TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of April 4, 1948

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
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THE IDES OF MARCH
Thornton Wilder
Cover of THE IDES OF MARCH

THE IDES OF MARCH

by Thornton Wilder · Harper

2 wks at #1 · 5 on list
4
HOUSE DIVIDED
Ben Ames Williams
Cover of HOUSE DIVIDED

HOUSE DIVIDED

by Ben Ames Williams · Houghton Mifflin

28 wks on list

First published in 1947, this bestselling historical novel is cherished and remembered as one of the finest retellings of the Civil War saga—America's own War and Peace. In the first hard pinch of the Civil War, five siblings of an established Confederate Virginia family learn that their father is the grandfather of Abraham Lincoln. The family's story, and the story of their descendants, is presented in this tale that includes both soldiers and civilians—complete with their boasting, ambition, and arrogance, but also their patience, valor, and shrewdness. The grandnephew of General James Longstreet, the author brings to life one of the most extraordinary periods in history, and details war as it really is—a disease from which, win or lose, no nation ever completely recovers.

6
LUCINDA BRAYFORD
Martin Boyd
Cover of LUCINDA BRAYFORD
8
THE BISHOP'S MANTLE
Agnes Sligh Turnbull
Cover of THE BISHOP'S MANTLE

THE BISHOP'S MANTLE

by Agnes Sligh Turnbull · Macmillan

20 wks on list

"Life of a young Episcopal priest in a city parish." Cf. Hanna, A. Mirror for the nation

12
NEW
SON OF THE MOON
Joseph George Hitrec

SON OF THE MOON

by Joseph George Hitrec · Harper

1 wks on list

Against a background of communal strife, famine, Hindu tradition, etc., the author weaves a novel around Vijay, an Anglicized Indian with a love of flying and a passion to bring modern aviation to internal India. This is also the story of his struggle within himself and with his friends and family, the clash between the Indian background and English acquired tastes and ideals, and finally his marriage to a Hindu girl who shows him how to meet his countrymen half-way.

14
THAT WINTER
Merle Miller
Cover of THAT WINTER

THAT WINTER

by Merle Miller · Sloane

8 wks on list

The papers of Merle Miller relate to the writing of some of his books. There are various drafts, correspondence, printer's copies, and reviews that document his creative writing process. The majority of the manuscripts are for his novel, The Sure Thing.

15
4
CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY
Alan Paton
Cover of CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY

CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY

by Alan Paton · Scribner

4 wks on list

Two fathers come to terms with personal loss and the emotional scars inflicted on South Africa during the era of apartheid.

16
NEW
THE CITY AND THE PILLAR
Gore Vidal
Cover of THE CITY AND THE PILLAR

THE CITY AND THE PILLAR

by Gore Vidal · Dutton

In 1948, Gore Vidal was a celebrated twenty-two-year-old war novelist about to embark on a career in politics. His future seemed clear. But then he made a choice that changed his life. He published The City and the Pillar, an openly homosexual novel that was taken to be largely autobiographical. "I have read that I was too stupid at the time to know what I was doing," he notes in his introduction to this edition, "but in such matters I have always had a certain alertness. I knew that my description of the love affair between two 'normal' all-American boys, of the sort that I had spent three years in the army with during the war, would challenge every superstition about sex in my native land." His publisher hated the book. The New York Times would not advertise it. The City and the Pillar became a bestseller, nevertheless, and is now a classic. Thomas Mann called it a "noble work." The tragic story of Jim Willard's self-deluded love for another small-town American boy and the portrait of homosexual life in New York and Hollywood in the forties are still moving and truthful, as evocative and topical today as they were nearly fifty years ago. This edition incorporates Vidal's 1965 revisions and some further emendations by the author. Vidal's only collection of short stories, published as A Thirsty Evil in 1956, is also included here, bringing together for the first time his early homoerotic work. These subtle and comic tales, set in Key West, Washington, D.C., Paris, and New York, are at once sophisticated and charming, written with the narrative power for which Gore Vidal is famous.

Historical bestseller data sourced from the New York Times Book Review, archived by Hawes Publications.