on Modern Education, A
Meditation Upon a Broomstick, A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Ireland from
Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country
CORNELIUS TACITUS, The Life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola
HENRY DAVID THOREAU, Civil Disobedience, A Plea for Captain John Brown
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE, “Observations on American Life and Government” (from
Democracy in America)
MARK TWAIN, “Learning the River” (from Life on the Mississippi)
VOLTAIRE, “English Men and Ideas” (from Letters on the English)
GEORGE WASHINGTON, Circular Letter to the Governors of All the States on Disbanding the
Army, The Farewell Address
WALT WHITMAN, Death of Abraham Lincoln
VIRGINIA WOOLF, The Art of Biography
XENOPHON, “The March to the Sea” (from The Persian Expedition), “The Character of
Socrates” (from Memorabilia)
NATURAL SCIENCE
SIR FRANCIS BACON, The Sphinx
CLAUDE BERNARD, Experimental Considerations Common to Living Things and Inorganic
Bodies
KEES BOEKE, Cosmic View
TOMMASO CAMPANELLA, “Arguments For and Against Galileo” (from The Defense of
Galileo)
RACHEL L. CARSON, “The Sunless Sea” (from The Sea Around Us)
EVE CURIE, The Discovery of Radium
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN, Autobiography
SIR ARTHUR EDDINGTON, The Running-Down of the Universe
ALBERT EINSTEIN and LEOPOLD INFELD, “The Rise and Decline of Classical Physics”
(from The Evolution of Physics)
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LOREN EISELEY, “On Time” (from The Immense Journey)
JEAN HENRI FABRE, A Laboratory of the Open Fields, The Sacred Beetle
MICHAEL FARADAY, The Chemical History of a Candle
GALILEO GALILEI, The Starry Messenger
SIR FRANCIS GALTON, “The Classification of Human Ability” (from Hereditary Genius)
B. S. HALDANE, On Being the Right Size
H. L. F. VON HELMHOLTZ, On the Conservation of Force
THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY, On the Relations of Man to the Lower Animals, On a Piece of
Chalk
SIR JAMES JEANS, Beginnings and Endings
SIR CHARLES LYELL, “Geological Evolution” (from The Principles of Geology)
DMITRI MENDELEEV, “The Genesis of a Law of Nature” (from The Periodic Law of the
Chemical Elements)
IVAN PETROVICH PAVLOV, Scientific Study of the So-called Psychical Processes in the
Higher Animals
JOHN TYNDALL, “Michael Faraday” (from Faraday as a Discoverer)
FRIED RICH WÖHLER, On the Artificial Production of Urea
MATHEMATICS
NORMAN ROBERT CAMPBELL, Measurement, Numerical Laws and the
Use of Mathematics in Science
WILLIAM KINGDON CLIFFORD, The Postulates of the Science of Space
TOBIAS DANTZIG, Fingerprints, The Empty Column
LEONHARD EULER, The Seven Bridges of Konigsberg
ANDREW RUSSELL FORSYTH, Mathematics, in Life and Thought
LANCELOT HOGBEN, Mathematics, the Mirror of Civilization
EDWARD KASNER and JAMES R. NEWMAN, New Names for Old, Beyond the Googol
PIERRE SIMON DE LAPLACE, “Probability” (from A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities)
CHARLES SANDERS PEIRCE, The Red and the Black
HENRI POINCARE, Space, Mathematical Creation, Chance
BERTRAND RUSSELL, The Study of Mathematics, Mathematics and the Metaphysicians,
Definition of Number
ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD, “On Mathematical Method” (from An Introduction to
Mathematics), On the Nature of a Calculus
PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAYS
HENRY ADAMS, St. Thomas Aquinas
SIR FRANCIS BACON, Of Truth, Of Death, Of Adversity, Of Love, Of Friendship, Of Anger
SIR THOMAS BROWNE, “Immortality” (from Urn-Burial)
CICERO, On Friendship, On Old Age
WILLIAM KINGDON CLIFFORD, The Ethics of Belief
JOHN DEWEY, “The Process of Thought” (from How We Think)
RALPH WALDO EMERSON, Nature, Self-Reliance, Montaigne; or, the Skeptic
EPICTETUS, The Enchiridion
EPICURUS, Letter to Herodotus, Letter to Menoeceus
JOHN ERSKINE, The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent
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WILLIAM HAZLITT, On the Feeling of Immortality in Youth
WILLIAM JAMES, The Will to Believe, The Sentiment of Rationality
JOHN STUART MILL, Nature
WALTER HORATIO PATER, “The Art of Life” (from The Renaissance)
PLUTARCH, Contentment
GEORGE SANTAYANA, Lucretius, Goethe’s Faust
VOLTAIRE, “The Philosophy of Common Sense” (from Philosophical Dictionary)
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