TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of February 28, 1960

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
HAWAII
James A. Michener
Cover of HAWAII

HAWAII

by James A. Michener · Random House

49 wks at #1 · 15 on list
5
3
TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN
Irwin Shaw
Cover of TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN

TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN

by Irwin Shaw · Random House

4 wks on list

An American, Jack Andrus, is suddenly called to Rome on an errand of friendship. Soon after his arrival he is the victim of a bizarre accident.

7
THE CONSTANT IMAGE
Marcia Davenport
Cover of THE CONSTANT IMAGE

THE CONSTANT IMAGE

by Marcia Davenport · Charles Scribner's Sons

3 wks on list

Hariet and Carlo saw no harm in their love affair. It was intended to last only as long as Hariet's winter in Milan. Neither of them expected they would mean so much to each other. When an old and sophisticated society enforced the rights of the family against the lawless claims of love, the love was put to a terrible test.

9
EXODUS
Leon Uris
Cover of EXODUS

EXODUS

by Leon Uris · Doubleday

73 wks on list
11
NEW
OURSELVES TO KNOW
John O'Hara

OURSELVES TO KNOW

by John O'Hara · Random House

1 wks on list

In 1908, in a small Pennsylvania town, a highly respected citizen kills his young wife. A full-length portrait of a troubled and talented man of good will.

12
NEW
WHERE THE BOYS ARE
Glendon Swarthout
Cover of WHERE THE BOYS ARE

WHERE THE BOYS ARE

by Glendon Swarthout · Random House

1 wks on list

Based on the annual pilgrimage of college students to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for spring vacation. Told in the teen-age jargon of an 18-year-old coed.

13
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

71 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).

16
NEW
WILDER STONE
John Leggett
Cover of WILDER STONE

WILDER STONE

by John Leggett · Harper and Brothers

Story of the regeneration of a human being in which a 40-year-old New York office worker blasts his way out of hopelessness and defeat.

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