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Here is my plan for reading and reviewing all the “Great Books of the Western World”. Most of this list comes from greatbooksacademy.org but I’ve changed it a little bit.
These great books of the western world are the foundation for most of the ideas in our modern-day world in which we live in today.
Of course you need to read more widely than just these great books written by ‘old, dead, white men’. But you can always supplement this list with other great books from people of colour, women, and writers from other cultures as well.
This plan does not go through entirely all the great books, however it does go through most of the main ones. I would rather get through the most important books and then go back through the whole list to catch the others that are of interest to me.
Step by step like the tortoise is the best way.
So, let’s get started.
Year 1: Great Books of the Ancient Greeks
- Aeschylus – Prometheus Bound
- Homer – The Iliad
- Homer – The Odyssey
- Aeschylus – Agamemnon
- Aeschylus – Libation Bearers
- Aeschylus – Eumenides
- Euripedes – Trojan Women
- Euripedes – Alcestis
- Aesop – Aesop’s Fables
- Sophocles – Oedipus Rex
- Sophocles – Oedipus at Colonus
- Sophocles – Antigone
- Euripides – Hippolytus
- Herodotus – Histories
- Plutarch – Lycurgus
- Plutarch – Solon
- Plutarch – Pericles
- Plutarch – Alcibiades
- Euripedes – Medea
- Euripedes – Bacchae
- Thucydides – Peloponnesian War
- Plato – Ion
- Plato – Meno
- Plato – Gorgias
- Plato – Republic
- Plato – Symposium
- Plato – Apology
- Plato – Euthyphro
- Plato – Citro
- Plato – Phaedo
- Aristotle – Poetics
- Aristotle – On the Heavens
- Aristotle – On the Soul
- Aristotle – Ethics
- Aristotle – Metaphysics
- Plutarch – Aristides, Alexander
- Hippocrates – The Oath
- Hippocrates – On Ancient Medicine
- Hippocrates – On Airs, Waters, Places
- Euclid – Elements
Year 2: Great Books of the Ancient Romans
- Virgil – Aeneid
- Livy
- Plutarch – Romulus
- Plutarch – Numa Pomulus
- Plutarch – Coriolanus
- Plutarch – Caesar
- Caesar – Conquest of Gaul
- Plutarch – Cato the Younger
- Plutarch – Antony
- Plutarch – Brutus
- Plutarch – Cicero
- Cicero – On Friendship
- Cicero – On Duties
- Tacitus – Annals
- Lucretius – On the Nature of Things
- Epictitus – Discourses
- Marcus Aurelius – Meditations
- Ptolemy – Almagest
- Galen – On the Natural Faculties
- Plotinus – Enneads
- Old Testament – Genesis
- New Testament
- St John – Book of Revelation
- St. Augustine – Confessions
- Boethius – Consolation of Philosophy
- St. Augustine – City of God
- Muhammed – Qu’ran
- Bede – History of the English People
- Tennyson – Sir Galahad
- Tennyson – Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- Al-Makrisi – Memoirs of the Crusades
- Al-Makrisi – Crusade of St. Louis
- Kempis – Imitation of Christ
- Dante – The Divine Comedy
Year 3: Great Books of the High Middle Ages to the Renaissance
- Chaucer – Canterbury Tales
- Aquinas
- Machiavelli – The Prince
- Sir Thomas More – Utopia
- Erasmus – Praise of Folly
- Copernicus – On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
- Calvin – Institutes of the Christian Religion
- Montaigne – Essays
- Cervantes – Don Quixote
- Shakespeare – Comedy of Errors
- Shakespeare – A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream
- Shakespeare – The Taming of the Shrew
- Shakespeare – Coriolanus
- Shakespeare – Julius Caesar
- Galileo – Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences
- Shakespeare – The Merchant of Venice
- Shakespeare – Henry V
- Descartes – Rules for the Direction of the Mind
- Descartes – Discourse on Method
- Descartes – Meditations
- Bacon – The New Atlantis
- Bacon – Novum Organum
- Hobbes – Leviathan
- Milton – Paradise Lost
- Pascal – Pensees
- Shakespeare – Romeo & Juliet
Year 4: Great Books of the Modern Era
- Shakespeare – Hamlet
- Shakespeare – Othello
- Shakespeare – King Lear
- Shakespeare – The Tempest
- Moliere – Tartuffe
- Racine – Phaedra
- Jonathan Swift – Gulliver’s Travels
- John Locke – Essay Concerning Human Knowledge
- John Locke – Second Essay on Civil Governmnet
- John Locke – Letter on Toleration
- David Hume – An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
- David Hume – Treatise of Human Nature
- David Hume – Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
- Jacques Rousseau – The Social Contract
- Jacques Rousseau – On the Origin of Inequality
- The Federalist Papers
- Aquinas – Q 105, Art.1
- US Declaration of Independence
- Articles of Confederation
- The Constitution of the United States of America
- De Tocqueville – Democracy in America
- J.S. Mill – Representative Government
- Jane Austen – Emma
- Immanuel Kant – Critique of Pure Reason
- Immanuel Kant – Fundamnetal Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals
- Goethe – Faust
- Georg Hegel – Philosophy of Right
- Georg Hegel – The Philosophy of History
- Tolstoy – War and Peace
- Fyodor Mikailovich Dostoevsky – The Brother Karamazov
- Adam Smith – Wealth of Nations
- Communist Manifesto
- Abraham Lincoln – 1st & 2nd Inaugural Addresses
- Abraham Lincoln – Gettysburg Address
- Abraham Lincoln – Emancipation Proclamation
- Henry David Thoreau – Walden
- Henry David Thoreau – Disobedience
- Mark Twain – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
- Charles Darwin – The Origin of Species
- George Orwell – Nineteen Eighteen Four
- Einstein – Relativity: The Special and General Theory
- Willa Cather – My Antonia
Did I miss any Great Books of the Western World?
If so, then please let me know in the comment section below!
Peace!
A.J. McMahon
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Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you choose to purchase after clicking a link, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Get Ready to Go on a Cultural Journey:
Join Our Newsletter and Discover Fascinating Destinations and Literary Adventures That Will Ignite Your Imagination!
