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.
A Delightful Look Back at Publishing 1946 - early 1980's
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The author has had a long and distinguished career in American publishing, including being president of the Book-of-the-Month Club and an editor, and seems to know personally about everybody engaged in American publishing between 1946 and the early 1980's. It is his contention that the post-war period until the early 1980's was at least as much a golden age of publishing as were the 1920's and 1930's with figures such as the legendary Max Perkins. Whether or not one agrees entirely with this assertion, the book does focus upon an extremely fascinating period and group of folks. The author simply went out and interviewed 120 "eyewitnesses" who had been engaged in publishing during this period at a variety of publishers: Knopf, Atheneum, Viking, Doubleday, Harper, and Little Brown to name just a few are discussed in individual chapters. The major paperback houses also are included. Because the author was interviewing his "own", he is just wonderful at filling out his pictures of what publishing was and how it operated during this period with insiders' perspectives. My only problem with the book, which despite its nearly 500 page length moves quickly, is that it is hard to keep all the large cast of characters and companies straight as you pass through the chapters. I also longed for a bit more of an explanation of exactly how editors "edit." His portraits of some key players, such as Alfred A. Knopf, Robert Gottlieb, and George Braziller, add enormously to the richness of the narrative. A small bibliography and some interesting photographs are included, as well as a solid index. A valuable book that is also quite interesting to read.
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