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Great American Novels you should read

Great American Novels you should read

by Lois Neville

3 March 2026

min read

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Great American Novels. Image: Ryan MacEachern/Penguin

The Great American Novel, often shortened to GAN, is both contentious and a little daunting. For 150 years, since the novelist John William De Forest first coined the term, writers and critics have debated what constitutes a GAN – and which books deserve the title.

We would define a Great American Novel as a book that captures the spirit, or essence, of ordinary life in the USA. It’s a literary yardstick of what defines America in a given era, whether that be the Great Depression or the Trump administration, and it often addresses the complexities and contradictions of the American Dream.

With a term that has so much gravitas behind it, knowing what Great American Novels to pop on your TBR list can be a bit overwhelming. With centuries of contenders covering all aspects of the American experience, where do you even start? That’s where we can help. Below, we’ve rounded up 20 of our favourite Great American Novels – we’ll leave you to decide which is the greatest.

Classic books considered Great American Novels

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

The Great Gatsby needs little introduction. F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece about the delusion of decadence in the age of excess has been hailed as “the greatest of Great American Novels” by readers and critics alike.

Following the lives of the wealthy and glamorous, Fitzgerald perfectly captures the hedonism of the Jazz Age – especially through the raucous parties thrown by the titular Mr. Gatsby. But over the course of the novel, Fitzgerald lifts the curtain on the American Dream, exposing the corruption and tragedy that lie beneath. The Great Gatsby is a short but enduring read that is the quintessential GAN.

2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1884)

The Civil War was over long before Mark Twain picked up a pen, but racism still divided the nation. Upon publication, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn captured hearts across America because of its message of compassion and human rights – themes that still feel relevant today.

The story follows a country boy who helps a runaway enslaved man escape along the Mississippi River. It wasn’t just the story’s core message of compassion that spoke to readers; Twain had an inventive writing style, using slang words and accents to bring his characters to life in a way few had done before. The result? A well-observed novel that speaks both to Americans, and for a brighter future.

3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1939)

This novel is a devastating but essential portrait of a family torn apart by poverty and desperation in the Great Depression. Steinbeck wrote it while the world was on the precipice of another great war, and the country was in an economic crisis. Channelling his anger at the capitalist greed that he believed had ripped the soul out of the American Dream, Steinbeck wrote a novel that holds up a mirror to this dark chapter in American history.

The result is a deeply exposing novel that is an unflinching exploration of American life. The Grapes of Wrath became a klaxon for human rights upon its publication, and won Steinbeck the Pulitzer Prize.

4. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851)

Moby-Dick is the thrilling tale of a monomaniacal sea captain’s quest to kill the giant white whale that chewed off his leg. But it’s so much more than its adventurous premise. Moby-Dick can be read as an allegory for oil and the violent pursuit of wealth at all costs. It’s also about greed, vengeance, arrogance and the futile attempt to control chaos. Read today, it can be viewed as a metaphor for America’s foreign policy, as the novelist Stephen Kinzer argued in 2008. In short, this is a timeless novel that offers different perspectives on the American Dream with every re-read.

5. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (1929)

Probably one of Faulkner’s best-known books, The Sound and the Fury makes it onto our list of Great American Novels for its experimentation with style, as well as its exploration of class and reputation in early 20th-century Mississippi.

A definitive example of Southern Gothic fiction, The Sound and the Fury traces the once-aristocratic Compson family as their lives begin to unravel. Each of the four sections is told from a different perspective, and in a different writing style, immersing the reader in each sibling’s inner world. Going from section to section can be quite jarring, but that’s all part of the experience.

6. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952)

Few novels have had such a profound impact on racial politics in America than Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. We witness a man grappling with an America so consumed by fear and prejudice that his Black identity makes it impossible for anyone to see or understand him. So he retreats underground, where he makes his home and struggles with what Ellison called "the beautiful absurdity" of modern identity.

Dark, defiant, and uproariously funny, the novel resonated with disenfranchised Black Americans who felt ignored by mainstream culture. But more than that, it offered a valuable portrait of Black identity, racism, politics, history and manhood.

7. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (1951)

Highly referenced across a wide range of media, The Catcher in the Rye makes this list for how it explores the generational tension in America following the Second World War. Specifically, it expertly captures the cultural anxiety and alienation many young folks experienced during this period.

We follow Holden Caulfield, a teenage nihilist, as he spends time in New York City after being expelled from a prep school. Sharp and judgmental yet funny, the first-person narration gives us a glimpse into Holden’s inner world as he drifts through the city.

8. On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1957)

A quintessential example of Beat Generation writing, On the Road is a Great American Novel because it uses the imagery of the great American road-trip to symbolise a young group’s search for meaning following the Second World War.

Taking the American-as-it-gets setting of ‘The Road’, Kerouac writes semi-autobiographically about several road trips he and his friends go on. There’s no linear narrative running through these episodes, although they’re all connected in their themes of authenticity, freedom, and restlessness. The writing style is pretty experimental in this sense, but it’s not a difficult read and still feels accessible even 70 years after its publication.

9. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850)

One of the oldest books in this list, The Scarlet Letter makes the GAN cut because of how it confronts Puritanical American values. Incidentally, it’s also the inspiration behind the 2010 comedy Easy A, which makes for an excellent companion piece.

It’s pretty impressive that such a bold novel came out when it did. The Scarlet Letter follows Hester Prynne, who is publicly shamed for adultery when she refuses to name the father of her illegitimate child in 17th-century Boston. Covering themes of hypocrisy and repression, The Scarlet Letter casts a spotlight on America’s Puritanical cultural roots – and still feels relevant today.

Great American Novels by female authors

10. The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner (2013)

The Flamethrowers broke the mould of the Great American Novel because its central female character represents the nation in a way that is usually reserved for men. Most GAN lists exclusively cite male authors, according to journalist Laura Miller, because “men are allowed to stand for the entirety of a national identity or for humanity itself, but women are only supposed to stand for womanhood.”

Not so in Rachel Kushner’s 2013 novel, where a working-class, motorbike-loving artist tries to make her way in the 1970s New York art scene. The novel explores femininity, fear and all-American aspiration, but above all, it’s a wild ride.

11. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)

Razor sharp in its exploration of racial injustice in America, To Kill a Mockingbird makes our GAN list because of its enduring legacy: it’s continually taught in schools, was adapted into an Oscar-winning 1962 film, and won a Pulitzer Prize. Whilst there’s valuable discussion to be had about the role of a white saviour, To Kill a Mockingbird still hits deep today, 60 years after it was first published.

In the novel, a Black man called Tom Robinson is wrongfully accused of assaulting a white woman. Local lawyer Atticus Finch defends him and, in doing so, exposes the legal system for its inherent flaws, representing moral integrity and empathy in a world blinded by prejudice.

12. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852)

Harriet Beecher Stowe's story of slavery and its terrors had a profound impact on pre-Civil War America. It was an immediate sensation upon publication, becoming the second biggest-selling novel of the century – beaten only by the Bible. But most importantly, the novel, which gives a human voice to the enslaved, pushed slavery into the foreground as America’s defining national issue, and helped pave the way for the abolitionist movement.

The book had such an influence on the national conversation at the time that Abraham Lincoln himself, upon meeting Stowe at the dawn of the American Civil War, famously remarked: "So this is the little lady who started this great war."

13. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868)

Get your tissues at the ready. Little Women is a heartbreaking but profound book that deserves GAN status because of how it elevates women’s lives. Its domestic setting and exploration of sisterly bonds, ambition and sacrifice through the lives of the March sisters presents women's experiences as valuable and worth writing about, which, given the time in which it was written, is pretty radical.

We could easily wax on about the lovable siblings: Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy. But, we don’t want to spoil anything. Rest assured, this classic is the perfect read for when you want to immerse yourself into a character-driven world.

14. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos (1925)

Hollywood screenwriter Anita Loos’s novel helped define America’s Jazz Age, partly thanks to its magnetic heroine. Lorelei Lee is a far-smarter-than-she’d-have-you-believe “flapper” (a New York party girl of the 1920s) who bounces from sugar daddy to sugar daddy like it’s a full-time job.

But Gentlemen Prefer Blondes isn’t just a fun, rollicking read. It’s written with the kind of acid wit and irony that, at the time, few critics believed a woman to be capable of. As such, it skewers a patriarchy obsessed with looks, sex and money, and positively reframes the image of free-wheeling female youth that defined the decade, making it, according to author Edith Wharton, “the Great American Novel”.

15. Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987)

A key task of the Great American Novel is to confront the problems that define a nation. Beloved, which is set 100 years before it was written, is about the lingering ghost of slavery and the painful legacies of the past. But it is also about the timeless question of liberty and what it means to be born “free” in the United States.

Its GAN credentials are probably best summed up by the historian Paula Giddings, who said: “The Great American Novels have to deal with the meaning of oppression and love – and Black women are at the eye of that storm. Beloved is a Great American Novel.”

16. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (2011)

Less a novel than a collage of interweaving stories, Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad plays with time and place – from the 1970s San Francisco punk scene to suburban New York in the 1990s. It’s pure Americana with a knowing wink, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2011 for its sharp satirical look at American pop culture.

We’d call it a Great American Novel because of how expertly it explores the contradictions of life in America. It is a satire about love, life, thwarted ambition, regret, hope, the music industry, celebrity culture, materialism and, above all, the remorseless march of time (aka the titular “goon”).

Great American Novels that explore immigration

17. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (1984)

The House on Mango Street is on our list because of how it challenges the concept of a Great American Novel. Traditionally, the GAN is written in a male voice, is somewhat epic in its nature, and is focused on the white American experience. Cisneros flips all this on its head. This is a story that follows a young Latinx girl in her migrant working-class neighborhood in Chicago.

Written in poetic prose, we see the young girl’s dreams, fears, and day-to-day life as she witnesses poverty and gendered violence. Yet while The House on Mango Street might subvert what we expect from a GAN, the traditional aspects are still there, too: exploring cultural identity, and interrogating the American dream.

18. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (1906)

Brutally stark in its exploration of the exploitation of immigrants under industrial capitalism, The Jungle was revolutionary for its time. Despite being written in the early 1900s, many of the themes discussed still resonate deeply today, and it’s fascinating to compare with more recent books on this list that interrogate similar territory.

The Jungle is a scathing criticism of the American Dream. It follows Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant who arrives in the USA full of optimism. However, his meatpacking job demonstrates that hard work does not necessarily lead to success. The factory is highly unsafe, exploitative, and does not offer the progression he thought was possible. Written in a naturalistic style, this is an unflinching and uncomfortable, yet important, read.

19. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989)

Amy Tan’s debut examines the intergenerational experiences of Chinese and Chinese-American folks living in the USA. We’ve included it here because of how it reframes the concept of being ‘American’.

The novel’s titular Joy Luck Club is a Mahong (Chinese tile game) group formed of Chinese women who immigrated to the US. We follow their interconnected stories from pre-revolutionary China to post-war America, and the struggles of their children to assimilate into American life. Characters grapple with their cultural identity within spaces where they’re constantly deemed “not American/Chinese enough” and, through this tension, Tan poses the question: what does it mean to be an American?

20. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (2003)

The last title on our list, but by no means the least important, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri captures the tension of cultural heritage and assimilation in present-day America. In this novel, we follow Gogol Ganguli, an American born with Indian immigrant parents, as he grapples with the two different cultures that frame his life. It’s a coming-of-age story, where we see Gogol navigate love, family and relationships, and ultimately find his sense of self. This is inward-looking, thoughtful material that undoubtedly reflects many Americans’ lived experiences.

Frequently asked questions

What defines a Great American Novel?

What makes a ‘Great American Novel’ is not so much a definitive checklist, but more about the themes it explores and, honestly, vibes. It’s generally agreed that a GAN captures American life in a particular time period and delves into what it means to be ‘American’ for an intersection of different people. However, there are no hard-and-fast rules for which books make the cut.

What is considered the greatest American novel of all time?

As you may have gathered from this list, it’s impossible to pick only one Great American Novel. Different books explore what it is to be American from so many angles that it’s way too nuanced and complex to settle on a single novel.

However, there are a few titles that come up time and time again when people try to decide on the greatest American novel of all time. These are:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Which book by Mark Twain is considered the Great American Novel?

The book that is most commonly named Mark Twain’s Great American Novel is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Although his other writings are praised, Huckleberry Finn is considered a quintessential GAN because it holds a mirror up to America’s racist history, while also demonstrating the power of compassion and the human right to freedom. Some even argue that it is the Great American Novel.

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