Order of Lanny Budd Books

Lanny Budd is the protagonist in a series of historical fiction novels by American novelist Upton Sinclair. Lanny is the son of an American arms manufacturer, and is known by world leaders and has their confidence. He is a sophisticated socialite, but is not afraid to mingle with people from other cultures and classes. The series is set during the first half of the 20th century.

Upton Sinclair began his Lanny Budd series in 1940 with the novel World’s End. The series lasted 11 novels until 1953’s The Return of Lanny Budd. Below is a list of Upton Sinclair’s Lanny Budd books in order of when they were originally published (which is the same as their chronological order):

Publication Order of Lanny Budd Books

Publication Order of Lanny Budd Non-Fiction Books

If You Like Lanny Budd Books, You’ll Love…

• Kent Family Chronicles
• Clifton Chronicles
• Maisie Dobbs

Lanny Budd Synopsis: World’s End is the first Lanny Budd novel by Upton Sinclair. Lanning “Lanny” Budd spends the first thirteen years of his life in Europe, living at the center of his mother’s glamourous circle of friends on the French Riviera. In 1913, he enters a prestigious Swiss boarding school and befriends Rick, an English boy, and Kurt, a German. The three schoolmates are privileged, happy, and precocious – but their world is about to come to an abrupt and violent end. When the gathering storm clouds of war finally burst, raining chaos and death over the continent, Lanny must put the innocence of youth behind him; his language skills and talent for decoding messages are in high demand. At his father’s side, he meets many important political and military figures, learns about the myriad causes of the conflict, and closely follows the events of the ongoing Great War. When the bloody hostilities eventually conclude, Lanny joins the Paris Peace Conference as the assistant to a geographer asked by President Woodrow Wilson to redraw the map of Europe.