TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Nonfiction

Week of August 3, 1947

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
INSIDE U.S.A.
John Gunther
Cover of INSIDE U.S.A.

INSIDE U.S.A.

by John Gunther · Harper

26 wks at #1 · 8 on list

John Gunther's 'Inside' series were among the most popular books of reportage in the 1930s and 1940s. For 'Inside U.S.A., ' Gunther set out from California and traveled the entire country. His frank, lucid observations along the way -- on race relations, labor, the Tennessee Valley Authority, farm life, the politics of the big cities, and much else -- yield fascinating insight into life many years ago. Now on the brink of the millennium, this fiftieth anniversary edition of 'Inside U.S.A.' provides an invaluable picture of America as it was then, both for those old enough to remember it and for young people who may be astonished to see the ways the country has changed.

3
A STUDY OF HISTORY
Arnold Toynbee
Cover of A STUDY OF HISTORY

A STUDY OF HISTORY

by Arnold Toynbee · Oxford University Press

17 wks on list

Arnold Toynbee's A Study of History has been acknowledged as one of the greatest achievements of modern scholarship. A ten-volume analysis of the rise and fall of human civilizations, it is a work of breath-taking breadth and vision. D.C. Somervell's abridgement, in two volumes, of this magnificent enterprise, preserves the method, atmosphere, texture, and, in many instances, the very words of the original. Originally published in 1947 and 1957, these two volumes are themselves a great historical achievement. Volume 1, which abridges the first six volumes of Toynbee's study, includes the Introduction, The Geneses of Civilizations, and The Disintegrations of Civilizations. Volume 2, an abridgement of Volumes VII-X, includes sections on Universal States, Universal churches, Heroic Ages, Contacts Between Civilizations in Space, Contacts Between Civilizations in Time, Law and Freedom in History, The Prospects of the Western Civilization, and the Conclusion. Of Somervell's work, Toynbee wrote, "The reader now has at his command a uniform abridgement of the whole book, made by a clear mind that has not only mastered the contents but has entered into the writer's outlook and purpose."

7
1
HOME COUNTRY
Ernie Pyle
Cover of HOME COUNTRY

HOME COUNTRY

by Ernie Pyle · Sloane

7 wks on list
9
MODERN WOMAN
Ferdinand Lundberg and Marynia F. Farnham

MODERN WOMAN

by Ferdinand Lundberg and Marynia F. Farnham · Harper

12 wks on list

Discusses the sociological and psychological context of American women in the post World War II era.

16
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JUDGE LANDIS AND 25 YEARS OF BASEBALL
J. G. Taylor Spink
Cover of JUDGE LANDIS AND 25 YEARS OF BASEBALL

JUDGE LANDIS AND 25 YEARS OF BASEBALL

by J. G. Taylor Spink · Crowell

1 wks on list

Judge Landis and 25 Years of Baseball, first published in 1947, is a look at the career of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a federal judge and professional baseball's first commissioner, who served in that position for 25 years until his death in 1944. The book, authored by J. G. Taylor Spink, editor of the influential The Sporting News, also serves as a history of major league baseball at that time - the team owners, the players, the legal battles, and the scandals (including the infamous "Black Sox" scandal). Judge Landis's decisive actions and iron rule over the game were largely responsible for restoring public confidence in the sport. Included are 5 pages of photographs.

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