Youthtopia Blog

In Search of the Best - New York Times

A New York Times survey selected the best work of American fiction from the past 25 years.

THE WINNER:

1. Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987)

The RUNNERS-UP:

2. Underworld by Don DeLillo (1997)
3. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (1985)
4. Rabbit Angstrom: The Four Novels by John Updike (1995)
5. American Pastoral by Philip Roth (1997)

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVING MORE THAN ONE VOTE:

6. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1980)
7. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (1980)
8. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin (1983)
9. White Noise by Don DeLillo (1985)
10. The Counterlife by Philip Roth (1986)
11. Libra by Don DeLillo (1988)
12. Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver (1988)
13. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (1990)
14. Mating by Norman Rush (1991)
15. Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson (1992)
16. Operation Shylock by Philip Roth (1993)
17. Independence Day by Richard Ford (1995)
18. Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth (1995)
19. Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy (1999)
20. The Human Stain by Philip Roth (2000)
21. The Known World by Edward P. Jones (2003)
22. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (2004)