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# The Great American Novels

In 1868, a little-known writer by the name of John William DeForest proposed a new type of literature, a collective artistic project for a nation just emerging from an existential conflict: a work of fiction that accomplished “the task of painting the American soul.” It would be called the Great American Novel, and no one had written it yet, DeForest admitted. Maybe soon.

A century and a half later, the idea has endured, even as it has become more complicated. In 2024, our definition of literary greatness is wider, deeper, and weirder than DeForest likely could have imagined. At the same time, the novel is also under threat, as the forces of anti-intellectualism and authoritarianism seek to ban books and curtail freedom of expression. The American canon is more capacious, more fluid, and more fragile than perhaps ever before. But what, exactly, is in it? What follows is our attempt to discover just that.

In setting out to identify that new American canon, we decided to define *American* as having first been published in the United States (or intended to be—read more in our entries on *Lolita* and *The Bell Jar*). And we narrowed our aperture to the past 100 years—a period that began as literary modernism was cresting and contains all manner of literary pleasure and possibility, including the experimentations of postmodernism and the narrative satisfactions of genre fiction.

This still left millions of potential titles. So we approached experts—scholars, critics, and novelists, both at *The Atlantic* and outside it—and asked for their suggestions. From there, we added and subtracted and debated and negotiated and considered and reconsidered until we landed on the list you’re about to read. We didn’t limit ourselves to a round, arbitrary number; we wanted to recognize the very best—novels that say something intriguing about the world and do it distinctively, in intentional, artful prose—no matter how many or few that ended up being (136, as it turns out). Our goal was to single out those classics that stand the test of time, but also to make the case for the unexpected, the unfairly forgotten, and the recently published works that already feel indelible. We aimed for comprehensiveness, rigor, and open-mindedness. Serendipity, too: We hoped to replicate that particular joy of a friend pressing a book into your hand and saying, “You have to read this; you’ll love it.”

This list includes 45 debut novels, nine winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and three children’s books. Twelve were published before the introduction of the mass-market paperback to America, and 24 after the release of the Kindle. At least 60 have been banned by schools or libraries. Together, they represent the best of what novels can do: challenge us, delight us, pull us in and then release us, a little smarter and a little more alive than we were before. You have to read them.

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### The Great American Novels

-   ### The Great Gatsby
    
    F. Scott Fitzgerald
    
    1925
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-great-gatsby.jpg?v2)
-   ### An American Tragedy
    
    Theodore Dreiser
    
    1925
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/an-american-tragedy.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Making of Americans
    
    Gertrude Stein
    
    1925
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-making-of-americans.jpg?v2)
-   ### Death Comes for the Archbishop
    
    Willa Cather
    
    1927
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/death-comes-for-the-archbishop.jpg?v2)
-   ### A Farewell to Arms
    
    Ernest Hemingway
    
    1929
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/a-farewell-to-arms.jpg?v2)
-   ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/passing.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Sound and the Fury
    
    William Faulkner
    
    1929
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-sound-and-the-fury.jpg?v2)
-   ### Absalom, Absalom!
    
    William Faulkner
    
    1936
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/absalom-absalom.jpg?v2)
-   ### Nightwood
    
    Djuna Barnes
    
    1936
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/nightwood.jpg?v2)
-   ### East Goes West
    
    Younghill Kang
    
    1937
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/east-goes-west.jpg?v2)
-   ### Their Eyes Were Watching God
    
    Zora Neale Hurston
    
    1937
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/their-eyes-were-watching-god.jpg?v2)
-   ### U.S.A.
    
    John Dos Passos
    
    1937
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/usa.jpg?v2)
-   ### Ask the Dust
    
    John Fante
    
    1939
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/ask-the-dust.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Big Sleep
    
    Raymond Chandler
    
    1939
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-big-sleep.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Day of the Locust
    
    Nathanael West
    
    1939
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-day-of-the-locust.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Grapes of Wrath
    
    John Steinbeck
    
    1939
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-grapes-of-wrath.jpg?v2)
-   ### Native Son
    
    Richard Wright
    
    1940
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/native-son.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
    
    Carson McCullers
    
    1940
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-heart-is-a-lonely-hunter.jpg?v2)
-   ### A Time to Be Born
    
    Dawn Powell
    
    1942
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/a-time-to-be-born.jpg?v2)
-   ### All the King’s Men
    
    Robert Penn Warren
    
    1946
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/all-the-kings-men.jpg?v2)
-   ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-street.jpg?v2)
-   ### In a Lonely Place
    
    Dorothy B. Hughes
    
    1947
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/in-a-lonely-place.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Mountain Lion
    
    Jean Stafford
    
    1947
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-mountain-lion.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Catcher in the Rye
    
    J. D. Salinger
    
    1951
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-catcher-in-the-rye.jpg?v2)
-   ### Charlotte’s Web
    
    E. B. White
    
    1952
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/charlottes-web.jpg?v2)
-   ### Invisible Man
    
    Ralph Ellison
    
    1952
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/invisible-man.jpg?v2)
-   ### Fahrenheit 451
    
    Ray Bradbury
    
    1953
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/fahrenheit-451.jpg?v2)
-   ### Maud Martha
    
    Gwendolyn Brooks
    
    1953
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/maud-martha.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Adventures of Augie March
    
    Saul Bellow
    
    1953
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-adventures-of-augie-march.jpg?v2)
-   ### Lolita
    
    Vladimir Nabokov
    
    1955
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/lolita.jpg?v2)
-   ### Giovanni’s Room
    
    James Baldwin
    
    1956
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/giovannis-room.jpg?v2)
-   ### Peyton Place
    
    Grace Metalious
    
    1956
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/peyton-place.jpg?v2)
-   ### Deep Water
    
    Patricia Highsmith
    
    1957
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/deep-water.jpg?v2)
-   ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/no-no-boy.jpg?v2)
-   ### On the Road
    
    Jack Kerouac
    
    1957
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/on-the-road.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Haunting of Hill House
    
    Shirley Jackson
    
    1959
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-haunting-of-hill-house.jpg?v2)
-   ### Catch-22
    
    Joseph Heller
    
    1961
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/catch-22.jpg?v2)
-   ### A Wrinkle in Time
    
    Madeleine L'Engle
    
    1962
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/a-wrinkle-in-time.jpg?v2)
-   ### Another Country
    
    James Baldwin
    
    1962
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/another-country.jpg?v2)
-   ### One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
    
    Ken Kesey
    
    1962
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest.jpg?v2)
-   ### Pale Fire
    
    Vladimir Nabokov
    
    1962
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/pale-fire.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Zebra-Striped Hearse
    
    Ross Macdonald
    
    1962
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-zebra-striped-hearse.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Bell Jar
    
    Sylvia Plath
    
    1963
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-bell-jar.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Group
    
    Mary McCarthy
    
    1963
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-group.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Crying of Lot 49
    
    Thomas Pynchon
    
    1966
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-crying-of-lot-49.jpg?v2)
-   ### A Sport and a Pastime
    
    James Salter
    
    1967
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/a-sport-and-a-pastime.jpg?v2)
-   ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/couples.jpg?v2)
-   ### Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
    
    Philip K. Dick
    
    1968
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/do-androids-dream-of-electric-sheep.jpg?v2)
-   ### Divorcing
    
    Susan Taubes
    
    1969
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/divorcing.jpg?v2)
-   ### Portnoy’s Complaint
    
    Philip Roth
    
    1969
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/portnoys-complaint.jpg?v2)
-   ### Slaughterhouse-Five
    
    Kurt Vonnegut
    
    1969
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/slaughterhouse-five.jpg?v2)
-   ### Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
    
    Judy Blume
    
    1970
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret.jpg?v2)
-   ### Desperate Characters
    
    Paula Fox
    
    1970
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/desperate-characters.jpg?v2)
-   ### Play It as It Lays
    
    Joan Didion
    
    1970
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/play-it-as-it-lays.jpg?v2)
-   ### Log of the S.S. The Mrs Unguentine
    
    Stanley Crawford
    
    1972
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/log-of-the-ss-the-mrs-unguentine.jpg?v2)
-   ### Mumbo Jumbo
    
    Ishmael Reed
    
    1972
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/mumbo-jumbo.jpg?v2)
-   ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/sula.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Revolt of the Cockroach People
    
    Oscar Zeta Acosta
    
    1973
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-revolt-of-the-cockroach-people.jpg?v2)
-   ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/oreo.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Dispossessed
    
    Ursula K. Le Guin
    
    1974
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-dispossessed.jpg?v2)
-   ### Winter in the Blood
    
    James Welch
    
    1974
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/winter-in-the-blood.jpg?v2)
-   ### Corregidora
    
    Gayl Jones
    
    1975
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/corregidora.jpg?v2)
-   ### Speedboat
    
    Renata Adler
    
    1976
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/speedboat.jpg?v2)
-   ### Ceremony
    
    Leslie Marmon Silko
    
    1977
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/ceremony.jpg?v2)
-   ### Song of Solomon
    
    Toni Morrison
    
    1977
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/song-of-solomon.jpg?v2)
-   ### A Contract With God
    
    Will Eisner
    
    1978
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/a-contract-with-god.jpg?v2)
-   ### Dancer From the Dance
    
    Andrew Holleran
    
    1978
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/dancer-from-the-dance.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Stand
    
    Stephen King
    
    1978
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-stand.jpg?v2)
-   ### Kindred
    
    Octavia E. Butler
    
    1979
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/kindred.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Dog of the South
    
    Charles Portis
    
    1979
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-dog-of-the-south.jpg?v2)
-   ### Housekeeping
    
    Marilynne Robinson
    
    1980
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/housekeeping.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Salt Eaters
    
    Toni Cade Bambara
    
    1980
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-salt-eaters.jpg?v2)
-   ### Little, Big: Or, the Fairies’ Parliament
    
    John Crowley
    
    1981
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/little-big-or-the-fairies-parliament.jpg?v2)
-   ### Oxherding Tale
    
    Charles Johnson
    
    1982
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/oxherding-tale.jpg?v2)
-   ### Machine Dreams
    
    Jayne Anne Phillips
    
    1984
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/machine-dreams.jpg?v2)
-   ### Blood Meridian
    
    Cormac McCarthy
    
    1985
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/blood-meridian.jpg?v2)
-   ### A Summons to Memphis
    
    Peter Taylor
    
    1986
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/a-summons-to-memphis.jpg?v2)
-   ### Watchmen
    
    Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
    
    1986
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/watchmen.jpg?v2)
-   ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/beloved.jpg?v2)
-   ### Dawn
    
    Octavia E. Butler
    
    1987
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/dawn.jpg?v2)
-   ### Geek Love
    
    Katherine Dunn
    
    1989
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/geek-love.jpg?v2)
-   ### Tripmaster Monkey
    
    Maxine Hong Kingston
    
    1989
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/tripmaster-monkey.jpg?v2)
-   ### Dogeaters
    
    Jessica Hagedorn
    
    1990
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/dogeaters.jpg?v2)
-   ### American Psycho
    
    Bret Easton Ellis
    
    1991
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/american-psycho.jpg?v2)
-   ### How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
    
    Julia Alvarez
    
    1991
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/how-the-garcia-girls-lost-their-accents.jpg?v2)
-   ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/mating.jpg?v2)
-   ### Bastard Out of Carolina
    
    Dorothy Allison
    
    1992
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/bastard-out-of-carolina.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Secret History
    
    Donna Tartt
    
    1992
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-secret-history.jpg?v2)
-   ### So Far From God
    
    Ana Castillo
    
    1993
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/so-far-from-god.jpg?v2)
-   ### Stone Butch Blues
    
    Leslie Feinberg
    
    1993
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/stone-butch-blues.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Shipping News
    
    Annie Proulx
    
    1993
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-shipping-news.jpg?v2)
-   ### Native Speaker
    
    Chang-rae Lee
    
    1995
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/native-speaker.jpg?v2)
-   ### Sabbath’s Theater
    
    Philip Roth
    
    1995
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/sabbaths-theater.jpg?v2)
-   ### Under the Feet of Jesus
    
    Helena María Viramontes
    
    1995
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/under-the-feet-of-jesus.jpg?v2)
-   ### Infinite Jest
    
    David Foster Wallace
    
    1996
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/infinite-jest.jpg?v2)
-   ### I Love Dick
    
    Chris Kraus
    
    1997
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/i-love-dick.jpg?v2)
-   ### Underworld
    
    Don DeLillo
    
    1997
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/underworld.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Intuitionist
    
    Colson Whitehead
    
    1999
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-intuitionist.jpg?v2)
-   ### Blonde
    
    Joyce Carol Oates
    
    2000
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/blonde.jpg?v2)
-   ### House of Leaves
    
    Mark Z. Danielewski
    
    2000
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/house-of-leaves.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
    
    Michael Chabon
    
    2000
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-amazing-adventures-of-kavalier-and-clay.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Last Samurai
    
    Helen DeWitt
    
    2000
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-last-samurai.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Quick and the Dead
    
    Joy Williams
    
    2000
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-quick-and-the-dead.jpg?v2)
-   ### Erasure
    
    Percival Everett
    
    2001
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/erasure.jpg?v2)
-   ### I, the Divine
    
    Rabih Alameddine
    
    2001
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/i-the-divine.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Corrections
    
    Jonathan Franzen
    
    2001
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-corrections.jpg?v2)
-   ### Caramelo
    
    Sandra Cisneros
    
    2002
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/caramelo.jpg?v2)
-   ### Perma Red
    
    Debra Magpie Earling
    
    2002
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/perma-red.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Russian Debutante’s Handbook
    
    Gary Shteyngart
    
    2002
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-russian-debutantes-handbook.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Namesake
    
    Jhumpa Lahiri
    
    2003
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-namesake.jpg?v2)
-   ### Veronica
    
    Mary Gaitskill
    
    2005
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/veronica.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
    
    Junot Díaz
    
    2007
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-brief-wondrous-life-of-oscar-wao.jpg?v2)
-   ### A Visit From the Goon Squad
    
    Jennifer Egan
    
    2010
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/a-visit-from-the-goon-squad.jpg?v2)
-   ### I Hotel
    
    Karen Tei Yamashita
    
    2010
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/i-hotel.jpg?v2)
-   ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/open-city.jpg?v2)
-   ### Salvage the Bones
    
    Jesmyn Ward
    
    2011
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/salvage-the-bones.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Round House
    
    Louise Erdrich
    
    2012
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-round-house.jpg?v2)
-   ### Americanah
    
    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
    
    2013
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/americanah.jpg?v2)
-   ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/nevada.jpg?v2)
-   ### A Brief History of Seven Killings
    
    Marlon James
    
    2014
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/a-brief-history-of-seven-killings.jpg?v2)
-   ### Family Life
    
    Akhil Sharma
    
    2014
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/family-life.jpg?v2)
-   ### Fates and Furies
    
    Lauren Groff
    
    2015
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/fates-and-furies.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Fifth Season
    
    N. K. Jemisin
    
    2015
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-fifth-season.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Sellout
    
    Paul Beatty
    
    2015
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-sellout.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Sympathizer
    
    Viet Thanh Nguyen
    
    2015
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-sympathizer.jpg?v2)
-   ### Amiable With Big Teeth
    
    Claude McKay
    
    2017
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/amiable-with-big-teeth.jpg?v2)
-   ### Lincoln in the Bardo
    
    George Saunders
    
    2017
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/lincoln-in-the-bardo.jpg?v2)
-   ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/sabrina.jpg?v2)
-   ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/severance.jpg?v2)
-   ### There There
    
    Tommy Orange
    
    2018
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/there-there.jpg?v2)
-   ### Lost Children Archive
    
    Valeria Luiselli
    
    2019
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/lost-children-archive.jpg?v2)
-   ### Nothing to See Here
    
    Kevin Wilson
    
    2019
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/nothing-to-see-here.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Old Drift
    
    Namwali Serpell
    
    2019
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-old-drift.jpg?v2)
-   ### No One Is Talking About This
    
    Patricia Lockwood
    
    2021
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/no-one-is-talking-about-this.jpg?v2)
-   ### The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois
    
    Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
    
    2021
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/the-love-songs-of-w-e-b-du-bois.jpg?v2)
-   ### Biography of X
    
    Catherine Lacey
    
    2023
    
    ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/files/est/best-books/biography-of-x.jpg?v2)

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