The Time of Their Lives: The Golden Age of Great American Book Publishers, Their Editors and Authors - Hardcover

Al Silverman

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312350031 ISBN 13: 9780312350031

Publisher: Truman Talley Books, 2008

Synopsis

The golden age of book publishing, Al Silverman informs us with utter certainty, began in 1946 and lasted into the late 1970s and early 1980s. In his intimate history of those years, Silverman sets out to prove this sweeping conceit by relying on the eyes and ears and memories of the men and women who were there creating that history. Without inhibition, more than 120 of the most notable heads of houses, editors and publishers of this time shared many never-before told stories about how the most important books in postwar America came into being, and are still being read today.

In The Time of Their Lives we learn how ...

-- Robert Gottlieb worked with Joseph Heller to make Catch-18, as it was then called, into the world renowned Catch-22...

-- Corlies “Cork” Smith took a risk on a shy young man he had never  heard of, Thomas Pynchon, after being absorbed by one of his earliest short stories ...

-- Leona Nevler edited under delicate working conditions with a most difficult author, to make Peyton Place a novel for all generations.

            It was Arthur Thornhill, Sr., in his years as president of Little, Brown’s grand publishing house who said about the occupation he loved, “I wanted to be part of something that was good,” his word for publishing in the golden age. In this fascinating and elegiac history, Al Silverman illuminates a period in publishing that was not only good, but formed a distinguishing landmark of culture in American life -- a golden time that certainly deserves a new life.

About this title

About the Author

Al Silverman entered the publishing industry in 1972 as CEO of Book of the Month Club, after working for Sport magazine for twelve years. Later, he became president and editor-in-chief of The Viking Press, then a part of Penguin USA. He has written several books since.

From AudioFile

Al Silverman, the former head of Book-of-the-Month Club, remembers his experiences during what he calls the golden years of publishing. His recollections of the publishers, editors, and authors he met during that time--from 1946 to the early 1980s--make for a nostalgic but tedious story. The disconnected events have sparse continuity, and the hundreds of mostly obscure names have little relevance to someone outside the publishing industry. Narrator Tom Weiner reads at a brisk pace, with his baritone voice never dropping a word. Since the memoir wanders so much, the continuity of a strong reader creates a narrative drive that is lacking in the written manuscript. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

Edition details

• Publisher: Truman Talley Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0312350031
• ISBN 13: 9780312350031
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512
• Editor: Dana Benningfield