7. THEATRE, by W. Somerset Maugham. Doubleday, Doran
8. OF MICE AND MEN, by John Steinbeck. Covici, Friede
9. THE RAINS CAME, by Louis Bromfield. Harper
10. WE ARE NOT ALONE, by James Hilton. Little, Brown
Non-Fiction
1. HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE, by Dale Carnegie. Simon & Schuster
2. AN AMERICAN DOCTOR’S ODYSSEY, by Victor Heiser. Norton
3. THE RETURN TO RELIGION, by Henry C. Link. Macmillan
4. THE ARTS, by Hendrik Willem Van Loon. Simon & Schuster
5. ORCHIDS ON YOUR BUDGET, by Marjorie Hillis. Bobbs-Merrill
6. PRESENT INDICATIVE, by Noel Coward. Doubleday, Doran
7. MATHEMATICS FOR THE MILLION, by Lancelot Hogben. Norton
8. LIFE WITH MOTHER, by Clarence Day. Knopf
9. THE NILE, by Emil Ludwig. Viking Press
10. THE FLOWERING OF NEW ENGLAND, by Van Wyck Brooks. Dutton
* * * * *
U. S. travelers flocked to Paris for the Exposition and to London for
the coronation of King George VI. Japan began her long war against
China. The dirigible _Hindenburg_ burst into fire as it made its first
landing at Lakehurst, N.J. Charlie McCarthy, candid cameras, and skiing
were current crazes in America, which was also swept by a wave of the
new “sit-down” strikes. _Pins and Needles_, produced by the Labor Stage,
was to break musical show records by 1939. _Gone with the Wind_ swung
into an even more triumphant leadership of fiction sales, eventually
selling 5,000,000 copies. Translation rights were being sought in a
score of languages and GWTW became as well-known initials as NBC or WPA.
Kenneth Roberts of Maine had published four other historical novels
before he achieved national recognition with _Northwest Passage_. A. J.
Cronin was more popular than ever, with one of his best-liked novels,
_The Citadel_, which sold 161,108 copies in 1937. A new writer of
historical fiction from England, Vaughan Wilkins, made his debut on the
list, as did Virginia Woolf and W. Somerset Maugham, although their
books had had large American audiences for many years. John Steinbeck’s
first selling success came with _Of Mice and Men_. His _Tortilla Flat_,
in 1935, had made its mark with the critics. Louis Bromfield departed
from his usual American scene with a novel of India. Half the fiction
was contributed in 1937 by English writers, half by American. The
best-known self-help book of them all, _How to Win Friends and Influence
People_, topped all non-fiction with sales of 729,000 copies in 1937, in
addition to its 12,000 from the previous year. With its reappearance in
a 25-cent edition, it was to sell nearly 5,000,000. _The Return to
Religion_, one of the few titles in the non-fiction religious field to
reach the annual lists in some time, in contrast to the predominance of
religion in both earlier and later years, sold 83,000 copies. Continuing
his series of books on various fields of human knowledge, Hendrik Van
Loon produced a best seller whose illustrations and format added to its
sales appeal. Marjorie Hillis followed her _Live Alone and Like It_ with
another entertaining book along self-help lines, and Noel Coward first
appeared among best sellers with his autobiography. _Mathematics for the
Million_ was not written down for mass interest; on the contrary, the
public had to rise to the scholarly but effective presentation of a
difficult subject. Clarence Day continued his delightful family
chronicle with _Life with Mother_. Emil Ludwig deserted, temporarily,
the lives of great men for the biography of a river. With _The Flowering
of New England_, a distinguished literary critic began a series of books
on American cultural history, though this was not the first volume
chronologically.
1938
Fiction
1. THE YEARLING, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Scribner
2. THE CITADEL, by A. J. Cronin. Little, Brown
3. MY SON, MY SON! by Howard Spring. Viking Press
4. REBECCA, by Daphne du Maurier. Doubleday, Doran
5. NORTHWEST PASSAGE, by Kenneth Roberts. Doubleday, Doran
6. ALL THIS, AND HEAVEN TOO, by Rachel Field. Macmillan
7. THE RAINS CAME, by Louis Bromfield. Harper
8. AND TELL OF TIME, by Laura Krey. Houghton Mifflin
9. THE MORTAL STORM, by Phyllis Bottome. Little, Brown
10. ACTION AT AQUILA, by Hervey Allen. Farrar & Rinehart
Non-Fiction
1. THE IMPORTANCE OF LIVING, by Lin Yutang. John Day
2. WITH MALICE TOWARD SOME, by Margaret Halsey. Simon & Schuster
3. MADAME CURIE, by Eve Curie. Doubleday, Doran
4. LISTEN! THE WIND, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Harcourt, Brace
5. THE HORSE AND BUGGY DOCTOR, by Arthur E. Hertzler. Harper
6. HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE, by Dale Carnegie. Simon &
Schuster
7. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, by Carl Van Doren. Viking Press
8. I’M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF, by Ogden Nash. Little, Brown
9. ALONE, by Richard E. Byrd. Putnam
10. FANNY KEMBLE, by Margaret Armstrong Macmillan
* * * * *
“Peace in our time” was declared at Munich after the Czech crisis and
after Hitler had annexed Austria. American jitters were induced by a
Martian radio attack, with Orson Welles as entrepreneur. _God Bless
America_, which Irving Berlin had written in 1917, was revived by Kate
Smith to become what some chose to call our second national anthem.
Bingo and the big apple were fads of the year, and “Wrong-Way” Corrigan
amused two continents. “Information Please!” the quiz program that
topped all quiz programs, presented many authors on the radio as well as
its “regulars” and, emceed by Clifton Fadiman, then literary critic of
_The New Yorker_, added to the interest in and knowledge of books on the
part of its vast radio audience. _The Yearling_, novel of a Florida boy
and his beloved fawn, outsold other fiction and took its place as an
American classic read by both young and old. _The Citadel_, third in
1937, went up to second place in 1938. From England came two writers new
to the list and quickly taken up by the public, Howard Spring and Daphne
du Maurier. _Rebecca_ has gone on selling in reprint editions and was
natural material for an extremely popular movie. _Northwest Passage_ and
_The Rains Came_, perhaps Bromfield’s greatest fiction seller, carried
on into their second years. Rachel Field’s best-known novel, which also
became a feature movie, was based upon events in her own family history.
_And Tell of Time_ was a historical story of Texas by a second new
American woman writer on this list. Hervey Allen turned to American
Civil War history with his first novel since the great _Anthony_. With
the Sino-Japanese war going into its second year, an interpretation of
China by a Chinese man of letters outsold all other non-fiction,
reaching 124,415 copies. This included book club sales. Margaret Halsey
scored the British in her clever and humorous _With Malice Toward Some_.
The daughter of Madame Curie told the story of her mother’s life, which
was taken to the hearts of readers aware of the woman scientist’s
greatness. The autobiography of a country doctor was halfway down the
list. The response to Carl Van Doren’s definitive life of Franklin was
enthusiastic. Another new bestselling American biographer was Margaret
Armstrong, with _Fanny Kemble_. Ogden Nash was a constantly quoted
favorite from the pages of _The New Yorker_ and other magazines, even
before the publication of _I’m a Stranger Here Myself_. Admiral Byrd
gave his record of months in the Antarctic, newspaper accounts of which
had previously thrilled and mystified millions.
1939
Fiction
1. THE GRAPES OF WRATH, by John Steinbeck. Viking Press
2. ALL THIS, AND HEAVEN TOO, by Rachel Field. Macmillan
3. REBECCA, by Daphne du Maurier. Doubleday, Doran
4. WICKFORD POINT, by John P. Marquand. Little, Brown
5. ESCAPE, by Ethel Vance. Little, Brown
6. DISPUTED PASSAGE, by Lloyd C. Douglas. Houghton Mifflin
7. THE YEARLING, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Scribner
8. THE TREE OF LIBERTY, by Elizabeth Page. Farrar & Rinehart
9. THE NAZARENE, by Sholem Asch. Putnam
10. KITTY FOYLE, by Christopher Morley. Lippincott
Non-Fiction
1. DAYS OF OUR YEARS, by Pierre van Paassen. Hillman-Curl
2. REACHING FOR THE STARS, by Nora Waln. Little, Brown
3. INSIDE ASIA, by John Gunther. Harper
4. AUTOBIOGRAPHY WITH LETTERS, by William Lyon Phelps. Oxford University Press
5. COUNTRY LAWYER, by Bellamy Partridge. Whittlesey House
6. WIND, SAND AND STARS, by Antoine de St. Exupery. Reynal & Hitchcock
7. MEIN KAMPF, by Adolf Hitler. Reynal & Hitchcock
8. A PECULIAR TREASURE, by Edna Ferber. Doubleday, Doran
9. NOT PEACE BUT A SWORD, by Vincent Sheean. Doubleday, Doran
10. LISTEN! THE WIND, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Harcourt, Brace
* * * * *
The New York World’s Fair opened, with exhibits from nearly all the
countries of the world except Germany, and was visited by the new King
and Queen of England. The Spanish Civil War ended with the surrender of
the Loyalists. Late in the year Germany invaded Poland--the period of
peace between two world wars had ended. A novel of the “Okies,” those
dispossessed by the dust storms of 1934, made John Steinbeck top best
seller of the nation. Bookstores sold 300,000 copies during the year.
_All This and Heaven Too_ and _Rebecca_ both climbed higher on the
best-seller ladder in their second year. John P. Marquand had written a
penetrating novel of Boston, _The Late George Apley_, in 1937. Known
popularly as the writer of the “Mr. Moto” spy stories, he attained
critical and commercial success with his first serious novel, though it
did not make the list of the year in which it was published. As often
happens with a newly prominent writer, the second book after a first
success achieved greater national sales in its first year of
publication, though not necessarily total sales, than did the earlier
book. _Escape_, written by Grace Zaring Stone under the pseudonym of
Ethel Vance, was the first best-selling fiction based upon events in
Hitler’s Germany. Continuing the trend of the long historical novel was
_The Tree of Liberty_. Another trend--toward fiction of Biblical
times--was marked by the sales of _The Nazarene_, scholarly story by a
writer new to this country, whose work was translated from the Yiddish.
Christopher Morley, long-beloved poet, essayist, and novelist, found a
best-selling audience with his portrayal of a modern working girl,
_Kitty Foyle_, later played on the screen by Ginger Rogers. Contemporary
history began to loom large in the world of books. Best seller of
non-fiction was written by Pierre van Paassen, a Hollander who took a
world view of political events in his reminiscences, as had Vincent
Sheean in 1935. In _Reaching for the Stars_, Nora Waln described the
tragedy of life in Germany under the Nazis as she had witnessed it.
Gunther continued his political surveys with _Inside Asia_. Long an
influential commentator on books, Professor Phelps of Yale had an
assured audience for his autobiography and Oxford University Press
(American branch) had its first big popular seller. _Country Lawyer_,
amusing narrative of old-time upstate New York life, introduced the
legal profession into best sellerdom, where medical lives were already
well established. _Wind, Sand and Stars_, by a French writer and
aviator, added to the literature of flight. _Mein Kampf_, Bible of Nazi
Germany, was published with its full text for the first time over here.
A best seller over many years in the fiction field, Edna Ferber wrote
best-selling non-fiction as well with her autobiography, _A Peculiar
Treasure_.
1940
Fiction
1. HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, by Richard Llewellyn. Macmillan
2. KITTY FOYLE, by Christopher Morley. Lippincott
3. MRS. MINIVER, by Jan Struther. Harcourt, Brace
4. FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS, by Ernest Hemingway. Scribner
5. THE NAZARENE, by Sholem Asch. Putnam
6. STARS ON THE SEA, by F. van Wyck Mason. Lippincott
7. OLIVER WISWELL, by Kenneth Roberts. Doubleday, Doran
8. THE GRAPES OF WRATH, by John Steinbeck. Viking Press
9. NIGHT IN BOMBAY, by Louis Bromfield. Harper
10. THE FAMILY, by Nina Fedorova. Little, Brown
Non-Fiction
1. I MARRIED ADVENTURE, by Osa Johnson. Lippincott
2. HOW TO READ A BOOK, by Mortimer Adler. Simon & Schuster
3. A SMATTERING OF IGNORANCE, by Oscar Levant. Doubleday, Doran
4. COUNTRY SQUIRE IN THE WHITE HOUSE, by John T. Flynn. Doubleday, Doran
5. LAND BELOW THE WIND, by Agnes Newton Keith. Little, Brown
6. AMERICAN WHITE PAPER, by Joseph W. Alsop, Jr., and Robert Kintnor. Simon & Schuster
7. NEW ENGLAND: INDIAN SUMMER, by Van Wyck Brooks. Dutton
8. AS I REMEMBER HIM, by Hans Zinsser. Little, Brown
9. DAYS OF OUR YEARS, by Pierre van Paassen. Dial Press
10. BET IT’S A BOY, by Betty B. Blunt. Stephen Daye Press
* * * * *
After months of the so-called “phony” war, the German blitz broke loose,
engulfing Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France. Millions in America
grabbed each new edition of the newspapers as the Nazis stormed nearer
Paris. War gloom was at its deepest as Hitler attacked England from the
air, and American sympathy went out to the besieged and bombarded
Britishers. In the fall Wendell Willkie polled an enormous popular vote,
but Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President of the United States for
a third term. A novel of the Welsh coal miners, beautifully written and
with an emotional appeal that quickly made the best-seller grade,
brought a new name to the head of the fiction list. _How Green Was My
Valley_ sold 176,280 copies through the bookstores. Third, by a new
English writer, was _Mrs. Miniver_, the central character of which
charmed the American public in the book and the movie. Its author, Jan
Struther, was possibly the most frequent guest on “Information, Please!”
_For Whom the Bell Tolls_, Ernest Hemingway’s first great best seller,
told of an American in the Spanish Civil War. A new name in historical
fiction was F. van Wyck Mason, though, like John P. Marquand, he had
long been liked in another field of fiction--as a writer of
international adventure stories featuring an Army Intelligence hero. The
first in his series of novels on the early maritime history of this
country, _Three Harbours_, did not reach an annual list, but the second,
_Stars on the Sea_, did. It was a novel of unusual length, as was
_Oliver Wiswell_, another Kenneth Roberts historical novel. _I Married
Adventure_, Osa Johnson’s narrative of years in far, wild countries with
her explorer husband, Martin Johnson, topped nonfiction with sales of
288,000, including book club copies. _How to Read a Book_ was an
interesting success. “Information, Please!” contributed another book
success when one of its most popular stars the whimsical and musical
Oscar Levant entertained with _A Smattering of Ignorance_. _Country
Squire in the White House_, campaign literature of 1940, sold over
100,000 copies. _Land Below the Wind_ was an Atlantic-Little, Brown
prize-winning book about Borneo. With the exception of _American White
Paper_ and _Days of Our Years_ (the first Dial Press book on these
lists), it is amazing to note that by the end of the first year of the
war no non-fiction best seller could in any way be considered a “war
book.” _New England: Indian Summer_ was the second volume of Van Wyck
Brooks’ best-selling literary history. _As I Remember Him_ was the
biography of his “romantic self” by Hans Zinsser, author of _Rats, Lice
and History_. _Bet It’s a Boy_, a little cartoon book of obstetrical
humor, sold over 100,000 in the year.
1941
Fiction
1. THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM, by A. J. Cronin. Little, Brown
2. RANDOM HARVEST, by James Hilton. Little, Brown
3. THIS ABOVE ALL, by Eric Knight. Harper
4. THE SUN IS MY UNDOING, by Marguerite Steen. Viking Press
5. FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS, by Ernest Hemingway. Scribner
6. OLIVER WISWELL, by Kenneth Roberts. Doubleday, Doran
7. H. M. PULHAM, ESQUIRE, by John P. Marquand. Little, Brown
8. MR. AND MRS. CUGAT, by Isabel Scott Rorick. Houghton Mifflin
9. SARATOGA TRUNK, by Edna Ferber. Doubleday, Doran
10. WINDSWEPT, by Mary Ellen Chase. Macmillan
Non-Fiction
1. BERLIN DIARY, by William L. Shirer. Knopf
2. THE WHITE CLIFFS, by Alice Duer Miller. Coward-McCann
3. OUT OF THE NIGHT, by Jan Valtin. Alliance Book Corp.
4. INSIDE LATIN AMERICA, by John Gunther. Harper
5. BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS, by Winston S. Churchill. Putnam
6. YOU CAN’T DO BUSINESS WITH HITLER, by Douglas S. Miller. Little, Brown
7. READING I’VE LIKED, ed. by Clifton Fadiman. Simon & Schuster
8. REVEILLE IN WASHINGTON, by Margaret Leech. Harper
9. EXIT LAUGHING, by Irvin S. Cobb. Bobbs-Merrill
10. MY SISTER AND I, by Dirk van der Heide. Harcourt, Brace
* * * * *
“Never had so many owed so much to so few” as England’s gallant airmen
defended their island. The worst threat of invasion was over but Germany
had attacked Russia and held nearly all the continent as her own
_Festung Europa_. One Sunday afternoon toward the end of the year, when
most American families had their radios tuned to the Philharmonic, came
the stunning announcement that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor.
The United States immediately entered the war against Japan, Germany,
and Italy. War books predominated the 1941 list of best sellers,
although we were actually at war only during the last month of the year.
In fiction two best-selling war novels, both by English authors, were in
second and third places. James Hilton had already written several best
sellers (his _Random Harvest_ was about World War I), but Eric Knight,
later killed in a plane crash, was best known as the author of an
outstanding dog story, _Lassie Come-Home_. First on the list was the
latest Cronin novel, rival in popularity to _The Citadel_. _The Keys of
the Kingdom_ sold 236,496 copies through the trade, plus 234,328 through
the Book-of-the-Month Club, whose membership had reached a figure far
beyond that of its early years. Marguerite Steen, author of many novels,
joined best sellers with a long historical novel. _For Whom the Bell
Tolls_ and _Oliver Wiswell_ appeared in their second year, and John P.
Marquand added another portrait of consequence to his gallery of
Bostonians. _Mr. and Mrs. Cugat_, from the pages of _The New Yorker_,
which more and more produced fiction and essays later made into popular
books (_Life with Father_ first appeared there), introduced another new
author. Edna Ferber had a story of old New Orleans, and Mary Ellen Chase
a second best seller about Maine. The war led in earnest in non-fiction.
Correspondent William Shirer’s _Berlin Diary_ made history by forming
opinion and preparing American understanding of one of the enemies with
whom we were to be at war by December. It sold 213,769 copies through
the bookstores, 236,496 through the Book-of-the-Month Club in 1941. _The
White Cliffs_, first Coward-McCann best seller on these lists, a
narrative poem of wartime England, later basis of a movie and a popular
song, made a record sale for a book of poetry, reaching 250,000 copies
in its first three years. The underground life of Gestapo vs. Communist
came into Jan Valtin’s _Out of the Night_. John Gunther followed his
_Inside Europe_ and _Inside Asia_ with a third best seller. American
interest in England’s great crisis was reflected in the sales of Prime
Minister Winston Churchill’s speeches. _You Can’t Do Business with
Hitler_ struck an important prewar note. The touching story of a Dutch
refugee boy, _My Sister and I_, a title which also inspired a popular
song of the day, made a total of seven books on the 1941 non-fiction
list that were concerned with the war in one way or another. The other
three places were filled by Clifton Fadiman’s anthology, _Reading I’ve
Liked_, arousing interest in a wide audience because of his great
popularity on “Information, Please!” and as book critic of _The New
Yorker_; by a historical portrait of Washington, D. C., _Reveille in
Washington_; and by the autobiography of a longtime favorite author and
humorist, Irvin S. Cobb.
1942
Fiction
1. THE SONG OF BERNADETTE, by Franz Werfel. Viking Press
2. THE MOON IS DOWN, by John Steinbeck. Viking Press
3. DRAGON SEED, by Pearl S. Buck. John Day
4. AND NOW TOMORROW, by Rachel Field. Macmillan
5. DRIVIN’ WOMAN, by Elizabeth Pickett. Macmillan
6. WINDSWEPT, by Mary Ellen Chase. Macmillan
7. THE ROBE, by Lloyd C. Douglas. Houghton Mifflin
8. THE SUN IS MY UNDOING, by Marguerite Steen. Viking Press
9. KINGS ROW, by Henry Bellamann. Simon & Schuster
10. THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM, by A. J. Cronin. Little, Brown
Non-Fiction
1. SEE HERE, PRIVATE HARGROVE, by Marion Hargrove. Holt
2. MISSION TO MOSCOW, by Joseph E. Davies. Simon & Schuster
3. THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS, by Elliot Paul. Random House
4. CROSS CREEK, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Scribner
5. VICTORY THROUGH AIR POWER, by Major Alexander P. de Seversky. Simon & Schuster
6. PAST IMPERFECT, by Ilka Chase. Doubleday, Doran
7. THEY WERE EXPENDABLE, by W. L. White. Harcourt, Brace
8. FLIGHT TO ARRAS, by Antoine de St. Exupery. Reynal & Hitchcock
9. WASHINGTON IS LIKE THAT, by W. M. Kiplinger. Harper
10. INSIDE LATIN AMERICA, by John Gunther. Harper
* * * * *
The early months of 1942 marked the low point of the war as far as the
United States was concerned. The Philippines were overrun after
MacArthur’s desperate stand on Corregidor, Australia and our lifelines
to that continent were threatened, and Singapore fell. Then in April we
struck our first offensive blow with the bombing of Tokyo. In August
came the first attack on Guadalcanal. Americans were introduced to
rationing, and pleasure-driving in automobiles was prohibited. Almost
unnoticed, ex-Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany died in exile. Again the appeal
of religious fiction was evidenced by the great sale of _The Song of
Bernadette_, which reached almost half a million copies in 1942. With
its reprint edition, timed for the release of a notable movie, it sold
over 900,000 in two years. John Steinbeck’s _The Moon Is Down_, later a
stage play, was a story of the German occupation of Norway which, like
_Bernadette_, approached the 500,000 mark in 1942. Pearl Buck’s novel of
war in China, _Dragon Seed_, sold around 400,000 copies in its original
edition and was also made into a notable 1944 movie. _The Robe_,
published in October, a novel of the time of Christ, started toward its
record-breaking sales figure--it was still high on best seller lists the
country over two years later. In that time it was never less than fifth
on the monthly National Best Seller List of _Publishers’ Weekly_, and it
passed the 1,000,000 mark on its second birthday. The rookie of World
War II, Private Hargrove, was the star of the hit book of 1942
non-fiction; sales in all editions went over 2,000,000, far
outdistancing the comparable _Dere Mable_ of World War I. Seven war
books dominated the non-fiction list. Besides _Private Hargrove_ there
were Ambassador Davies’ report on Russia (later a controversial movie);
_The Last Time I Saw Paris_ (first Random House best seller of these
lists), nostalgic portrait of the Paris that had been, by Elliot Paul,
whose _Life and Death of a Spanish Town_ had previously portrayed the
coming of fascism to Spain; _Victory Through Air Power_, a noted flyer,
plane designer, and manufacturer’s forecast of strategy; _They Were
Expendable_, first American record of personal exploit in World War II
to become a national best seller, by correspondent W. L. White, the
first book to be named an “Imperative” by the newly formed Council on
Books in Wartime; _Flight to Arras_, war experiences of the French
aviator who had written _Wind, Sand and Stars_; and _Inside Latin
America_ in its second year. Marjorie Rawlings, of _The Yearling_ fame
in fiction, contributed charming sketches of her Florida countryside. A
highly entertaining autobiography by a star of stage, movie, and radio,
and a picture of Washington life comprised the unwarlike part of the
list.
1943
Fiction
1. THE ROBE, by Lloyd C. Douglas. Houghton Mifflin
2. THE VALLEY OF DECISION, by Marcia Davenport. Scribner
3. SO LITTLE TIME, by John P. Marquand. Little, Brown
4. A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, by Betty Smith. Harper
5. THE HUMAN COMEDY, by William Saroyan. Harcourt, Brace