Black Lamb and Grey FalconBlack Lamb and Grey Falcon
Score Classic
What it's about
In the late 1930s, Rebecca West traveled through Yugoslavia with her husband, and wrote this enormous book about it: part travel diary, part history of the Balkans, part meditation on Europe, religion and violence, as she watched the world slide toward another war.
Why it's worth reading
It's on the Modern Library list of the best nonfiction and is considered one of the greatest travel books ever written.
You'll love it if you liked
The Gulag Archipelago
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
The Old Patagonian ExpressGood to know
It's over 1,100 pages and full of digressions. Some of its views of Balkan peoples are dated.
By the numbers
- Readers79 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics59 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Bestseller4 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #99 of the 198 history books we rank
- #192 of the 762 classics we rank
- #600 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
Reads as
True story
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Quick answers
Is Black Lamb and Grey Falcon worth reading?
Yes. It's on the Modern Library list of the best nonfiction and is considered one of the greatest travel books ever written. It ranks #600 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 77.1 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is Black Lamb and Grey Falcon about?
In the late 1930s, Rebecca West traveled through Yugoslavia with her husband, and wrote this enormous book about it: part travel diary, part history of the Balkans, part meditation on Europe, religion and violence, as she watched the world slide toward another war.
How long does it take to read Black Lamb and Grey Falcon?
About 30 hours (1181 pages), or about 9 weeks at 30 minutes a day.
What should I read after Black Lamb and Grey Falcon?
If you liked it, try The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman or The Old Patagonian Express by Paul Theroux.