TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of September 26, 1965

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
THE SOURCE
James Michener
Cover of THE SOURCE

THE SOURCE

by James Michener · Random House

43 wks at #1 · 18 on list
2
1
THE GREEN BERETS
Robin Moore
Cover of THE GREEN BERETS
4
HOTEL
Arthur Hailey
Cover of HOTEL

HOTEL

by Arthur Hailey · Doubleday

30 wks on list
5
1
THE LOOKING GLASS WAR
John Le Carré
Cover of THE LOOKING GLASS WAR

THE LOOKING GLASS WAR

by John Le Carré · Coward-McCann

12 wks on list

Focuses on a former military espionage department in London and its attempts to train an agent for a mission in East Germany.

8
2
THE RABBI
Noah Gordon
Cover of THE RABBI

THE RABBI

by Noah Gordon · McGraw-Hill

5 wks on list

The New York Times –bestselling novel that follows the life and career of a rabbi as he journeys through America: "A rewarding reading experience." — Los Angeles Times Michael Kind is raised in the Jewish cauldron of 1920s New York, familiar with the stresses and materialism of metropolitan life. Turning to the ancient set of ethics of his Orthodox grandfather, with a modern twist, he becomes a Reform rabbi. As insecure and sexually needy as any other young male, he serves as a circuit-rider rabbi in the Ozarks, and then as a temple rabbi in the racially ugly South, in a San Francisco suburb, in a Pennsylvania college town, and finally, in a New England community west of Boston. Along the way he falls deeply in love with and marries the daughter of a Congregational minister; she converts to Judaism and they have two complex, interesting children. Noah Gordon's picture of a brilliant and talented religious counselor—who at times is as bereft and uncertain as any of his congregants—is a deeply moving and very satisfying novel.

9
2
NIGHT OF CAMP DAVID
Fletcher Knebel
Cover of NIGHT OF CAMP DAVID

NIGHT OF CAMP DAVID

by Fletcher Knebel · Harper & Row

16 wks on list

“What would happen if the president of the U.S.A. went stark-raving mad?” Back by popular demand, The New York Times calls the 1965 bestselling political thriller by the author of Seven Days in May, “A little too plausible for comfort.” How can one man convince the highest powers in Washington that the President of the United States is dangerously unstable—before it’s too late? Senator Jim MacVeagh is proud to serve his country—and his president, Mark Hollenbach, who has a near-spotless reputation as the vibrant, charismatic leader of MacVeagh’s party and the nation. When Hollenbach begins taking MacVeagh into his confidence, the young senator knows that his star is on the rise. But then Hollenbach starts summoning MacVeagh in the middle of the night to Camp David. There, the president sits in the dark and rants about his enemies, unfurling insane theories about all the people he says are conspiring against him. They would do anything, President Hollenbach tells the stunned senator, to stop him from setting in motion the grand, unprecedented plans he has to make America a great world power once again. MacVeagh comes away from these meetings increasingly convinced that the man he once admired has lost his mind. But what can he do? Who can he tell?

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