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Ideas • History • Civilization

The Great Books Project

Civilizations are inherited only by those willing to understand them. The Great Books Project follows the conversation that shaped the West—not simply in chronological order, but by tracing how one thinker influenced the next.

Each work builds on those that came before it, creating an unbroken chain of ideas spanning thousands of years. By following that chain, you don't just read history—you witness the development of civilization itself.

  • Homer influences Plato.
  • Plato influences Aristotle.
  • Aristotle shapes Cicero.
  • Augustine carries Rome into Christianity.
  • Aquinas reconciles faith and reason.
  • Locke responds to Hobbes.
  • Burke responds to Rousseau.
  • Nietzsche responds to almost everyone.

The Great Books

Each work has its own page: what it is, why it matters, and an honest comparison of the best translations. The Amazon link on each row goes straight to the edition recommended for that work.

Purchases made through these links help support the Great Books Project at no additional cost to you.

  1. 1 The Epic of Gilgamesh Anonymous c. 2100-1200 BC George Amazon
  2. 2 The Iliad Homer c. 750 BC Fagles Amazon
  3. 3 The Odyssey Homer c. 725 BC Fagles Amazon
  4. 4 Theogony Hesiod c. 700 BC West Amazon
  5. 5 Works and Days Hesiod c. 700 BC West Amazon
  6. 6 Analects Confucius c. 475-221 BC Slingerland Amazon
  7. 7 Histories Herodotus c. 440 BC Waterfield Amazon
  8. 8 History of the Peloponnesian War Thucydides c. 400 BC Mynott Amazon
  9. 9 Apology Plato c. 399 BC Grube/Cooper Amazon
  10. 10 Crito Plato c. 390 BC Grube/Cooper Amazon
  11. 11 Symposium Plato c. 385 BC Waterfield Amazon
  12. 12 The Republic Plato c. 375 BC Bloom Amazon
  13. 13 Phaedo Plato c. 370 BC Grube/Cooper Amazon
  14. 14 Anabasis / Persian Expedition Xenophon c. 370 BC Waterfield Amazon
  15. 15 Cyropaedia Xenophon c. 370 BC Ambler Amazon
  16. 16 Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle c. 340 BC Sachs Amazon
  17. 17 Politics Aristotle c. 330 BC Sachs Amazon
  18. 18 Rhetoric Aristotle c. 330 BC Kennedy Amazon
  19. 19 Elements Euclid c. 300 BC Heath Amazon
  20. 20 The Histories Polybius c. 150 BC Waterfield Amazon
  21. 21 Orations Cicero 63-43 BC Berry Amazon
  22. 22 On the Nature of Things Lucretius c. 55 BC Stallings Amazon
  23. 23 On the Republic Cicero c. 54-51 BC Rudd Amazon
  24. 24 On the Laws Cicero 51 BC Rudd Amazon
  25. 25 On Duties Cicero 44 BC Miller Amazon
  26. 26 The Early History of Rome Livy c. 27 BC Selincourt Amazon
  27. 27 The Aeneid Virgil 19 BC Fagles Amazon
  28. 28 Letters from a Stoic Seneca c. 65 AD Campbell Amazon
  29. 29 The Jewish War Josephus 75 AD Williamson Amazon
  30. 30 Parallel Lives (Greek) Plutarch c. 100 AD Waterfield Amazon
  31. 31 Parallel Lives (Hellenistic) Plutarch c. 100 AD Waterfield Amazon
  32. 32 Parallel Lives (Roman) Plutarch c. 100 AD Waterfield Amazon
  33. 33 Annals Tacitus c. 110 AD Grant Amazon
  34. 34 Enchiridion Epictetus c. 125 AD Hard Amazon
  35. 35 Meditations Marcus Aurelius c. 170 AD Hays Amazon
  36. 36 Confessions Augustine 397 AD Chadwick Amazon
  37. 37 City of God Augustine 413-426 AD Bettenson Amazon
  38. 38 Consolation of Philosophy Boethius 524 AD Watts Amazon
  39. 39 Beowulf Anonymous c. 1000 AD Heaney Amazon
  40. 40 Summa Theologica Aquinas 1265-1274 Dominicans Amazon
  41. 41 The Divine Comedy Dante 1308-1321 Mandelbaum Amazon
  42. 42 Praise of Folly Erasmus 1511 Radice Amazon
  43. 43 The Prince Machiavelli 1513 Mansfield Amazon
  44. 44 Utopia Thomas More 1516 Miller Amazon
  45. 45 Discourses on Livy Machiavelli 1517 Mansfield/Tarcov Amazon
  46. 46 The Courtier Castiglione 1528 Bull Amazon
  47. 47 Essays Montaigne 1580 Frame Amazon
  48. 48 The Complete Plays Shakespeare 1590–1613 RSC Amazon
  49. 49 Novum Organum Bacon 1620 Silverthorne/Jardine Amazon
  50. 50 Discourse on Method Descartes 1637 Cress Amazon
  51. 51 Leviathan Hobbes 1651 Amazon
  52. 52 Paradise Lost John Milton 1667 Leonard Amazon
  53. 53 Pensées Pascal 1670 Krailsheimer Amazon
  54. 54 Two Treatises of Government John Locke 1689 Cambridge/Laslett Amazon
  55. 55 Spirit of the Laws Montesquieu 1748 Cohler et al. Amazon
  56. 56 Social Contract Rousseau 1762 Cranston Amazon
  57. 57 Common Sense Thomas Paine 1776 Amazon
  58. 58 The Wealth of Nations Adam Smith 1776 Cannan - Modern Library Amazon
  59. 59 Federalist Papers Hamilton, Madison & Jay 1787-1788 Gideon Amazon
  60. 60 Reflections on the Revolution in France Burke 1790 Oxford Amazon
  61. 61 Democracy in America Tocqueville 1835-1840 Mansfield Amazon
  62. 62 Communist Manifesto Marx & Engels 1848 Moore / Engels Amazon
  63. 63 On Liberty Mill 1859 Oxford Amazon
  64. 64 On the Origin of Species Darwin 1859 Amazon
  65. 65 Beyond Good and Evil Nietzsche 1886 Kaufmann Amazon

Beyond the Great Books

These books build upon the foundation of the main list through literature, history, economics, psychology, and modern works that deepen, challenge, and complement the conversation.

Each has its own page; the Amazon link goes to the recommended edition.

  1. 1 The Count of Monte Cristo Dumas 1844 Robin Buss Amazon
  2. 2 Crime and Punishment Dostoevsky 1866 Ready Amazon
  3. 3 The Brothers Karamazov Dostoevsky 1880 Katz Amazon
  4. 4 1984 Orwell 1949 Wordsworth Amazon
  5. 5 The Origins of Totalitarianism Arendt 1951 Applebaum Amazon
  6. 6 The Gulag Archipelago Vol. 1 Solzhenitsyn 1973 Whitney Amazon
  7. 7 The Idiot Dostoevsky 1869 Avsey Amazon
  8. 8 The Master and Margarita Bulgakov 1967 Pevear Amazon
  9. 9 Clash of Civilizations Huntington 1996 Amazon
  10. 10 How To Read A Book Adler 1940 Amazon
  11. 11 The Good War Terkel 1984 Amazon
  12. 12 Notes from Underground Dostoevsky 1864 Katz Amazon
  13. 13 Thus Spoke Zarathustra Nietzsche 1883-1885 Kaufmann Amazon
  14. 14 A Conflict of Visions Sowell 1987 Amazon
  15. 15 Basic Economics Sowell 2000 Amazon
  16. 16 The Indispensable Milton Friedman Friedman 2012 Amazon
  17. 17 On Classical Economics Sowell 2006 Amazon
  18. 18 Discrimination and Disparities Sowell 2018 Amazon
  19. 19 The Thomas Sowell Reader Sowell 2011 Amazon
  20. 20 Black Rednecks and White Liberals Sowell 2005 Amazon
  21. 21 The Creature from Jekyll Island Griffin 1994 Amazon
  22. 22 The Age of Reason Paine 1794 Amazon
  23. 23 How the British Invented Communism Poe 2023 Amazon
  24. 24 Modern Man in Search of a Soul Jung 1933 Dell & Baynes Amazon
  25. 25 Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol 9 Part 1 Jung 1951 Hull Amazon
  26. 26 The Art of Worldly Wisdom Gracian 1647 Maurer Amazon
  27. 27 Hagakure Tsunetomo 1716 Wilson Amazon
  28. 28 The 48 Laws of Power Greene 1998 Amazon
  29. 29 What It Means to Be a Libertarian Murray 1997 Amazon
  30. 30 The Moral Arc Shermer 2015 Amazon
  31. 31 Devil's Game Dreyfuss 2005 Amazon
  32. 32 The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici Hibbert 1974 Amazon
  33. 33 The House of Borgia Hibbert 2008 Amazon
  34. 34 The Art of Happiness Epicurus c. 300 BC Strodach Amazon
  35. 35 Hamnet O'Farrell 2020 Amazon
  36. 36 1Q84 Murakami 2009-2010 Rubin/Gabriel Amazon
  37. 37 A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Adams 1979 Amazon
  38. 38 Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies Jackson 2006 Amazon
  39. 39 The Secret Teachings of All Ages Hall 1928 Amazon
  40. 40 Dismantling America Sowell 2010 Amazon
  41. 41 Jimmy Carter: The Liberal Left and World Chaos Evans 2009 Amazon
  42. 42 How to Test Negative for Stupid Kennedy 2025 Amazon
  43. 43 Symbol Sourcebook Dreyfuss 1972 Amazon

The Great Books Project

Dive Into The Books

Start with one book. Each guide explains why it matters, how to read it, and which edition to buy.

Epic Poetry

The Iliad

The rage of Achilles, and the most honest book ever written about violence. Everything after it is downstream.

Read the guide

Dystopian Fiction

1984

Not a prophecy about surveillance. A book about what happens to a mind when language is taken from it.

Read the guide
Browse the full reading list

A civilization that forgets the books that built it eventually forgets itself.

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