5 Greatest Books of the Last 40 Years, Ranked

Books have a way of capturing the world as it changes, preserving stories and experiences that might otherwise go unheard. Over the past four decades, society has undergone immense evolution, from shifting social norms to the growing influence of globalization and technology. As people across the globe become more connected, literature has opened the door to perspectives that were once overlooked.

From a novel by a Nobel Prize-winning author to an untold story about the Vietnam War, these books reflect the complexities of the world we live in while offering perspectives that remain relevant long after their publication. Without further ado, here are the five greatest books of the last 40 years, ranked.

5

‘Wolf Hall’ (2009)

Image via Henry Holt & Company

Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall follows Thomas Cromwell’s rise from an abusive childhood to the heart of King Henry VIII’s court. In 1529, Cromwell serves Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, but when the Cardinal falls out of the King’s favor, he must figure out how to survive the political fallout. As Henry pursues Anne Boleyn and tries to end his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Cromwell relies on his sharp mind and knack for negotiation to steer court rivalries and secure his future.

Underdogs make some of the best protagonists, and Thomas Cromwell is a perfect example. In Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel takes a blacksmith’s son and turns him into one of the most fascinating figures in Henry VIII’s court without making him a saint or a cartoon villain. Cromwell is ingenious, enterprising, and merciless when he needs to be, but his loyalty to Cardinal Wolsey also makes him surprisingly human. As Henry’s marriage crisis threatens to reshape England, Mantel makes conversations, legal arguments, and backroom deals just as gripping as any battle. Meanwhile, her close narration lets readers experience Tudor politics through Cromwell’s eyes.

4

‘The Sympathizer’ (2015)

Image via Grove Press

Being caught between two sides is never easy, especially when both expect you to pick one. Viet Thanh Nguyen‘s The Sympathizer follows an unnamed communist spy of Vietnamese and French descent who flees to Los Angeles after the fall of Saigon. His job is to spy on South Vietnamese military officials living in exile and report back to his communist superiors. But as he tries to fit into American life, keeping his real loyalties hidden becomes increasingly difficult.

The Sympathizer explores an often-overlooked perspective on the Vietnam War — one that rarely comes up in American discourse. It’s one thing to tell the story from a Vietnamese perspective, but exploring it through the eyes of someone caught between two racial and cultural identities is far less common. The protagonist never really gets to belong anywhere. He’s too Vietnamese for some people, too Western for others, and too committed to his cause to simply walk away. His double life forces him to question what he believes in and how much he’s willing to sacrifice for it. There’s no fresh start when your past follows you everywhere, and the spy soon discovers that loyalty comes at a price. The more he tries to serve his cause, the harder it becomes to separate his own beliefs from what he’s been ordered to do.

3

‘Babel, or the Necessity of Violence’ (2022)

Image via Harper Voyager

R. F. Kuang’s Babel, or the Necessity of Violence imagines an alternate 1830s Britain where language is a source of magical power and a key part of the Empire’s wealth. The dark academia fantasy follows Robin Swift, a Canton-born orphan brought to England by Oxford professor Richard Lovell. At Oxford’s Royal Institute of Translation, Robin studies the connection between languages and silver-working magic, gradually discovering that Britain’s prosperity depends on exploiting the very cultures it claims to understand.

But Babel isn’t just about a magical university or a student questioning everything he’s been taught. It also takes a hard look at how institutions built around knowledge can serve colonial interests. Robin enters Oxford believing in the opportunities it offers, only to find himself caught between the future he’s worked toward and the people harmed by the system supporting it. As he and his fellow students learn more about the Empire’s dependence on translation, they must decide whether to protect their place within it or fight against it. Kuang makes a strong case that language is never entirely neutral: it can bridge cultural divides, but it can also become a tool for control. By putting this conflict at the heart of academic life, Babel questions whether education can truly be separated from the political and economic systems that benefit from it.

2

‘The Remains of the Day’ (1989)

From the mind of Nobel Prize-winning writer Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day takes readers to 1956, when Stevens, a longtime butler at Darlington Hall, takes a road trip to Cornwall to visit former housekeeper Miss Kenton after receiving her letter. Along the way, he looks back on his years serving Lord Darlington and begins to question whether his career was as meaningful as he once believed. As memories of his former employer and his relationship with Miss Kenton resurface, Stevens must confront the choices that have shaped his life.

The Remains of the Day explores the divide between the working and elite classes from a uniquely human perspective rather than a theoretical discourse. To Stevens, obedience is a virtue, and serving an influential man like Lord Darlington is a matter of honor. But what happens when the person you’ve devoted your life to turns out to be less admirable than you thought? Through Stevens, who has spent decades defining himself through his profession, Ishiguro delivers an emotional portrait of a man struggling to understand who he is beyond his duties. The novel also questions the idea that serving someone important automatically makes your life meaningful. By the time Stevens begins to recognize what his loyalty has cost him, he must face the possibility that his commitment to duty has left little room for his own desires, relationships, and happiness.

1

‘The God of Small Things’ (1997)

Image via Harper Collins

An essential piece of postcolonial literature, The God of Small Things follows fraternal twins Rahel and Estha throughout their childhood in Kerala, India. Through the eyes of children trying to make sense of adult tragedies, this nonlinear tale offers a painful look at a society where caste, class, and gender dictate how people live. Their complicated family relationships and their mother Ammu’s forbidden romance with Velutha, a worker from the lowest caste, reveal the devastating consequences of challenging these social boundaries.

Everything in The God of Small Things, from its unconventional storytelling to its choice of twins as the main characters, feels intentional. The novel portrays trauma through recurring images and fragmented memories rather than clear, linear recollections. Its childlike, almost languid prose might seem at odds with the horrors unfolding, but it reflects how Rahel and Estha struggle to understand experiences beyond their years. These narrative choices also show how social systems invade even the most intimate parts of life, dictating whom people can love and punishing those who defy expectations. For women like Ammu, who have little social power, the consequences can be especially brutal. All this builds toward one of the novel’s most shocking and controversial endings, one that deserves a second reading rather than immediate judgment, no matter how taboo it may seem.

Release Date

2024 – 2024-00-00

Network

HBO

Writers

Mark Richard, Don McKellar, Park Chan-wook, Naomi Hisako Iizuka, Maegan Houang, Anchuli Felicia King