TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of May 24, 1959

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
EXODUS
Leon Uris
Cover of EXODUS

EXODUS

by Leon Uris · Doubleday

20 wks at #1 · 33 on list
3
THE UGLY AMERICAN
William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick
Cover of THE UGLY AMERICAN

THE UGLY AMERICAN

by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick · W.W. Norton and Company

31 wks on list

The multi-million-copy bestseller that blends truth and fiction in a “devastating indictment of American policy” (New York Times Book Review). A piercing exposé of American incompetence and corruption in Southeast Asia, The Ugly American captivated the nation when it was first published in 1958. The book introduces readers to an unlikely hero in the titular “ugly American”—and to the ignorant politicians and arrogant ambassadors who ignore his empathetic and commonsense advice. In linked stories and vignettes set in the fictional nation of Sarkhan, William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick draw an incisive portrait of American foreign policy gone dangerously wrong—and how it might be fixed. Eerily relevant sixty years after its initial publication, The Ugly American reminds us that “today, as the battle for hearts and minds has shifted to the Middle East, we still can’t speak Sarkhanese” (New York Times).

6
3
LADY CHATTERLY'S LOVER
D.H. Lawrence
Cover of LADY CHATTERLY'S LOVER

LADY CHATTERLY'S LOVER

by D.H. Lawrence · Random House

2 wks on list

El amante de Lady Chatterley, publicada por primera vez en 1928, es una innovadora novela de D.H. Lawrence que profundiza en temas como el amor, la pasión y las limitaciones sociales. La historia sigue a Constance Reid, o Connie, casada con Sir Clifford Chatterley, un intelectual rico y paralítico. Viviendo en Wragby Hall, Connie se siente aislada e insatisfecha mientras su marido se centra en sus afanes intelectuales. La soledad de Connie la lleva a tener un romance con Oliver Mellors, el guardabosques de la finca, cuyo físico robusto y conexión con la naturaleza contrastan fuertemente con la actitud distante de su marido. Su relación es profundamente transformadora y ofrece a Connie una sensación de vitalidad y libertad. A través de este romance, Lawrence explora la sexualidad humana, las divisiones de clase y la búsqueda de la auténtica intimidad. Célebre por su cándida descripción de la sexualidad y su crítica al sistema de clases británico, El amante de Lady Chatterley se enfrentó a la censura y a batallas legales. Esta nueva edición retoma la provocadora y perspicaz narración de Lawrence, una historia que aborda con audacia la intersección del amor, la identidad y las expectativas sociales.

9
NEW
CELIA GARTH
Gwen Bristow
Cover of CELIA GARTH

CELIA GARTH

by Gwen Bristow · Thomas Crowell Co

1 wks on list

Celia Garth, a young dressmaker in Charleston, becomes a spy for Francis Marion, "sewing and smiling as she distills her Tory patrons' gossip into vital intelligence."--Jacket, Nautical & Aviation Publishing Co. ed.

10
THE WATCH THAT ENDS THE NIGHT
Hugh MacLennan

THE WATCH THAT ENDS THE NIGHT

by Hugh MacLennan · Charles Scribner's Sons

11 wks on list

George and Catherine Stewart share not only the burden of Catherine's heart disease, which could cause her death at any time, but the memory of Jerome Martell, her first husband and George's closest friend. Martell, a brilliant doctor passionately concerned with social justice, is presumed to have died in a Nazi prison camp. His sudden return to Montreal precipitates the central crisis of the novel. Hugh MacLennan takes the reader into the lives of his three characters and back into the world of Montreal in the thirties, when politics could send an idealist across the world to Spain, France, Auschwitz, Russia, and China before his return home.

11
4
THE CHINESE BOX
Katherine Wigmore Eyre
Cover of THE CHINESE BOX

THE CHINESE BOX

by Katherine Wigmore Eyre · Appleton-Century-crofts, Inc

2 wks on list

Romantic story of a handsome San Francisco society couple in the 1880's and the strange reappearance of a cousin from the Orient.

14
7
THE DEVIL IN BUCKS COUNTY
Edmund Schiddel

THE DEVIL IN BUCKS COUNTY

by Edmund Schiddel · Simon & Schuster

14 wks on list

A satirical novel about the monied class living along the Delaware River.

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