Best of
American

1949

The Lottery and Other Stories


Shirley Jackson - 1949
    "Power and haunting," and "nights of unrest" were typical reader responses. This collection, the only one to appear during Shirley Jackson's lifetime, unites "The Lottery:" with twenty-four equally unusual stories. Together they demonstrate Jackson's remarkable range--from the hilarious to the truly horrible--and power as a storyteller.

Sexus


Henry Miller - 1949
    His searing fictionalized autobiography of this time of liberation was banned for nearly twenty years. Sexus, the first volume in The Rosy Crucifixion trilogy, looks back to his early sexual escapades in Brooklyn, and his growing infatuation with the playful, teasing dance hall hostess who will become the great obsession of his life.

The Bending Cross: A Biography of Eugene Victor Debs


Ray Ginger - 1949
    This moving story presents the definitive account of the life and legacy of the most eloquent spokesperson and leader of the U.S. labor and socialist movements.With a new introduction by Mike Davis.

The Thread That Runs So True


Jesse Stuart - 1949
    With eloquence & wit, Stuart traces his 20 year career in education, which began, when he was only seventeen years old, with teaching grades 1 through 8 in a one-room schoolhouse. Before long Stuart was on a path that made him principal & finally superintendent of city & county schools. The road was not smooth, however, & Stuart faced many challenges, from students who were considerably older- & bigger- than he to well-meaning but distrustful parents, uncooperative administrators, & most daunting, his own fear of failure. Through it all, Stuart never lost his abiding faith in the power of education. A graceful ode to what he considered the greatest profession there is, Jesse Stuart's The Thread That Runs So True is timeless proof that good teaching is forever and the teacher is immortal.

Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln


Abraham Lincoln - 1949
    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

The Pisan Cantos


Ezra Pound - 1949
    Imprisoned for some weeks in a wire cage open to the elements, Pound suffered a nervous collapse from the physical and emotional strain. Out of the agony of his own inferno came the eleven cantos that became the sixth book of his modernist epic, The Cantos, themselves conceived as a Divine Comedy for our time. The Pisan Cantos were published in 1948 by New Directions and in the following year were awarded the Bollingen Prize for poetry by the Library of Congress. The honor came amid violent controversy, for the dark cloud of treason still hung over Pound, incarcerated in St. Elizabeths Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Yet there is no doubt that The Pisan Cantos displays some of his finest and most affecting writing, marking an elegaic turn to the personal while synthesizing the philosophical and economic political themes of his previous cantos. They are now being published for the first time as a separate paperback, in a fully annotated edition prepared by Richard Sieburth, who also contributes a thoroughgoing introduction, making Pound's master-work fully accessible to students and general readers.

A Tree of Night and Other Stories


Truman Capote - 1949
    In this collection of short stories the author of In Cold Blood explores worlds of fear and doubt: the menacing Deep South, the impenetrable private realms of childhood -- beautiful yet frightening.The book features a total of eight short stories: "Master Misery" "Children on Their Birthdays" "Shut a Final Door" "Jug of Silver" "Miriam" "The Headless Hawk" "My Side of the Matter" "A Tree of Night"

The House of Breath


William Goyen - 1949
    The House of Breath eschews traditional conventions of plot and character presentation. The book is written as an ethereal address to the people and places the narrator remembers from his childhood in a small Texas town. More than a story, it is a meditation on the nature of identity, origins, and memory.

Southern Politics In State and Nation


V.O. Key Jr. - 1949
    O. Key's classic remains the most influential book on its subject. Its author, one of the nation's most astute observers, drew on more than five hundred interviews with Southerners to illuminate the political process in the South and in the nation.Key's book explains party alignments within states, internal factional competition, and the influence of the South upon Washington. It also probes the nature of the electorate, voting restrictions, and political operating procedures. This reprint of the original edition includes a new introduction by Alexander Heard and a profile of the author by William C. Havard."A monumental accomplishment in the field of political investigation."—Hodding Carter, New York Times"The raw truth of southern political behavior." —C. Vann Woodward, Yale Review"[This book] should be on the 'must' list of any student of American politics."—Ralph J. Bunche    V.O. Key (1908-1963) taught political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and at Johns Hopkins, Yale, and Harvard universities. He was president of the American Political Science Association and author of numerous books, including American State Politics: An Introduction (1956); Public Opinion and American Democracy (1961); and The Responsible Electorate (1966).

The Asphalt Jungle


W.R. Burnett - 1949
    Set amid a seedy urban wasteland of crooks, killers and con-artists, the various members of the gang are steadily undone by personal obsessions, double-crossing and cruel fate.First published in 1949, W.R. Burnett's hardboiled classic was made into the definitive heist movie by John Huston in 1950, starring Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe and Marilyn Monroe. Its screenplay, co-written by Huston was nominated for an Oscar.A master and pioneer of the gangster genre, W.R. Burnett is the author of over thirty novels - including Little Caesar and High Sierra - and sixty screenplays. He was twice nominated for Academy Awards.

Point of No Return


John P. Marquand - 1949
    While waiting for the fateful decision, Gray returns to the small Massachusetts town where he grew up, to try to find out how he has reached this point, and to decide which way to go.

The Fireside Cook Book: A Complete Guide to Fine Cooking for Beginner and Expert


James Beard - 1949
    It is for those who recognize that a simple family meal (as well as a dress-up dinner party) can be a pleasure and a special event.The wide variety of I-can't-wait-to-try-it dishes in the book are presented according to a new and different theory. You will find here no attempt to overwhelm the cook with all the recipes ever concocted. Instead, you will find clear, easy-to-follow instructions for the basic preparation of every food, followed in each case by fascinating variations. The basic recipes and variations add up to 1,217 tested dishes -- simple enough for the novice, delicious enough for the most meticulous master chef, complete enough for the most imaginative menus without a repetition.A detailed chapter is devoted to the art of outdoor cookery, another to the preparation of hors d'oeuvres, cocktail snacks, and supper snacks. There is an entire section of suggested menus subdivided into cold weather meals and summer doldrum hints. There is also a complete section on wines and liquors.The 36 full-color pictures and the nearly 400 other color pictures are themselves full of helpful invention. Handsome double-page spreads employ visual-aid methods to give practical details about, and special uses of, cuts of meat, varieties of wine, and types of fish.Here, in short, is a book that is an indispensable addition to every American home in which good food is appreciated. It is a book to use constantly, to pore over with delight, and give to all friends from whom you can reasonably expect a future dinner invitation.

The Portable Sherwood Anderson


Sherwood Anderson - 1949
    

Amazon Adventure


Willard Price - 1949
    Someone sends an anonymous telegram, so John returns. Alone, the boys face hostile natives, dangerous rapids and wild animals, and a hunchback with bloodshot eyes.

Halfway to Freedom


Margaret Bourke-White - 1949
    With plates, including portraits, and an endpaper map.

Selected Federalist Papers


Alexander Hamilton - 1949
    These far-reaching essays, which comprise a masterful exposition and defense of the proposed federal system of government and of the Constitution's carefully designed system of checks and balances, are today considered a keystone of American democracy. Their continuing relevance was demonstrated by the frequent references to Paper No. 65, "On Impeachments," during the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton.This volume contains 35 of the most famous and important pieces, including ones that deal with "dangers from foreign arms and influence"; with the need for a federal government able to raise revenues through taxation; with the creation of an electoral college; with freedom of the press and the inadvisability of a bill of rights; with the three-fifths rule for counting slaves; with the objectives and powers of the judiciary; and much else. Of lasting value and interest to students of American history and government, this carefully chosen selection will also fascinate any general reader curious about the history of the Constitution and the beginnings of American federalism.