The most famous book set in every state
· Business Insider
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- We chose the most famous book set in every state.
- The list features various genres, from historical fiction and thrillers to romance novels.
- The list was curated to highlight America's diverse literary landscape.
One of the best ways to learn more about a place and its people is to travel there, but if you can't do that? Books are your next best bet.
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In the US, where each state has a storied past and varied cultures and traditions, there's much to explore. If you're curious about life in Louisiana or itching to experience the many neighborhoods of New York City — or just love reading about new places — one way to travel across the country without going through the trouble of rental cars or airports is by picking up a book in the comfort of your home.
To ensure you have the most wholesome literary tour around the country, Business Insider scoured published listings and surveyed our reporters for their best picks, rounding up the most famous book set in every state and, as a bonus, Washington DC, too.
Here are the most famous books set in every state.
Priyanka Rajput, Melissa Stanger, Melia Russell, Melissa Wiley, and Jacob Shamsian contributed reporting on a previous version of this post.
ALABAMA: "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper LeeAmazon
When local attorney Atticus Finch is asked to defend a Black man accused of rape, Finch has to decide between doing what's right and doing what society expects of him, launching his children right in the middle of the conflict.
This Pulitzer Prize winner is set in the fictional town of Maycomb, a community divided by racism and inspired by Lee's real hometown of Monroeville.
ALASKA: "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer"Into the Wild" by Jon KrakauerAmazon
Christopher McCandless, a young man from a wealthy family, donates all of his savings to charity and abandons his possessions before hitchhiking into the Alaskan wilderness to reinvent himself.
This true-story survival drama was made into a movie of the same name in 2007, directed by Sean Penn and starring Emile Hirsch as McCandless. It sheds light on McCandless' (naive) idealism of a life unburdened by material possessions and the harsh realities of the Alaskan wild.
ARIZONA: "The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingsolver"The Bean Trees" by Barbara KingsolverAmazon
Taylor is well on her way to escaping small-town life. But shortly into her journey to Tucson, Arizona, where she hopes to start over, a stranger leaves her with a Native American toddler with a traumatic past.
Kingsolver's story of finding salvation in a barren situation is packed with real places and events.
ARKANSAS: "A Painted House" by John Grisham"A Painted House" by John GrishamAmazon
Luke Chandler lives on a cotton farm with his parents and grandparents and suddenly finds himself keeping the deadly secrets of harvest workers. The legal thriller follows the 7-year-old as he grows up and loses his innocence in the 1950s.
The narrator's upbringing in rural Arkansas inspired this coming-of-age tale.
CALIFORNIA: "Play It As It Lays" by Joan Didion"Play It As It Lays" by Joan Didion.Amazon
Joan Didion's 1970 novel established her as a master fiction writer in addition to an already acclaimed nonfiction one. Set in Nevada, New York, and Hollywood, it's "an indictment of Hollywood culture," per The Rumpus, in the 1960s and utterly gripping in its intensity.
Didion and her husband, John Gregory Dunne, adapted the book into a movie in 1972 starring Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins.
COLORADO: "The Shining" by Stephen King"The Shining" by Stephen King.Amazon
A writer (and recovering alcoholic) accepts a position as the winter caretaker of the isolated Overlook Hotel, which sits in the Colorado Rockies. He moves in with his family, including 5-year-old son Danny, who has psychic abilities, and begins to witness aspects of the hotel's horrific past.
The book is just as beloved as the 1980 film starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd.
The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, which inspired the fictional Overlook, offers spooky tours for guests.
CONNECTICUT: "Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates"Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates.Amazon
Considered the original anti-suburban novel, "Revolutionary Road" follows a young, bright couple stuck in Connecticut and trying to escape the pressure to conform in the 1950s. Their failed attempts to be different lead to self-destructive affairs and a psychotic breakdown.
In 2008, the book was adapted into a movie of the same name starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
DELAWARE: "The Saint of Lost Things" by Christopher Castellani"The Saint of Lost Things" by Christopher Castellani.Hachette Group
Seven years after settling in Wilmington, an Italian couple is still in pursuit of the American dream. Maddalena sews at a factory, but desperately wants to be a mother, while her husband's nighttime escapades threaten to unravel all their hard work.
Castellani wove bits of his own family history into the book. His Italian father, who emigrated to Wilmington after World War II, dreamed of opening a restaurant in Wilmington's Little Italy neighborhood just like Maddalena's husband did.
FLORIDA: "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston"Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston.Amazon
A classic work of Black literature, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" is about Janie Crawford, a woman living in the town of Eaton, Florida.
Hurston was one of the most prominent writers of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s, publishing the novel in 1937. But she slipped into obscurity in the later years of her life, and "Eyes" went out of print until Alice Walker, another iconic Black female author, championed her in the 1970s. Now, the book is taught in classrooms around the country.
GEORGIA: "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell"Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell.Amazon
Mitchell's 1936 classic love story, set in the South during the Civil War and its aftermath, introduced the world to Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler.
O'Hara, the young, spoiled daughter of a plantation owner, and her roguish, star-crossed lover are torn apart and reunited through the tragedies and comedies of the human experience.
Mitchell spent nine years writing her manuscript, and the ensuing, unwanted fame led her to vow she would never write again.
In the years since its publication, the book has been criticized for its portrayal of slavery, romanticization of the Confederacy, and inclusion of racist stereotypes.
In 2023, a new edition of the book came with a warning from its UK publisher, Pan Macmillan, that "there may be hurtful or indeed harmful phrases and terminology that were prevalent at the time this novel was written," The Telegraph reported.
The 1939 film adaptation has been hit with the same criticisms for decades.
HAWAII: "Hawaii" by James Michener"Hawaii" by James Michener.Amazon
The first of Michener's mammoth sagas, "Hawaii" tells the land's history, from the islands' creation by volcanic activity to its evolving identity as the most recent of the 50 US states.
Michener sought to show how Hawaii harmonizes different cultures and races, as a template that would benefit the rest of the country.
However, he and his wife, the daughter of Japanese immigrants, faced harsh discrimination while living there.
IDAHO: "Housekeeping" by Marilynne Robinson"Housekeeping" by Marilynne Robinson.Amazon
Little to do with housekeeping, Robinson's poetic story follows two orphaned girls who are cared for by eccentric female relatives in the fictional town of Fingerbone.
Robinson describes Fingerbone as "chastened by an outsized landscape and extravagant weather." This, and many other details in "Housekeeping," conjure images of her own hometown of Sandpoint, Idaho.
ILLINOIS: "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair"The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair.Amazon
"The Jungle" is the story of a Lithuanian immigrant employed in Chicago's stockyards, where Sinclair worked undercover to research for the book.
It revealed the poverty, hopelessness, and unpleasant living and working conditions experienced by meatpacking laborers in the early 20th century.
The book's graphic depictions of slaughterhouse work caused a public uproar that contributed to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act six months after "The Jungle" was published.
INDIANA: "The Magnificent Ambersons" by Booth Tarkington"The Magnificent Ambersons" by Booth Tarkington.Amazon
Written by a native Hoosier, the novel centers on characters struggling to preserve their status during the rapid industrialization between the Civil War and the 20th century. The aristocratic Amberson family loses its prestige and wealth as "new money" tycoons take over.
Woodruff Place, Indianapolis' earliest suburb, was the setting for Tarkington's "The Magnificent Ambersons," which Orson Welles later adapted as a movie in 1942.
IOWA: "A Thousand Acres" by Jane Smiley"A Thousand Acres" by Jane Smiley.Amazon
When an Iowa farmer decides to retire, he plans to divide his thousand acres of land among his three daughters. The youngest objects, setting off a chain of events that unleashes long-suppressed emotions and secrets. It's a modern-day "King Lear."
Smiley's narrator describes the farm in Zebulon County as "paid for, no encumbrances, as flat and fertile, black, friable and exposed as any piece of land on the face of the earth," like a lot of land in Iowa.
KANSAS: "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum.Amazon
There's no place like the Great Kansas Plains.
Baum's imaginative tale of Dorothy Gale from Kansas and her Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion friends was the best-selling children's story of the 1900 Christmas season and spawned the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz."
It's a story that we're all still captivated by more than 125 years later — just look at the success of "Wicked."
KENTUCKY: "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe"My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult.Simon & Schuster
Anna has always been her older sister Kate's lifesaver. She's undergone countless surgeries, transplants, and donations to help save her sick sister, but when doctors discover that Anna is now a match to be Kate's bone marrow donor, Anna decides to sue for the right to control her own body.
Picoult shows the heartbreaking pull between freedom and family in this Rhode Island-set novel.
SOUTH CAROLINA: "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd"The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd.Amazon
Lily Owens is a young girl growing up in 1960s South Carolina with an abusive father and an African American nanny who serves as a surrogate mother. When her nanny ends up in jail for insulting some white men, Lily breaks her out and the two run away, seeking refuge among three eccentric bee-keeping sisters.
Monk Kidd injects some of her Southern upbringing into this contemporary heartwarming novel.
SOUTH DAKOTA: "A Long Way From Home" by Tom Brokaw"A Long Way From Home" by Tom Brokaw.Amazon
"A Long Way From Home" details Brokaw's "American pilgrimage," from boyhood on the Missouri River into a career in broadcast journalism in the '60s.
In Brokaw's honest narrative, we see how much his life has been shaped by growing up in South Dakota and the historic events he lived through as a child and young adult.
TENNESSEE: "A Death in the Family" by James Agee"A Death in the Family" by James Agee.Amazon
"A Death in the Family" is the only novel by the polymath writer James Agee. It's a semiautobiographical book about the emotional reverberations in a family after a father dies in a car accident. Set in Knoxville, it lyrically captures the feelings of every character, from the inner mind of a child to the tragedy of a widow.
The novel was published posthumously, after Agee died of a heart attack at 45, and won the Pulitzer Prize. He was also an acclaimed screenwriter, critic, and journalist.
TEXAS: "No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy"No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy.Amazon
Made famous by the film of the same name starring Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin, "No Country for Old Men" is McCarthy's masterpiece about a drug-deal-gone-wrong on the Texas-Mexico border. The event left a group of men dead and $2 million in an abandoned truck.
Llewellyn Moss, who discovered the scene, takes the money and gets swept up in the illicit drug business — and gets put on the radar of the ruthless hitman Anton Chigurh.
UTAH: "The 19th Wife" by David Ebershoff"The 19th Wife" by David Ebershoff.Amazon
Ebershoff weaves a novel based on the life of Ann Eliza Young, one of the wives of Mormon leader Brigham Young, who escapes her oppressive husband and embarks on a mission to end polygamy. The tale is juxtaposed against a modern-day story, following a young Mormon man who was cast out of the church and is trying to re-enter to solve his father's murder.
In this work of historical fiction, Ebershoff takes a critical look at polygamy through his side-by-side narratives.
VERMONT: "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt"The Secret History" by Donna Tartt.Amazon
Tartt's debut novel tells the story of six classics students at a fictional Vermont college and was a sensation when released in 1992. It's narrated by Richard Papen, one of the students, who recounts the story of a murder that happened while they were together at school.
The story takes a classic whodunnit premise and situates it in a coming-of-age story, as well as the intellectual world of classic literature.
VIRGINIA: "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Patterson"Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Patterson.Amazon
Jesse Aarons wants to be the fastest runner in his rural Virginia elementary school and almost realizes his dream until a new girl shows up and outruns everyone. This leads to an unlikely friendship between Jesse and the girl, Leslie, who, together, invent a magic wooded kingdom they call Terabithia.
The book is loosely based on events from Patterson's childhood, which she spent in the greater DC area.
WASHINGTON: "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer"Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer.Amazon
The small town of Forks, Washington, became famous as the setting for Meyer's best-selling vampire book series.
Bella Swan moves from her mom's house to live with her dad in Forks, where she meets Edward Cullen, a quiet, handsome young man at her new high school. Edward usually keeps to himself, but he is drawn to Bella and can't seem to stay away from her — for a shocking reason.
WASHINGTON, DC: "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown"The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown.Amazon
In this story of espionage, conspiracies, and buried American secrets, "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown has done it again.
Brown's beloved character Robert Langdon returns, this time chasing down his mentor's kidnapper in DC while trying to decode five puzzling symbols linked to the Freemasons.
WEST VIRGINIA: "Shiloh" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor"Shiloh" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.Amazon
In Friendly, West Virginia, a young boy, Marty, finds a puppy he names Shiloh in the hills behind his home. But Shiloh belongs to Judd, the town's local drunk, who beats the dog.
Now Marty, who's made a friend in Shiloh, will do anything to save him.
WISCONSIN: "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder"Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder.Amazon
The classic characters Laura, Mary, and their family struggle to make a home for themselves in Ingalls Wilder's beloved "Little House" children's book series.
Based in part on Ingalls Wilder's journey around the Midwest, young Laura and Mary, along with their parents and baby sister Carrie, learn to survive the long winter, fend for themselves, and take care of each other in this true-to-life work.
WYOMING: "The Laramie Project" by Moises Kaufman"The Laramie Project" by Moises Kaufman.Amazon
Kaufman wrote "The Laramie Project" with the members of Tectonic Theater Project as a play to recount the murder of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man who became the victim of an extreme hate crime in a quiet Wyoming town.
Shepard is remembered and honored from the perspective of family and friends as Kaufman takes a lens to the stubborn intolerance in society.
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