When we look at a snapshot of best-selling books at any point in time, we see a picture of our society and what it values and thinks. I am unsure whether book publishing is a light or a mirror; but looking back, I see insights to be gained. Spoiler alert: Book publishing did not begin when Amazon was founded thirty years ago.

The New York Times Best Seller lists, July 24, 1949

Fiction

1. POINT OF NO RETURN, by John P. Marquand (Little, Brown)
2. FATHER OF THE BRIDE, by Edward Streeter (Simon & Schuster) – Made into multiple movies.
3. NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR, by George Orwell (Harcourt, Brace) – Book should be retitled: TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-FOUR. George was just forty years off.
4. PRIDE’S CASTLE, by Frank Yerby (Dial Press)
5. THE BIG FISHERMAN, by Lloyd C. Douglas (Houghton Mifflin) – Douglas was a pastor and author of many books. A dozen movies were made from his work, including The Robe and this novel.
6. THE BRAVE BULLS, by Tom Lea (Little, Brown & Company)
7. OPUS 21, by Philip Wylie (Rinehart)
8. THE TRACK OF THE CAT, by Walter Van Tilburg Clark (Random House)
9. CUTLASS EMPIRE, by F. Van Wyck Mason (Doubleday)
10. THE MAN WHO MADE FRIENDS WITH HIMSELF, by Christopher Morley (Doubleday)
11. THE NAKED AND THE DEAD, by Norman Mailer (Random House)
12. KINFOLK, by Pearl S. Buck (John Day) – Author won a Pulitzer in 1932 and a Nobel prize in 1938. Former missionary in China. Click here.
13. THE FOUNTAINHEAD, by Ayn Rand (Bobbs-Merrill)
14. PRAIRIE AVENUE, by Arthur Meeker (Knopf)
15. DINNER AT ANTOINE’S, by Frances Parkinson Keyes (Julian Messner)
16. TOMORROW WE REAP, by James Street and James Childers (Dial Press)

 

Nonfiction

1. CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, by Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (Grosset & Dunlap) – Multiple movies from 1950 through 2022. Did you know this was nonfiction?
2. THE SEVEN STOREY MOUNTAIN, by Thomas Merton (Harcourt, Brace)
3. PEACE OF SOUL, by Fulton J. Sheen (Whittlesey House) – a “Christian” perspective of Liebman’s Peace of Mind, listed below at #14.
4. BEHIND THE CURTAIN, by John Gunther (Harper)
5. THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD, by Fulton Oursler (Doubleday) – Prolific author wrote under multiple pseudonyms. This book was the basis for the 1965 movie.
6. WITH A FEATHER ON MY NOSE, by Billie Burke (Appleton-Century-Crofts)
7. A GUIDE TO CONFIDENT LIVING, by Norman Vincent Peale (Prentice-Hall)
8. LET ‘EM EAT CHEESECAKE, by Earl Wilson (Doubleday)
9. THEIR FINEST HOUR, by Winston S. Churchill (Houghton Mifflin)
10. BEAU JAMES, by Gene Fowler (Viking)
11. WHITE COLLAR ZOO, by Clare Barnes (Doubleday)
12. LOW AND INSIDE, by H. Allen Smith and Ira Smith (Doubleday)
13. THE DOCTOR WEARS THREE FACES, by Mary Bard (Lippincott)
14. PEACE OF MIND, by Joshua Loth Liebman (Simon & Schuster) – First published in 1946, the book spent a year at #1 on the NYT list, and this week in 1949 marked the 164th week on the list overall. Liebman was an American rabbi who wrote post-WWII and Holocaust, which makes this title an interesting entry into the literary world at the time. Liebman passed away of a heart ailment in June 1948, a few weeks after Israel was re-established as a state on May 14, 1948.
15. ROOSEVELT AND HOPKINS, by Robert E. Sherwood (Harper)
16. HOW TO STOP WORRYING AND START LIVING, by Dale Carnegie (Simon & Schuster)