[title]
If you're looking for your next read and want something with a little more meaning behind it, the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) just dropped the ultimate list of the most influential books in U.S. history. In celebration of National Library Week and the upcoming U.S. Semiquincentennial, BPL has unveiled "250 for 250"—a curated list of books, published between 1776 and 2025, that reflect the spectrum of American thought, argument, imagination and contradiction.
To create this list, a committee of nearly two dozen librarians performed what Chief Librarian Edwin Maxwell calls "collective alchemy." They whittled down over 600 contenders to find the titles that truly define the American experiment—vibrant, sometimes messy, groundbreaking.
The list kicks off with the fiery rhetoric of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and takes readers all the way to the present, weaving through centuries of stories that reflect who Americans have been, who they are and who they’re still arguing about becoming. It captures the full range of American experiences, especially voices that haven’t always been front and center.
"Books remain one of our most powerful tools for defending democracy. They help us understand ourselves, each other, and the world around us. Together, the books on this list tell a story of our nation, our commitment to the ideals of freedom and justice for all, and that ongoing search for common ground,” said Linda E. Johnson, President and CEO, Brooklyn Public Library. “From Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, we learn the dreams of our founding fathers. In Betty Smith’s novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, we feel the joys and hardships of growing up in our beloved borough at the turn of the century. Poet Mary Oliver’s Devotions reminds us to remember what it means to be alive and that our most important responsibility is to care for one another. As we continue to pursue a perfect union, this extraordinary list considers the full range of the American—and human—experience.”
The wide-ranging list also includes biographies of Anita Hill and Biggie Smalls and authors like Amy Tan, Alice Walker and Michael Chrichton.
And because everything is better with a little star power, BPL enlisted a few notable NYC bookworms to pen short essays on their favorites. Ethan Hawke discusses The Outsiders, Constance Wu muses on Gilead and "Recess Therapy" host Julian Shapiro-Barnum weighs in on the graphic novel American Born Chinese.
Check out the full list here to find your next great read.