Controversial Books

This page shows your 100 most controversial books, as measured by the standard deviation of members star ratings. (This is also the source of the Zeitgeist category "25 Books People Can't Agree on.") To be included, a book must have been rated at least 20 times. Work titles are given.

Standard
Deviation
RatingTitle
1.2763.71The End of Racism by Dinesh D'Souza
1.1864.06The Tempting of America by Robert H. Bork
1.183.57Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke
1.1473.86Moby Dick by Herman Melville
1.1423.77The Merriam-Webster Dictionary by Merriam-Webster
1.144Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One by Thomas Sowell
1.1364.06The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation As a Basis for Social Policy by Thomas Sowell
1.1324.21Catechism of the Catholic Church by Catholic Church
1.1243.34The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips and Advice for Dads-to-Be by Armin A. Brott
1.1033.44Into the Storm by Tom Clancy
1.13.62The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom
1.0953.91The Photographer's Handbook (Third Edition, Revised) by John Hedgecoe
1.0923.72Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
1.0843.64The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB by Christopher Andrew
1.0693.84Private Sector by Brian Haig
1.0663.92The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny by Victor Davis Hanson
1.0563.75Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang
1.0433.65Slouching Towards Gomorrah by Robert H. Bork
1.044.13The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot by Russell Kirk
1.0363.38The Renaissance: A Short History by Paul Johnson
1.0333.77The Fist of God by Frederick Forsyth
1.0333.71Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad
1.033.85The Republic by Plato
1.033.84The Birth of the Modern: World Society 1815-1830 by Paul Johnson
1.0294.13Cats and Dogs by Patrick McDonnell
1.0283.75Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription by William F. Buckley Jr.
1.0283.59Give War a Chance by P. J. O'Rourke
1.0263.78The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams
1.0243.65The Natural by Bernard Malamud
1.0243.91The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
1.023.45Every Man a Tiger by Tom Clancy
1.0183.91The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
1.0183.74The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
1.0173.38The Merriam Webster Thesaurus by Merriam-Webster
1.0133.77Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government by P. J. O'Rourke
1.0063.92History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography by H. H. Arnason
1.0053.91Native Son by Richard Wright
1.0033.57CSS Pocket Reference by Eric A. Meyer
1.0033.88The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World, 1788-1800 by Jay Winik
1.0013.8The Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett
0.9974.11Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
0.9963.82My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir by Clarence Thomas
0.9863.92Philip's Atlas of World History by Patrick K. O'Brien
0.9843.62All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings by George Bush
0.9814.3The Reagan Diaries by Ronald Reagan
0.9793.52Shopgirl by Steve Martin
0.9744.03The Great Terror: A Reassessment by Robert Conquest
0.9723.71Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy by G. Gordon Liddy
0.9724.07The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
0.9713.8Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
0.9693.78Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy by Jane Leavy
0.9673.36Hawke by Ted Bell
0.9644.12On Writing Well by William Zinsser
0.9633.94The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
0.9614.07Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
0.9573.94Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass
0.9563.83Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
0.9564.14America Alone by Mark Steyn
0.9553.94The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe by Roger Penrose
0.9524.01An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
0.9513.81Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss
0.9484.06Free to choose : a personal statement by Milton Friedman
0.9483.74Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World by Richard O'Neill
0.9474.06The Iliad by Homer
0.9473.43The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama
0.9473.92Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy
0.9453.63The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
0.9454.12Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage by Noah Andre Trudeau
0.9433.8The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen William Hawking
0.9423.9National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Eastern Region by National Audubon Society
0.9413.9The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales (Signet Classics) by Edgar Allan Poe
0.9413.76The Moral Compass: Stories for a Life's Journey by William J. Bennett
0.9383.86First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen
0.9374.22The Elements of Style by William Jr. Strunk
0.9354.16Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy by Thomas Sowell
0.9353.44A Matter of Honor by Jeffrey Archer
0.9344.02Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
0.9324.01Foundation by Isaac Asimov
0.9323.78The Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin
0.9323.7The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination by Daniel J. Boorstin
0.9313.75Streets of Laredo by Larry McMurtry
0.934.35Witness by Whittaker Chambers
0.9293.49I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This! by Bob Newhart
0.9283.71Workbook for Wheelock's Latin by Paul T. Comeau
0.9283.95Barbara Bush: A Memoir by Barbara Bush
0.9274.17501 French Verbs by Christopher Kendris
0.9253.6The Downing Street Years by Margaret Thatcher
0.9244.05The Discoverers by Daniel J. Boorstin
0.9213.94Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell
0.9213.94Baseball: A Literary Anthology by Nicholas Dawidoff
0.923.97Flyboys: A True Story of Courage by James Bradley
0.924.08The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith
0.923.97Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power by Victor Hanson
0.9154.18Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
0.9144.11David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
0.9134.05The Odyssey by Homer
0.9134.16Nine Innings by Daniel Okrent
0.9123.63PT 109 : John F. Kennedy in World War II by Robert J. Donovan
0.914.03Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
0.914.04Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf by Ben Hogan
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