Best of
Fiction

1948

A Perfect Day for Bananafish


J.D. Salinger - 1948
    D. Salinger, originally published in the January 31, 1948 issue of The New Yorker. It was anthologized in 1949's 55 Short Stories from The New Yorker, as well as in Salinger's 1953 collection, Nine Stories.

Christ Recrucified


Nikos Kazantzakis - 1948
    A group of refugees, fleeing from the ruins of their plundered homes, arrive asking for protection - and suddenly the drama of the Passion becomes reality.

King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian


Marguerite Henry - 1948
    Upon his heel was a small white spot, the symbol of speed. But on his chest was the symbol of misfortune. Although he was as swift as the desert winds, Sham's proud pedigree would be scorned all his life by cruel masters and owners.This is the classic story of Sham and his friend, the stable boy Agba. Their adventures take them from the sands of the Sahara to the royal courts of France and, finally, to the green pastures and stately homes of England. For Sham was the renowned "Godolphin Arabian" whose blood flows through the veins of almost every superior Thoroughbred. Sham's speed-like his story-has become legendary.

The Little World of Don Camillo


Giovannino Guareschi - 1948
    In this period the Italian Communist Party is very strong, but the Second World War and fascism are still vividly remembered. Boscaccio has a communist mayor named Peppone. He wants to realise the communist ideals, and the Roman Catholic priest Don Camillo is desperately trying to prevent this. But despite their different views these men can count on each other in the fight against social injustice and abuses.

The Young Lions


Irwin Shaw - 1948
    Told from the points of view of a perceptive young Nazi, a jaded American film producer, and a shy Jewish boy just married to the love of his life, Shaw conveys, as no other novelist has since, the scope, confusion, and complexity of war.

No Longer Human


Osamu Dazai - 1948
    In consequence, he feels himself "disqualified from being human" (a literal translation of the Japanese title).Donald Keene, who translated this and Dazai's first novel, The Setting Sun, has said of the author's work: "His world … suggests Chekhov or possibly postwar France, … but there is a Japanese sensibility in the choice and presentation of the material. A Dazai novel is at once immediately intelligible in Western terms and quite unlike any Western book." His writing is in some ways reminiscent of Rimbaud, while he himself has often been called a forerunner of Yukio Mishima.Cover painting by Noe Nojechowiz, from the collection of John and Barbara Duncan; design by Gertrude Huston

The Secret of the Mansion


Julie Campbell - 1948
    But then a millionaire's daughter moves into the next-door mansion, an old miser hides a fortune in his decrepit house, and a runaway kid starts hiding out in Sleepyside!"

The Chestry Oak


Kate Seredy - 1948
    Young Michael of Hungary carries an acorn all the way from his castle home in Chestry Valley to the warm soil of the Hudson Valley farm in the USA where he makes a new home after WWII.It was difficult to decide which are the most unforgettable; the scenes in Hungary, Michael's proud, valiant father and his beloved Nana, or the friendly young GI and his family who take Michael to their hearts and make him their own.Perhaps the most compelling character of all is Midnight, the dancing black stallion, full of fire and beauty, and trained to perform before princes.Kate Seredy's drawings make this a book to treasure.

Adán Buenosayres


Leopoldo Marechal - 1948
    Employing a range of literary styles and a variety of voices, Leopoldo Marechal parodies and celebrates Argentina's most brilliant literary and artistic generation, the martinfierristas of the 1920s, among them Jorge Luis Borges. First published in 1948 during the polarizing reign of Juan Perón, the novel was hailed by Julio Cortázar as an extraordinary event in twentieth-century Argentine literature. Set over the course of three break-neck days, Adam Buenosayres follows the protagonist through an apparent metaphysical awakening, a battle for his soul fought by angels and demons, and a descent through a place resembling a comic version of Dante's hell. Presenting both a breathtaking translation and thorough explanatory notes, Norman Cheadle captures the limitless language of Marechal's original and guides the reader along an unmatched journey through the culture of Buenos Aires. This first-ever English translation brings to light Marechal's masterwork with an introduction outlining the novel's importance in various contexts - Argentine, Latin American, and world literature - and with notes illuminating its literary, cultural, and historical references. A salient feature of the Argentine canon, Adam Buenosayres is both a path-breaking novel and a key text for understanding Argentina's cultural and political history.

The Lottery


Shirley Jackson - 1948
    Everything has been prepared for the town’s annual tradition—a lottery in which every family must participate, and no one wants to win. “The Lottery” stands out as one of the most famous short stories in American literary history. Originally published in The New Yorker, the author immediately began receiving letters from readers who demanded an explanation of the story’s meaning. “The Lottery” has been adapted for stage, television, radio and film.

The Adventurer


Mika Waltari - 1948
    Fictional tale of a young Finnish man, Mikael Karvajalka, set in 16th century medieval Europe.

Light from Heaven


Christmas Carol Kauffman - 1948
    Work was first, Mishaps were dealt with harshly. Praise was a foreign language. The family suffered cruel scorn, rejection, and deprivation. All the while, Bennet Armstrong hypocritically portrayed himself to others as flawlessly pious.Thankfully, a devout mother bridged the gap, loving her children, telling them Bible stories, teaching them to respect their father, and praying fervently for their safety and salvation.Annie Armstrong's prayers were heard.Joseph came to trust his kind heavenly Father who helped him love and forgive and rise above his circumstances to a life of purpose and peace.This story, sometimes heartrending, sometimes heartening, points to the one true hope for all man's miseries -- Jesus Christ, the true...

The Ark


Margot Benary-Isbert - 1948
    Verduz’ house on Parsley Street were an unbelievable stroke of luck. No matter that every stick of furniture and even the cracked dishes were borrowed from a grudging but kind landlady, that food was so scarce they were nearly always hungry, that Matthias, loving the stars and growing things, was assigned to construction work by the Labor Office. Now that there was a roof over their heads, Joey and Andrea could attend school, and perhaps Father, if he was still alive, would find his way to them from the prison camp in Russia.It was a makeshift arrangement at best, but somehow Mother made the cheerless rooms homelike, and soon there were good friends⁠—lovable, half wild Hans Ulrich who treasure hunted with Joey in the ruins of bombed out houses; musical Dieter; and plump, cheerful Lenchen⁠—to share their meager but merry Christmas celebration. Only shy, lonely Margaret, who felt that half herself had died with her twin brother Christian in East Germany, made no special friend, unless one counted Caliph, Mrs. Verduz’ cat. But eventually it was Margaret’s love of animals that led her to sprightly Mrs. Almut and Rowan Farm and, before the next Christmas, Matthias had exchanged his hated job for the hard but satisfying work of the farm. Margaret, too, happily caring for Mrs. Almut’s Great Danes, was beginning to understand the inexorable cycle of life and death, and the Ark, an old railroad car on the farm converted into a home, was ready to receive a reunited family.The Ark paints an honest, realistic picture of the terrible aftermath of war in a defeated country. Most of all, it is the story of courage⁠—the courage of real people who, caught up in the adversity that shattered their lives, can still look at the future with hope and at the past without bitterness.

Autumn Term


Antonia Forest - 1948
    Twins Nicola and Lawrie arrive at their new school determined to do even better than their distinguished elder sisters, but things don't turn out quite as planned.

Snow Dog


Jim Kjelgaard - 1948
    Left alone inthe snow-covered land oof the coyote, caribou, and gizzly, Chiri learned to fend for himself, to hunt and survive by his keen instinct and natural intelligence. Now full-grown and full of courage and cunning, Chiri forms a tentative bond with trapper Link Stevens, the only human he's ever learned to trust. But the Husky knows that one day soon he will have to face the black wolf again--and this time only one of them will survive.

The Big Fisherman


Lloyd C. Douglas - 1948
    Sheltering the King's well-guarded domain, a mile above and a dozen miles east of the Dead Sea, motionless masses of neighbourly white clouds hung suspended from a remote blue ceiling. There had been an unusually heavy snowfall in the winter, not only upon the King's land but throughout the country. It was going to be a prosperous season for everybody. Intertribal jangling and discontent would be reduced to a minimum.

The Case of Comrade Tulayev


Victor Serge - 1948
    In this panoramic vision of the Soviet Great Terror, the investigation leads all over the world, netting a whole series of suspects whose only connection is their innocence—at least of the crime of which they stand accused. But The Case of Comrade Tulayev, unquestionably the finest work of fiction ever written about the Stalinist purges, is not just a story of a totalitarian state. Marked by the deep humanity and generous spirit of its author, the legendary anarchist and exile Victor Serge, it is also a classic twentieth-century tale of risk, adventure, and unexpected nobility to sit beside Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls and André Malraux's Man's Fate.

The Makioka Sisters


Jun'ichirō Tanizaki - 1948
    As told by Junichiro Tanizaki, the story of the Makioka sisters forms what is arguably the greatest Japanese novel of the twentieth century, a poignant yet unsparing portrait of a family–and an entire society–sliding into the abyss of modernity.Tsuruko, the eldest sister, clings obstinately to the prestige of her family name even as her husband prepares to move their household to Tokyo, where that name means nothing. Sachiko compromises valiantly to secure the future of her younger sisters. The unmarried Yukiko is a hostage to her family’s exacting standards, while the spirited Taeko rebels by flinging herself into scandalous romantic alliances. Filled with vignettes of upper-class Japanese life and capturing both the decorum and the heartache of its protagonist, The Makioka Sisters is a classic of international literature.

From the City, from the Plough


Alexander Baron - 1948
    Although fictional, it comes directly out of the author's own experience and is regarded as one of the most accurate and unsentimental portrayals of the ordinary soldier's life anywhere in fiction. First published in 1948, there have been enthusiastic endorsements from soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, confirming Baron's uncanny knack of capturing the soldier's experience.

Twice 22: The Golden Apples of the Sun / A Medicine for Melancholy


Ray Bradbury - 1948
    CONTENTSTHE GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUNThe Fog HornThe PedestrianThe April WitchThe WildernessThe Fruit at the Bottom of the BowlInvisible BoyThe Flying MachineThe MurdererThe Golden Kite, The Silver WindI See You NeverEmbroideryThe Big Black And White GameA Sound Of ThunderThe Great Wide World Over TherePowerhouseEn La NocheSun And ShadowThe MeadowThe Garbage CollectorThe Great FireHail And FarewellThe Golden Apples Of The SunA MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLYIn The Season Of Calm WeatherThe DragonA Medicine For MelancholyThe End Of The BeginningThe Wonderful Ice Cream SuitFever DreamThe Marriage MenderThe Town Where No One Got OffA Scent of SarsaparillaIcarus Montgolfier WrightThe HeadpieceDark They Were, And Golden-EyedThe SmileThe First Night of LentThe Time Of Going AwayAll Summer In A DayThe GiftThe Great Collision of Monday LastThe Little MiceThe Shoreline At SunsetThe Strawberry WindowThe Day It Rained Forever

City Boy


Herman Wouk - 1948
    A hilarious and often touching tale of an urban kid's adventures and misadventures on the street, in school, in the countryside, always in pursuit of Lucille, a heartless redhead personifying all the girls who torment and fascinate pubescent lads of eleven.

My Glorious Brothers


Howard Fast - 1948
    Simon, the oldest of five brothers, chronicles the transformation from farmers to soldiers of the five Maccabee brothers and of their struggle for freedom against the Syrian-Greek conquerers of Judea, in a historical novel that recreates the events celebrated by Jews during the holiday of Hanukkah.

Black Margins


Saadat Hasan Manto - 1948
    Imagine the craftsmanship to explain an idea in one line. These stories that encompass a line or a paragraph are called Siyah Hashiye.

Time Will Darken It


William Maxwell - 1948
    Pregnant with her second child, Martha King finds her marriage to lawyer Austin King more and more frustrating when her husband befriends his young foster cousin, Nora, and, in the process, unwittingly jeopardizes his marriage, career, and place in the community.

Tales of Horror & the Supernatural


Arthur Machen - 1948
    The Great God Pan. The White People. Fourteen Stories! Over 500 pages. From the beginning of his literary career, Machen espoused a mystical belief that the humdrum ordinary world hid a more mysterious and strange world beyond. His gothic and decadent works of the 1890s concluded that the lifting of this veil could lead to madness, sex, or death, and usually a combination of all three. Machen's later works became somewhat less obviously full of gothic trappings, but for him investigations into mysteries invariably resulted in life-changing transformation and sacrifice. Machen loved the medieval world view because he felt it combined deep spirituality alongside a rambunctious earthiness. Machen's strong opposition to a materialistic viewpoint is obvious in many of his works, marking him as part of neo-romanticism. He was deeply suspicious of science, materialism, commerce, and Puritanism, all of which were anathema to Machen's conservative, bohemian, mystical, and ritualistic temperament.Contents:N (1936)Out of the Earth (1915)The Bowmen (1914)The Bright Boy (1936)The Children of the Pool (1936)The Great God Pan (1894)The Great Return (1915)The Happy Children (1920)The Inmost Light (1894)The Novel of the Black Seal (1895)The Novel of the White Powder (1895)The Shining Pyramid (1895)The Terror (1916)The White People (1904)

Family Roundabout


Richmal Crompton - 1948
    We are shown the matriarchs around whom their families spin; but whether they direct their children gently or forcefully, in the end they have to accept them as they are.

One Arm and Other Stories


Tennessee Williams - 1948
    It was this book which established Williams as a short story writer of the same stature and interest he had shown as a dramatist. Each story has qualities that make it memorable. In “One Arm” we live through his last hours and memories with a 'rough trade" ex-prizefighter who is awaiting execution for murder. "The Field of Blue Children" explores some of the strange ways of the human heart in love, "Portrait of a Girl in Glass" is a luminous and nostalgic recollection of characters who figure in "The Glass Menagerie," while "Desire and the Black Masseur" is an excursion into the logic of the macabre. "The Yellow Bird," well known through the author's recorded reading of it, which tells of a minister's daughter who found a particularly violent but satisfactory way of expiating a load of inherited puritan guilt, may well become part of American mythology.

Twelve O'Clock High!


Beirne Lay Jr. - 1948
    They were cut by losses, weakened by endless bombing missions, but they were going back to battle...and Savage was no arm-chair pilot-he was going to lead the attack!

Spring Fever


P.G. Wodehouse - 1948
    Ellery Cobbold has sent his son Stanwood, a blundering ex-American football player, to London, to separate him from Hollywood starlet Eileen Stoker with whom he is in love. When Cobbold discovers that Stoker is also in London, making pictures, he insists that Stanwood goes to stay with a distant relation, curmudgeonly widower Lord Shortlands.Spring Fever is a novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published on 20 May 1948, in the United Kingdom by Herbert Jenkins, London and in the United States by Doubleday and Co, New York. Although not featuring any of Wodehouse's regular characters, the cast contains a typical Wodehousean selection of English aristocrats, wealthy Americans, household staff and imposters.

I Capture the Castle


Dodie Smith - 1948
    By the time the last diary shuts, there have been great changes in the Mortmain household, not the least of which is that Cassandra is deeply, hopelessly, in love.

Half a Lifelong Romance


Eileen Chang - 1948
    Shen Shijun, a young engineer, has fallen in love with his colleague, the beautiful Gu Manzhen. He is determined to resist his family's efforts to match him with his wealthy cousin so that he can marry the woman he truly loves. But dark circumstances--a lustful brother-in-law, a treacherous sister, a family secret--force the two young lovers apart. As Manzhen and Shijun go on their separate paths, they lose track of one another, and their lives become filled with feints and schemes, missed connections and tragic misunderstandings. At every turn, societal expectations seem to thwart their prospects for happiness. Still, Manzhen and Shijun dare to hold out hope--however slim--that they might one day meet again. A glamorous, wrenching tale set against the glittering backdrop of an extraordinary city, Half a Lifelong Romance is a beloved classic from one of the essential writers of twentieth-century China"--

Peony


Pearl S. Buck - 1948
    The novel follows Peony, a Chinese bondmaid of the prominent Jewish family of Ezra ben Israel's, and shows through her eyes how the Jewish community was regarded in Kaifeng at a time when most of the Jews had come to think of themselves as Chinese.

Late Have I Loved Thee


Ethel Mannin - 1948
    

The Specialty of the House and Other Stories: The Complete Mystery Tales, 1948-1978


Stanley Ellin - 1948
    'The House Party' and 'The Blessington Method' subsequently both won Edgar Awards. Stanley Ellin, who was made a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America in 1980, is acknowledged as one of the great masters of the 20th-century short story, and this volume brings together the best of his work in the genre.

Benya Krik, the Gangster and Other Stories


Isaac Babel - 1948
    A protege and friend of Maxim Gorky, Babel came to prominence in the early 1920's with the publication of Red Cavalry, but as Stalin's repressive regime made the position of the creative writer increasingly difficult during the next decade, Babel published less and less. In 1939, he was arrested, and his papers, which were seized by the police, vanished with him. The charge against him is not known. A certificate delivered to the family shortly after Stalin died gives March 17, 1941, as the data of Babel's death, but mentions neither its cause nor where it had occurred. He was "rehabilitated" in 1954. His complete works were re-issued in Moscow in 1957.

Letters from a Lost Uncle


Mervyn Peake - 1948
    Lost in the frozen polar wastes, an explorer writes a journal of his extraordinary exploits, preparing to send it to the nephew he has never seen.

Still Glides the Stream


Flora Thompson - 1948
    

Touchdown Pass


Clair Bee - 1948
    Now, today's youth can follow the adventures of Chip Hilton, the sports-loving hero who will capture their hearts and direct them toward developing solid character, lasting values, and keen athletic skills.

The Trial / America / The Castle / Metamorphosis / In the Penal Settlement / The Great Wall of China / Investigations of a Dog / Letter to His Father / The Diaries, 1910–23: Complete & Unabridged


Franz Kafka - 1948
    This volume contains the great works of fiction as well as the complete diaries and thus gives the reader considrable insight into the mind of this strange and powerful man.

A Treasury of Science Fiction


Groff Conklin - 1948
    Heard, Lewis Padgett, Robert Heinlein, Murray Leinster, A. E. Van Vogt, Arthur Clarke, and many others. Edited by the master of early science fiction anthologies, Groff Conklin.Contents:vii · Introduction · Groff Conklin · in · Part One: The Atom and After 3 · The Nightmare · Chan Davis · nv Astounding May ’46 19 · Tomorrow’s Children · Poul Anderson & F. N. Waldrop · nv Astounding Mar ’47 40 · The Last Objective · Paul Carter · nv Astounding Aug ’46 62 · Loophole · Arthur C. Clarke · ss Astounding Apr ’46 67 · The Figure · Edward Grendon · ss Astounding Jul ’47 · Part Two: The Wonders of Earth 75 · The Great Fog · H. F. Heard · ss The Great Fog and Other Weird Tales, Vanguard, 1944 85 · The Chrysalis · P. Schuyler Miller · ss Astounding Apr ’36 97 · Living Fossil · L. Sprague de Camp · ss Astounding Feb ’39 110 · N Day · Philip Latham · ss Astounding Jan ’46 · Part Three: The Superscience of Man 129 · With Folded Hands... [Humanoids] · Jack Williamson · nv Astounding Jul ’47 164 · No Woman Born · C. L. Moore · nv Astounding Dec ’44 201 · With Flaming Swords · Cleve Cartmill · nv Astounding Sep ’42 234 · Children of the “Betsy B” · Malcolm Jameson · ss Astounding Mar ’39 · Part Four: Dangerous Inventions 247 · Child’s Play · William Tenn · nv Astounding Mar ’47 268 · The Person from Porlock · Raymond F. Jones · nv Astounding Aug ’47 286 · Juggernaut · A. E. van Vogt · ss Astounding Aug ’44 294 · The Eternal Man [Herbert Zulerich] · D. D. Sharp · ss Science Wonder Stories Aug ’29 · Part Five: Adventures in Dimension 303 · Mimsy Were the Borogoves · Lewis Padgett · nv Astounding Feb ’43 329 · Time and Time Again · H. Beam Piper · ss Astounding Apr ’47 342 · Housing Shortage · Harry Walton · ss Astounding Jan ’47 358 · Flight of the Dawn Star · Robert Moore Williams · ss Astounding Mar ’38 369 · Vintage Season [by Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore] · Lawrence O’Donnell · na Astounding Sep ’46 · Part Six: From Outer Space 407 · Of Jovian Build · Oscar J. Friend · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Oct ’38 418 · Wings Across the Cosmos · Polton Cross · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Jun ’38 429 · The Embassy · Martin Pearson · ss Astounding Mar ’42 435 · Dark Mission · Lester del Rey · ss Astounding Jul ’40 · Part Seven: Far Traveling 451 · The Ethical Equations · Murray Leinster · ss Astounding Jun ’45 464 · It’s Great to Be Back! · Robert A. Heinlein · ss The Saturday Evening Post Jul 26 ’47 476 · Tools · Clifford D. Simak · nv Astounding Jul ’42 496 · Rescue Party · Arthur C. Clarke · nv Astounding May ’46

Young Mrs. Savage


D.E. Stevenson - 1948
    After his death, life is hard, fighting back loneliness and eking out a meager pension. So when her brother Dan, newly demobbed from the Navy, arrives to whisk them away to the seaside, Dinah can at last find peace - and, when she least expects it, love.

The Nine Brides And Granny Hite


Neill Compton Wilson - 1948
    Nine women meet weekly at Granny Hite's house to work on bridal quilts.

Genius Loci and Other Tales


Clark Ashton Smith - 1948
    In this collection there are tales of Hyperborea, Zothique, Averoigne, Atlantis, Xiccarph, and other vanished worlds of Smith's unparalleled creation. Here are such unforgettable tales as Vulthoom, The Colossus of Ylourgne, The Charnel God, The Black Abbot of Puuthuum, The Weaver in the Vault, and others.None strikes the note of cosmic horror as well as Clark Ashton Smith. In sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Smith is perhaps unexcelled by any other writer, dead or living - H.P. LovecraftHe had a monstrously vivid imagination, a keenly ironic sense of humour, and an uninhibited bent for the macabre. - L. Sprague de CampCover illustration by Brice Pennington

Tammy Out of Time


Cid Ricketts Sumner - 1948
    

Remembrance Rock


Carl Sandburg - 1948
    A saga, chronicle, and miscellany on folk themes, it is Sandburg's passionate testament of American life.

The Murder of Roger Akroyd


Agatha Christie - 1948
    

The Ides of March


Thornton Wilder - 1948
    Through imaginary letters and documents, Wilder brings to life a dramatic period of world history and one of its magnetic personalities.In this novel, the Caesar of history becomes Caesar the human being as he appeared to his family, his legions, his Rome, and his empire in the months just before his death. In Wilder’s inventive narrative, all Rome comes crowding through his pages. Romans of the slums, of the villas, of the palaces, brawling youths and noble ladies and prostitutes, and the spies and assassins stalking Caesar in his Rome.

The Golden Warrior


Hope Muntz - 1948
    Who was to succeed King Edward? From the welter of political cross-currents, rivalries, violence and intrigue set up by this question, the two dominating figures of the novel emerge - Earl Harold and Duke William of Normandy. The issue was decided at the Battle of Hastings. With her stirring account of the battle and of the invasion threat which preceded it,

The Burnished Blade


Lawrence Schoonover - 1948
    Among the onlookers at that terrible spectacle was Pierre, a frightened boy whom Hugh, the armourer, had rescued that morning on the road outside Rouen. Under Hugh's tutelage, Pierre learns the closely guarded secrets of the armourer's trade. But he is destined not to use them...

River of the Wolves


Stephen W. Meader - 1948
    

The Hearth and Eagle


Anya Seton - 1948
    In one of her most ambitious novels, Anya Seton here created one of her most memorable heroines, and one of her most varied tales.

The Song of the Flea


Gerald Kersh - 1948
    with this book Mr Kersh has taken a big step forward.' Sunday Times'[Kersh] has a remarkable talent... he is one of the comparatively few living novelists in this country who write with energy and originality and whose ideas are not drawn from a residuum of novels that have been written before... [The Song of the Flea] is the story of John Pym, a young man trying to earn his living as a writer... Mr Kersh draws on his picturesque and convincing knowledge of human vileness in a manner which is both entertaining and instructive.' Times Literary Supplement.

The Best of Clarence Day, Including: God and My Father / Life With Father / Life With Mother / This Simian World / and Selections from Thoughts Without Words


Clarence Day Jr. - 1948
    

Sleigh Bells for Windy Foot


Frances Frost - 1948
    The count down 'till Christmas begins, and Toby must juggle his obligations to his family and his desire to become a great artist.

Stories from Every Land


The University Society - 1948
    

Cheaper by the Dozen


Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. - 1948
    Translated into more than fifty languages, Cheaper by the Dozen is the unforgettable story of the Gilbreth clan as told by two of its members. In this endearing, amusing memoir, siblings Frank Jr. and Ernestine capture the hilarity and heart of growing up in an oversized family.Mother and Dad are world-renowned efficiency experts, helping factories fine-tune their assembly lines for maximum output at minimum cost. At home, the Gilbreths themselves have cranked out twelve kids, and Dad is out to prove that efficiency principles can apply to family as well as the workplace. The heartwarming and comic stories of the jumbo-size Gilbreth clan have delighted generations of readers, and will keep you and yours laughing for years.

The Heart of the Matter


Graham Greene - 1948
    But when he’s passed over for a promotion as commissioner of police, the humiliation hits hardest for his wife, Louise. Already oppressed by the appalling climate, frustrated in a loveless marriage, and belittled by the wives of more privileged officers, Louise wants out. Feeling responsible for her unhappiness, Henry decides against his better judgment to accept a loan from a black marketeer to secure Louise’s passage. It’s just a single indiscretion, yet for Henry it precipitates a rapid fall from grace as one moral compromise after another leads him into a web of blackmail, adultery, and murder. And for a devout man like Henry, there may be nothing left but damnation.

The Great Midland


Alexander Saxton - 1948
    It was published in 1948, when cold-war hysteria engulfed the United States; the publisher subsequently tried to pretend the book did not exist, and review media and bookstores ignored it. The book vividly depicts the multiracial and multiethnic alliances that developed as Chicago railroad workers struggled to organize. It presents some of its narrative through the complex consciousness of Stephanie Koviak, a young, first-generation Polish-American.

Ticktock and Jim


Keith Robertson - 1948
    Meadows. "Since we are the only men around the place, it looks as if you're elected." "O.K. I'll stay. I don't mind," Jim answered cheerfully, if not too accurately. He did mind very much. "I'm sure everything will be safe with you," continued Mr. Meadows as he climbed in the car. "Oh, I'll take care of things," said Jim nonchalantly. He watched the car drive off. His father, mother and sister Jean were all going into town for the afternoon while he stayed at home alone. He felt rather proud that his father had called him a man, but that didn't make up for the disappointment of not going with them. He went over to sit on the edge of the front porch, where he forlornly kicked his heels against the lattice work. It was a beautiful spring day with a warm sun shining, but Jim was in no mood to appreciate the wonders of nature. His small brown face looked very mournful as he sat there feeling sorry for himself. Something exciting was certain to happen in town, and he would miss it. He wondered how long the family had been gone now. Jumping up, he ran inside the house and returned with a large gold watch. "Quarter past one," he said aloud. Doubtfully, he held the watch to his ear. "Ticktock, ticktock," came the answer. It seemed impossible that it was only a quarter past one; it would be almost four hours before the family returned. Although it was a form of treason to doubt that watch, Jim peered through the kitchen door to compare it with the kitchen clock. The watch was right. It promised to be a long dismal afternoon.

Twentieth Century Detective Stories


Ellery Queen - 1948
    StriblingThe man who murdered in public Roy VickersCabin B-13 John Dickson CarrThe stripper Anthony BoucherChallenge to the reader Hugh PentecostThe missing Shakespeare Ms. Lillian de la TorreMother, may I go out to swim? Patrick QuentinDouble exposure Ben HechtLaugh it off Charlotte ArmstrongThe case of the irate witness Erle Stanley GardnerBy his own hand Rex StoutMiracles do happen Ellery QueenBlonde beauty slain Cornell WoolrichAlternate title: Ellery Queen's Twentieth Century Detective Stories

Pictures, Stories, and Music


The University Society - 1948
    Volume 4 of The Bookshelf for Boys and Girls.

No Highway


Nevil Shute - 1948
    When a passenger plane crashes in Newfoundland under unexplained circumstances, Honey is determined to prove his unorthodox theory about what went wrong to his superiors, before more lives are lost. But while flying to the crash scene to investigate, Honey discovers to his horror that he is on board one of the defective planes and that he and his fellow passengers, including a friendly young stewardess and an aging movie actress, are in imminent peril.

The Long Escape


David Dodge - 1948
    Al Colby, an American expatriate working as a private investigator in Mexico City, is contacted by an old acquaintance in Los Angeles who hands him a cold case involving a missing person. Robert Parker’s mysterious disappearance is tying up a family fortune and is enraging his abandoned wife who can’t tap the family coffers without proof of death. The case sounded routine enough, right up his alley, but the trail for the missing Mr. Parker leads Colby down a rabbit hole winding through a number of South American countries, each one a dead end. Running out of funds and clean shirts, Colby is ready to throw in the towel, but the stakes are too high and his client fuels the search with additional cash. The deeper Colby digs the more entangled he becomes in a decades old mystery of misplaced loyalties, family secrets and riches in nitrate ore. In between tequila shots and beautiful women, Al Colby has a case that drags him in deeper with each step.  But can he piece it all together before the quicksand swallows him whole?

The Secret of Dead Man's Cove - The Further Adventures of The Young Detectives


R.J. McGregor - 1948
    

Joe Magarac and His U.S.A. Citizen Papers


Irwin Shapiro - 1948
    Steel in Braddock, Pennsylvania, is forced by a mill boss to gain U.S. citizenship or go back to the Old Country,

Inside Kasrilevke


Sholom Aleichem - 1948
    It is written in the form of a guidebook to the author's small, legendary home town, revisited after years in the great world. The growing town has streetcars ("Where do we start?" "Today"). It has hotels ("But if it isn't just so, don't blame me"). It has restaurants, bars, a theater ("The one and only Adler from America"). But before these monstrous modernities befell the author, they had befallen the townspeople themselves, whose survival had come to depend on an indignant acceptance of indignity from fellow man and, let it be whispered, from God Himself.Ben Shahn's delightful drawings are not mere illustrations of incidents and a way of life; the people of the town are realized and project themselves off the page.

One Clear Call I.


Upton Sinclair - 1948
    The covers the climax to World War Two in 1943 and 1944 as Lanny continues in his role as Presidential Agent 103 to FDR. Lanny uses his art expertise and connections while traveling throughout Europe and the Middle East buying masterpieces and reselling them to rich Americans. His clients in Europe include both Reichsmarschall (among a dozen or so titles) Hermann Goring and Adolph Hitler, a.k.a., Adi Schicklgruber, former picture post card artist This volume presents Lanny in the position of attempting to delude the Nazi's into where the Allied invasion is going to be. The Allies have determined Normandy as the entry point to the invasion of Germany to destroy the Third Reich. For almost twenty years Lanny has enjoyed the confidence of Hitler and for over a dozen years with Goring by posing as a Nazi sympathizer. He has been able to accomplish this through his boyhood friend, and his mother's former lover, Kurt Meissner. Meissner is thought to be a great Komponist and is close to Hitler. However Lanny has never had much contact with the infamous Heinrich Himler, head of the dreaded Gestapo. After the many years deceiving the Nazi's, Himmler finally discovers the true purposes of Lanny's intimacies with the Nazi leadership. Lanny's half sister, Marceline, the famous dancer who has run off with a German officier, warns Lanny to get out of Germany, and fast. The ensuing struggle by Lanny to evade the Gestapo is the most dangerous of his many exploits up to this point. Using his underground resistance connections, which he has funded and nurtured for so many years, He tries escaping by car but is forced into abandoning that method and is forced to literally beg for food and sleeps in barns and in the forests. It is one of the most exciting adventures written by Upton in the entire series. His eventual (you knew he would) freedom is secured as the Allies take Italy city by city and bombing German cities relentlessly.All of the dreams of Hitler are coming apart, day by day. There is a mutiny among the highest levels of the military to assassinate him that is tantalizing. The real German military consider Hitler an incompetent and believe (rightfully) that he has destroyed the Motherland and the hopes of the German people for decades to come. The plot is explosive and comes very close to reaching the desired end. After D Day, Lanny is commissioned as an Honorary Captain in the US Army. He is put in charge of a large number of American art experts charged with capturing all of the art that the Nazi's have stolen over the years and returning it to the rightful owners. At this same time, the irrepressible Laurel Creston, Mrs. Lanny Budd, decides to come to Europe as a commissioned officer and writer for the military press. In addition to capturing and organizing the millions of dollars of paintings and other artwork, Lanny is asked to be an interrogator for the military. Due to his German fluency, he interviews top German prisoners including General Emil Meissner, Kurt's older brother. And in a truly fabulous scene, Lanny and the profane General Patton have an extended conversation about taking Paris back from the Germans before going on to Germany. This chapter is a must read and one not to be forgotten.There are so many more exciting sub plots in One Clear Call. I have loved each and every book in this epic narrative historical series; One Clear Call culminates the beginning of the end for the Nazi's and the Fascists. For each reader who has longed for the fall of Hitler and the Nazi's and the reuniting of France you will enjoy this book tremendously.Please visit our website coming soon at: www.uptonsinclair-lannybudd-completeh.... There you can order any or all of the Lanny Budd series books at 20%, 25% and 30% off with free shipping.

Long After Summer


Robert Nathan - 1948
    He enjoys his long summers spent on Cape Cod. Having long since abandoned the “deeper feelings” of youth, his solitary life is altered when JOHANNA, a lonely teenage girl, is sent to care for him during a sudden illness. Johanna is a timid and utterly lonely orphan, sent to live with her relatives on a temporary basis. She blossoms under the tutelage of our narrator, learning for the first time about friendship, tenderness, and love. She even begins a wonderfully sweet and innocent romance with a local boy her age. Eventually, tragedy strikes when the boy dies in a boating accident. Our Narrator watches with growing concern as Johanna lives in a state of denial, reliving the events of the summer, backward, in her own mind. As he and a well-intentioned local priest struggle to help her, our narrator realizes that his true feelings for Johanna run much deeper. Esteemed author, Robert Nathan has woven a heartfelt story of innocence, tragedy, and, his most popular theme, the enduring power of love.About the Author: Author of such revered books as PORTRAIT OF JENNIE, THE BISHOP’S WIFE, MR. WHITTLE AND THE MORNING STAR, and STONECLIFF, Robert Nathan was born in New York City in 1894 and was educated at private schools in the United States and Switzerland. While attending Harvard University where he was a classmate with E.E. Cummings, Nathan was an editor of the Harvard Monthly, in which his first stories and poems appeared.While at Cambridge, Nathan also found the time to become an accomplished cellist, a lightweight boxer, and Captain of the fencing team. After leaving college, Mr. Nathan devoted his time exclusively to writing until his passing in 1985. Early on, Nathan’s work strengthened his reputation with both the public and peers. F. Scott Fitzgerald once referred to Robert Nathan as his favorite writer. During this period, the legendary Louis B. Mayer contracted him to Hollywood to become a screenwriter. Nathan ultimately didn’t enjoy the experience, though the movie industry continually craved his work. Five of his novels have been made into films.The aforementioned “Portrait of Jennie” and “The Bishop’s Wife,” as well as “One More Spring,” “Wake Up and Dream” (from the novel “The Enchanted Voyage”) and “Color of Evening.” Robert Nathan was the author of over fifty volumes of novels, poetry, and plays, and from this body of distinguished work he acquired a reputation as a master of satiric fantasy unique in American Letters. In the twilight of his career he was known as “The Dean of Author’s,” since many prominent writers including Irving Stone and Irving Wallace sought out Nathan’s guidance. A member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters for fifty years, Mr. Nathan called both Cape Cod and California home. Happily, his last fifteen years were spent in the companionship of his wife, English born actress, Anna Lee.

Classics Illustrated 54 of 169 : Man in the Iron Mask


Classics Illustrated - 1948
    Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication in 1941 and finished its first run in 1971, producing 169 issues. Following the series' demise, various companies reprinted its titles.The first five titles were published irregularly under the banner "Classic Comics Presents" while issues six and seven were published under the banner "Classic Comics Library" with a ten-cent cover price. Arabian Nights (issue 8), illustrated by Lillian Chestney, is the first issue to use the "Classics Comics" banner.With the fourth issue, The Last of the Mohicans, in 1942, Kanter moved the operation to different offices and the corporate identity was changed to the Gilberton Company, Inc.. Reprints of previous titles began in 1943. Wartime paper shortages forced Kanter to reduce the 64-page format to 56 pages.

Robert And The Embarrassing Secret


Barbara Seuling - 1948
    

Todd's Odd Day (Phonics Tales!)


Maria Fleming - 1948
    Each engaging story features a phonics riddle and a motivating phonics cheer to reinforce learning.

The World is a Wedding


Delmore Schwartz - 1948
    

Fair Wind To Java


Garland Roark - 1948
    

Golden Stories and Fables (The Bookshelf for Boys and Girls Vol. 2)


The University Society - 1948
    Volume 2 of The Bookshelf for Boys and Girls.

The Blowtop


Alvin Schwartz - 1948
    Blackmur and Gertrude Stein. He wrote critical pieces for other little mags including Ken Giniger's Lion & Unicorn, while his poetry and criticism also appeared in such places as Voices, The American Scholar and American Imago.Caught in the depression, he turned to writing comics for a living and was soon scripting the two leading newspaper strips of the day, Batman and Superman. He was often described as having a double identity, like Superman, his comics writing extending all the way to the creation of two best-selling Superman Operettas at a time when The Blowtop, his first novel, was being described in the NY Times as probably the first conscious existentialist novel in America.Schwartz's close friendships with many of the leading abstract expressionist painters, including Pollock and DeKooning among others, as well as contacts with some of the leading French existentialists such as Simon de Beauvoir and Jean Wahl also marked his work and led eventually to publication of The Blowtop in France (Les Editions de l"Elan Paris 1950) where under the title of Le Cingli, it became a best seller. His most recent book, written in his eighties, entitled: An Unlikely Prophet, is a memoir dealing with some very off-the-wall experiences generated by his years doing not only Superman but the mix of literary genres that followed. Described by some critics as offering a new and exciting vision of reality, this late work also leans very heavily on insights firstintimated in his seminal early work, The Blowtop, lending credence to the likelihood that the latter's cult role at Columbia University may very well have set a direction for Allen Ginsburg and Jack Kerouac who were Columbia undergrads at the time.

In the Absence of Angels


Hortense Calisher - 1948
    A collection of short stories that are elegant and poignant protraits of individuals searching for their purpose in life.