TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of September 8, 1974

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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THE DOGS OF WAR
Frederick Forsyth

THE DOGS OF WAR

by Frederick Forsyth · Viking Press

9 wks on list

In a remote corner of Zangaro, a small republic in Africa, lies Crystal Mountain. At certain times of the day the mountain emits a strange glow. Only Sir James Manson knows why. The mountain contains ten billion dollar's worth of the world's most valuable mineral, platinum. " Not only exciting but truly surprising" --Atlantic. Now the only question is, how to get hold of it. Sir James knows how. Invade the country with a band of savage, cold-blooded mercenaries. Topple the government and set up a puppet dictatorship. Unleash the dogs of war.

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JAWS
Peter Benchley
Cover of JAWS

JAWS

by Peter Benchley · Doubleday

27 wks on list

"Relentless terror." The Philadelphia Inquirer.The classic, blockbuster thriller of man-eating terror that inspired the Steven Spielberg movie and made millions of beachgoers afraid to go into the water. Experience the thrill of helpless horror again -- or for the first time!From the Paperback edition.

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WATERSHIP DOWN
Richard Adams
Cover of WATERSHIP DOWN

WATERSHIP DOWN

by Richard Adams · Macmillan

22 wks on list

A phenomenal worldwide bestseller for over forty years, Richard Adams’ spellbinding classic Watership Down is one of the best-loved novels of all time. Set in the beautiful English countryside of the Berkshire Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage, and survival follows a band of very special rabbits fleeing the destruction of their home by a developer. Led by a stout-hearted pair of brothers, they leave the safety of Sandleford Warren in search of a safe haven and a mysterious promised land, skirting danger at every turn.

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CASHELMARA
Susan Howatch
Cover of CASHELMARA

CASHELMARA

by Susan Howatch · Simon & Schuster

16 wks on list

There were two subjects which lonely widower Edward de Salis never discussed: his dead wife and his family home in Ireland, 'matchless Cashelmara'. So when he meets Marguerite, a bright young American with whom he can talk freely about both, he is able to love again and takes her back to Ireland as his wife. But Marguerite soon discovers that married life is not what she expected, and that she has married into a troubled family bitterly divided by love and hatred. Cashelmara becomes the curse of three generations as they play out their fates in a spellbinding drama, which moves inexorably towards murder and retribution.

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CENTENNIAL
James Michener

CENTENNIAL

by James Michener · Random House

2 wks on list

The editors of Random House, having heard Mr. Michener relate the circumstances that led to the writing of Centennial, and his experiences during his long preparation for the task, felt that an account of these matters would be of particular interest to those who are concerned with the making and dissemination of books.

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WINTER KILLS
Richard Condon
Cover of WINTER KILLS

WINTER KILLS

by Richard Condon · Dial Press

8 wks on list

A whistleblower looks too deeply into a president's assassination in this darkly satiric conspiracy thriller from the author of The Manchurian Candidate. It has been more than a decade since the assassination of US President Timothy Kegan, who was gunned down while riding in a motorcade through the streets of Philadelphia. The "lone gunman" responsible was arrested and convicted, and the country has moved on. President Kegan's half-brother Nick tries to move on as well—until he overhears the deathbed confession of a man who claims to have been a second shooter. Suddenly Nick's embroiled in a Kafkaesque conspiracy that stretches from Washington DC to Cuba and all the way into England's Court of St. James. He's surrounded by mobsters, oil magnates, crooked cops, religious leaders, CIA "spooks," Hollywood celebrities, and international power brokers—including the renowned Washington hostess, fixer, and femme fatale, Lola Camonte—all of whom seem intent upon doing him in. And the closer Nick comes to the startling truth about the assassination, the less he really wants to know. Winter Kills is an outrageously dark and funny take on the John F. Kennedy assassination and the conspiracy furor that followed it, from the master storyteller who brought you The Manchurian Candidate and Prizzi's Honor.

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THE WAR BETWEEN THE TATES
Alison Lurie
Cover of THE WAR BETWEEN THE TATES

THE WAR BETWEEN THE TATES

by Alison Lurie · Random House

A husband's affair pushes a suburban wife to her breaking point in this "near perfect comedy of manners" by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Real People ( The New York Times). Erica Tate wouldn't mind getting up in the morning if her children were less intolerable. Until puberty struck, Jeffrey and Matilda were absolute darlings, but in the last year, they have become sullen, insufferable little monsters. A forty-year-old housewife out of work and out of mind, she finds little happiness in the small college town of Corinth. Erica's husband, Brian, a political science professor, is so deeply immersed in university life—or more accurately in the legs of his mistress, a half-literate flower child named Wendy—that he either doesn't notice his wife's misery or simply doesn't care. Worst of all, their pleasant little neighborhood is transforming into a subdivision. As new ranch houses spring up around their once idyllic home, Erica's marriage inches closer to disaster. When the Tate household tips into full-scale emotional combat, Erica must do her best to ensure that she comes out on top. In this darkly comic tale of a family at civil war, the National Book Award–shortlisted author of Foreign Affairs dives into the deterioration of a marriage. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alison Lurie including rare images from the author's collection.

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