Bertolt Brecht books in order
German poet, playwright, and theatre director
- Lived
- 1898–1956
- Country
- German Democratic Republic
- Books
- 59
- Also writes as
- Berthold Larsen
Bertolt Brecht published 13 novels, 2 novellas, 1 short story collection, 4 non-fiction books, 3 poetry collections, 28 plays and 8 other books, beginning with Mother Courage and Her Children (1949).
Updated September 2026
Where to start with Bertolt Brecht
Start here
Mother Courage and Her Children
Bertolt Brecht's most-read book.
Shortest way in
Galileo
One of the most-read, at about 155 pages.
Standalone novels in order
Baal (1922)
The Baden-Baden Lesson on Consent (1930)
Threepenny Novel (1934)
Questions from a Worker Who Reads (1936)
Stories of Mr. Keuner (1939)
A Short Organum for the Theatre (1949)
Kalendergeschichten (1949)
Der Gute Mensch Von Sezuan (1953)
Galileo (1956)
Selected Poems (1956)
The Business Affairs of Mr Julius Caesar (1957)
Conversations in Exile (1961)
Die Verurteilung Des Lukullus (2000)
Novellas in order
The Good Woman of Setzuan (1965)
The Messingkauf Dialogues (1965)
Short story collections in order
Collected Short Stories (1998)
Non-fiction in order
Bertolt Brecht (1954)
The Jewish Wife and Other Short Plays (1971)
Diaries 1920-1922 (1975)
Brecht on Theatre (2013)
Poetry in order
Svendborg Poems (1926)
War Primer (1955)
Poems (1976)
Plays in order
Drums in the Night (1923)
In the Jungle of Cities (1923)
The Life of Edward II of England (1924), with Lion Feuchtwanger
Man Equals Man (1925)
The Threepenny Opera (1928)
The Decision (1930)
The Mother (1931)
Saint Joan of the Stockyards (1932)
Señora Carrar's Rifles (1937)
Fear and Misery of the Third Reich (1938)
The Horatians and the Curiatians (1938)
Life of Galileo (1940)
The Good Person of Szechwan (1943)
Antigone (1948)
The Private Life of the Master Race (1948)
Mother Courage and Her Children (1949)
The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1949)
The Days of the Commune (1949)
Mr Puntila and His Man Matti (1950)
Bertolt Brecht Collected Plays (1953)
The Exception and the Rule (1954)
Schweik in the Second World War (1957)
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (1957)
The Visions of Simone Machard (1957), with Lion Feuchtwanger
Turandot (1967)
Baal, A Man's a Man, and the Elephant Calf (Brecht, Bertolt) (1994)
Mother Courage (1995)
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (2000)
Other books in order
Two Plays (1957)
Brecht on Brecht (1961)
Parables for the Theatre (1963)
On Theatre (1964)
The Good Woman of Setzuan: Revised English Version (English and German Edition) (1966)
Epik Tiyatro (1981)
Brecht Collected Plays: The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui (1990)
Letters (1990)
Film and TV adaptations
- Baal (1970)Film · from Baal
- The Threepenny Opera (1931)Film · from The Threepenny Opera
- Mack the Knife (1989)Film · from The Threepenny Opera
- Herr Puntila and His Servant Matti (1960)Film · from Mr Puntila and His Man Matti
- Herr Puntila and His Servant Matti (1979)Film · from Mr Puntila and His Man Matti
- History Lessons (1972)Film · from The Business Affairs of Mr Julius Caesar
About Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht, known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a playwright in Munich and moved to Berlin in 1924, where he wrote The Threepenny Opera with Elisabeth Hauptmann and Kurt Weill and began a lifelong collaboration with the composer Hanns Eisler. Immersed in Marxist thought during this period, Brecht wrote didactic Lehrstücke and became a leading theoretician of epic theatre and the Verfremdungseffekt.
Biography from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Bertolt Brecht FAQ
- How many books has Bertolt Brecht written?
- Bertolt Brecht published 13 novels, 2 novellas, 1 short story collection, 4 non-fiction books, 3 poetry collections, 28 plays and 8 other books that we list, as of September 2026.
- What order should I read Bertolt Brecht's books in?
- Publication order is a safe choice; the full list is above. Most readers start with Mother Courage and Her Children.
- What is Bertolt Brecht's last book?
- The Business Affairs of Mr Julius Caesar (1957).
- What is Bertolt Brecht's most famous book?
- Mother Courage and Her Children (1949) is Bertolt Brecht's most widely read book.
- Does Bertolt Brecht write under a pen name?
- Yes: Bertolt Brecht has also published as Berthold Larsen.
- Which Bertolt Brecht books have been adapted?
- 4 books have been adapted for film or TV, including Baal (film, 1970), The Threepenny Opera (film, 1931), Mr Puntila and His Man Matti (as Herr Puntila and His Servant Matti, film, 1960) and The Business Affairs of Mr Julius Caesar (as History Lessons, film, 1972).
Sources: book lists and dates from Wikidata and Open Library, ratings from Open Library readers. Last updated September 2026.