The Ladder

Every ballot counted · rankings move with every vote

1. 18F. Scott FitzgeraldWriters17–41652
2. 23Dr. SeussWriters15–41635
3. 60Stephen KingWriters12–31609
4. 84Mark TwainWriters9–11600
5. 104Ernest HemingwayWriters10–21594
6. 152Edgar Allan PoeWriters9–31577
7. 183Harper LeeWriters13–81567
8. 190Kurt VonnegutWriters11–51566
9. 223Ralph EllisonWriters11–51557
10. 239Langston HughesWriters8–61554
11. 261J.D. SalingerWriters12–61548
12. 316Ray BradburyWriters8–51538
13. 318Herman MelvilleWriters9–61538
14. 321Michael CrichtonWriters8–51537
15. 363Toni MorrisonWriters7–41529
16. 367Octavia ButlerWriters7–41529
17. 390Maya AngelouWriters6–41525
18. 400James BaldwinWriters7–51523
19. 417Alice WalkerWriters7–61520
20. 418Isaac AsimovWriters7–51520
21. 433T. S. EliotWriters8–61517
22. 435Laura Ingalls WilderWriters6–51517
23. 453Ralph Waldo EmersonWriters9–61515
24. 485E. B. WhiteWriters8–81509
25. 493John SteinbeckWriters6–51507
26. 500William FaulknerWriters7–81505
27. 507Emily DickinsonWriters8–71503
28. 547Walt WhitmanWriters5–61496
29. 568Truman CapoteWriters5–71492
30. 583Henry David ThoreauWriters6–71490
31. 600Washington IrvingWriters7–91487
32. 606Sylvia PlathWriters7–71486
33. 611Jack LondonWriters6–71484
34. 665Arthur MillerWriters6–91475
35. 696Lin-Manuel MirandaWriters5–81468
36. 706Tom ClancyWriters7–81465
37. 710Philip K. DickWriters8–111465
38. 711Nathaniel HawthorneWriters5–71465
39. 714Hunter S. ThompsonWriters4–71464
40. 717Robert FrostWriters4–71464
41. 722Charles BukowskiWriters6–81462
42. 729Joan DidionWriters7–101460
43. 734Cormac McCarthyWriters4–81458
44. 741Shel SilversteinWriters7–131457
45. 807Nora EphronWriters4–111445
46. 816Joseph HellerWriters7–111441
47. 817Jack KerouacWriters5–81441
48. 826Upton SinclairWriters6–121439
49. 828Louisa May AlcottWriters7–131439
50. 838Noam ChomskyWriters3–81437
51. 871Noah WebsterWriters6–121431
52. 872Edith WhartonWriters6–111431
53. 882O. HenryWriters3–81428
54. 883Tennessee WilliamsWriters2–81427
55. 891Norman MailerWriters3–101424
56. 912John GrishamWriters3–101418
57. 916David Foster WallaceWriters7–141417
58. 930Richard WrightWriters5–141413
59. 934William F. Buckley Jr.Writers2–81413
60. 940Thomas PynchonWriters8–191411
61. 948Gore VidalWriters4–131409
62. 951Allen GinsbergWriters6–151409
63. 955Tom WolfeWriters4–101407
64. 961Willa CatherWriters3–111405
65. 1015Amanda GormanWriters2–131378
66. 1018Ambrose BierceWriters2–111377
67. 1026Eugene O'NeillWriters2–121367
68. 1040Zora Neale HurstonWriters1–151356
69. 1047Ursula K. Le GuinWriters2–151339