[1] The purpose of the list was to "bring the Modern Library to public attention" and stimulate sales of its books.
[2] A separate Modern Library 100 Best Nonfiction list of the 100 best non-fiction books of the 20th century was created the same year.
During early 1998, the Modern Library polled its editorial board to find their opinions of the best 100 novels.
The board of review consisted of Daniel J. Boorstin, A. S. Byatt, Christopher Cerf, Shelby Foote, Vartan Gregorian, Edmund Morris, John Richardson, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., William Styron and Gore Vidal.
The following table shows the top ten novels from the editors' list:[3]