The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Taking place mostly in rural Georgia, the story focuses on female black life during the 1930s in the Southern United States, addressing the numerous issues including their exceedingly low position in American social culture. The novel has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-1999 at number seventeen because of the sometimes explicit content, particularly in terms of violence.

The 68th greatest fiction book of all time


This book is on the following lists:

  1. - 5th on Radcliffe's 100 Best Novels (Radcliffe Publishing Course)
  2. - 8th on Koen Book Distributors Top 100 Books of the Past Century (themodernnovel.com)
  3. - 9th on The Celebrity Reading List (Gardiner Public Library)
  4. - 18th on Waterstone's Books of the Century (LibraryThing)
  5. - 18th on The Best Southern Novels of All Time (Oxford American)
  6. - 45th on Entertainment Weekly's Top 100 Novels (Entertainment Weekly)
  7. - 56th on The 100 Favorite Novels of Librarians (Bookman.com)
  8. - 100 Life-Changing Books (National Book Award)
  9. - Select 100 (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
  10. - 50 Books to Read Before You Die (Barnes and Noble)
  11. - The Great American Read (PBS)
  12. - 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (The Book)
  13. - 100 Novels That Shaped Our World (BBC)
  14. - The New York Public Library's Books of the Century (New York Public Library)
  15. - Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (Pulitzer Prize)
  16. - National Book Award - Fiction (National Book Foundation)
  17. - The College Board: 101 Great Books Recommended for College-Bound Readers (http://www.uhlibrary.net/pdf/college_board_recommended_books.pdf)
  18. - The 50 Books Everyone Needs to Read, 1963-2013 (Flavor Wire)
  19. - The 100 Greatest American Novels, 1893 – 1993 (Jeff O'Neal at Bookriot.com)
  20. - The Book of Great Books: A Guide to 100 World Classics (Book)

Buy This Book

Name Binding Sales Rank Lowest New Lowest Used Published
The Temple of My Familiar Mass Market Paperback 5292040 $0.01 1989
The Color Purple (The Color Purple Collection) Kindle Edition 9095 $8.08 2011
Possessing the Secret of Joy Hardcover 642677 $2.21 $1.00 1992
The Color Purple: Tenth Anniversary Editon Hardcover 319841 $5.00 $0.01 1992
The Color Purple Audio CD 1674566 $735.89 $76.58 2010
Possessing the Secret of Joy Mass Market Paperback 883042 $2.61 $0.01 1993
The Color Purple: A Novel (G K Hall Large Print Book Series) Hardcover 359575 $136.48 $34.91
The Color Purple Paperback 3252411 $492.91 $4.90
The Temple of My Familiar Paperback 106585 $1.71 $0.11 2010
The Temple of My Familiar Mass Market Paperback 828538 $8.96 $0.01 1990
The Color Purple (Anniversary) Paperback 1872138 $7.29 $2.50 1992
The Temple of My Familiar Hardcover 856965 $4.98 $0.01
The Color Purple by Alice Walker 1 edition (Textbook ONLY, Paperback) Paperback 806084 $9.77
The Color Purple (Penguin Vitae) Hardcover 262787 $30.00 2022
The Color Purple Hardcover 66259 $29.40 2020
The Color Purple Mass Market Paperback 39214 $2.90 $0.01 2006
El color púrpura (Spanish Edition) Kindle Edition 530653 2018
The Color Purple Paperback 2694976 $0.44 2001
Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart: A Novel Paperback 606892 $10.12 $1.85 2005
By Alice Walker - El Color Purpura / the Color Purple (Spanish Edition) (1986-01-16) [Paperback] Paperback 868788 $2,141.00 $33.40 1986
El color púrpura/The Color Purple (Spanish Edition) Paperback 951859 $10.95 2018
Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth: New Poems Paperback 1852345 $11.00 $1.35 2004
Color Purple Mass Market Paperback 2082003 $4.90 $0.01 1987
The Color Purple Hardcover 1062635 $39.76 $0.01
The Color Purple Paperback 1391773 $0.01
The Color Purple Mass Market Paperback 1544838 $4.84 $2.01 2006
Alice Walker: Color Purple/Meridian/the Third Life of Grange Copeland Paperback 1808805 $507.89 $0.74 1990
Spark Notes The Color Purple Paperback 2193109 $13.95 $0.25 2002
The Color Purple Paperback 2059029 $4.00 $0.01 1983
The Color Purple (The Women's Press Fiction/ Edition) Paperback 1451323 $0.72
The Color Purple / The Temple of My Familiar Hardcover 2823692 $766.37 $13.18 2011
Color Purple Paperback 1557922 $6.99 $0.01
The Color Purple Mass Market Paperback 1631939 $5.77 $0.01
The Color Purple Paperback 1575822 $4.99 $0.01 1998
The Color Purple Mass Market Paperback 2053836 $3.63 $0.01
Possessing the Secret of Joy (The Color Purple Collection) Kindle Edition 1747 $1.99 2011
The Color Purple (Harvest Book) Paperback 28496 $4.88 $0.01 2003
The Color Purple Paperback 4381 $3.37 $0.01 2003
The Color Purple Collection: The Color Purple, The Temple of My Familiar, and Possessing the Secret of Joy Kindle Edition 67516 $16.19 2012
The Temple of My Familiar (The Color Purple Collection) Kindle Edition 205610 $9.99 2011
The Color Purple / The Temple of My Familiar Hardcover 2687387 $52.17 $21.53 2011
The Color Purple: A Novel Paperback 9306 $11.30 $11.07 2019
The Color Purple Paperback 365723 $11.37 $5.00
The Color Purple Mass Market Paperback 854367 $3.49 $0.01 1990
The Color Purple Paperback 2204680 $0.01
El Color Purpura/the Color Purple Paperback 1324498 $65.99
The Color Purple Paperback 788155 $18.15 $2.98
Alice Walker's "The Color Purple". (Dialogue) Paperback 3114989 $35.00 $88.52 2009
The Color Purple Paperback 2223878 $2.94 $0.01
The Temple of My Familiar Paperback 281980 $2.80 $1.74 2010
The Color Purple Paperback 2526574 $7.84 $4.18
Possessing the Secret of Joy: A Novel Paperback 246503 $8.98 $5.95 2008