Best of
Non-Fiction

1951

The Origins of Totalitarianism


Hannah Arendt - 1951
    Arendt explores the institutions and operations of totalitarian movements, focusing on the two genuine forms of totalitarian government in our time—Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia—which she adroitly recognizes were two sides of the same coin, rather than opposing philosophies of Right and Left. From this vantage point, she discusses the evolution of classes into masses, the role of propaganda in dealing with the nontotalitarian world, the use of terror, and the nature of isolation and loneliness as preconditions for total domination.

A Man Called Peter: The Story of Peter Marshall


Catherine Marshall - 1951
    It is a book about love - the love between a dynamic man and his God, and the tender love between a man and the woman he married. It is also the gripping adventure of a poor Scottish immigrant who became chaplain of the United States Senate and one of the most revered men in America. A Man Called Peter became the number-one best-seller when it was published in 1951, and around the world lives were changed by reading of the chaplain's remarkable faith. In the foreword to this book, Peter's son writes, "Even when [Dad's] words were preached 'secondhand'. . . in the movie version of A Man Called Peter, they had an amazing effect on people."Through Peter's story and the compelling sermons and prayers included in A Man Called Peter, you will discover insight into God, man, and life on earth and hereafter. You will also be encouraged by the realization that "if God can do so much for a man called Peter, he can do as much for you.".

The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements


Eric Hoffer - 1951
    The True Believer -- the first and most famous of his books -- was made into a bestseller when President Eisenhower cited it during one of the earliest television press conferences. Completely relevant and essential for understanding the world today, The True Believer is a visionary, highly provocative look into the mind of the fanatic and a penetrating study of how an individual becomes one.

The Sea Around Us


Rachel Carson - 1951
    Rachel Carson's rare ability to combine scientific insight with moving, poetic prose catapulted her book to first place on The New York Times best-seller list, where it enjoyed wide attention for thirty-one consecutive weeks. It remained on the list for more than a year and a half and ultimately sold well over a million copies, has been translated into 28 languages, inspired an Academy Award-winning documentary, and won both the 1952 National Book Award and the John Burroughs Medal.This classic work remains as fresh today as when it first appeared. Carson's writing teems with stunning, memorable images--the newly formed Earth cooling beneath an endlessly overcast sky; the centuries of nonstop rain that created the oceans; giant squids battling sperm whales hundreds of fathoms below the surface; and incredibly powerful tides moving 100 billion tons of water daily in the Bay of Fundy. Quite simply, she captures the mystery and allure of the ocean with a compelling blend of imagination and expertise.Reintroducing a classic work to a whole new generation of readers, this Special Edition features a new chapter written by Jeffrey Levinton, a leading expert in marine ecology, that brings the scientific side of The Sea Around Us completely up to date. Levinton incorporates the most recent thinking on continental drift, coral reefs, the spread of the ocean floor, the deterioration of the oceans, mass extinction of sea life, and many other topics. In addition, acclaimed nature writer Ann Zwinger has contributed a brief foreword.Today, with the oceans endangered by the dumping of medical waste and ecological disasters such as the Exxon oil spill in Alaska, this illuminating volume provides a timely reminder of both the fragility and the importance of the ocean and the life that abounds within it. Anyone who loves the sea, or who is concerned about our natural environment, will want to read this classic work.

The Dam Busters


Paul Brickhill - 1951
    The Dam Busters tells the story of the raid and the squadron of fearless airmen who carried it through. Again and again, the crews of 617 Squadron Bomber Command used their flying skills, their tremendous courage and Barnes Wallis’ highly accurate bouncing bombs to deal devastating blows to Nazi Germany.One of the most daring true stories to emerge from the Second World War, Paul Brickhill’s The Dam Busters inspired the famous 1955 film starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd.

The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety


Alan W. Watts - 1951
    The Wisdom of Insecurity underlines the importance of our search for stability in an age where human life seems particularly vulnerable and uncertain. Watts argues our insecurity is the consequence of trying to be secure and that, ironically, salvation and sanity lie in the recognition that we have no way of saving ourselves.

Annapurna


Maurice Herzog - 1951
    Z99 grit and courage members of the French Alpine Club face frostbite snow blindness and near death to reach the summit of the uncharted 26493-foot Himalayan peak Annapurna

The Shetland Bus


David Howarth - 1951
    After the Germans invaded Norway, many Norwegians knew that small boats were constantly sailing from the Shetland Islands to land weapons, supplies, and agents and to rescue refugees.In The Shetland Bus, David Howarth, who was second in command of the Shetland base, recounts the hundreds of trips made by fishing boats in the dark of Arctic winter to resist the Nazi onslaught.For the Norwegians who remained in Norway, The Shetland Bus fortified them both physically and spiritually. Nothing but war would have made seamen attempt such dangerous journeys. Some stretched two thousand miles in length and lasted as long as three weeks in boats only fifty to seventy-five feet long. Fishing boats crossing the North Sea were sometimes attacked and sunk in minutes, hundreds of miles from a friendly ship or shore. Their crews had no hope of being saved. But to "take the Shetland Bus" meant escape when capture became the only other option. The Shetland Bus is the amazing true-life account of storms, attacks, danger, and the heroic efforts of brave men.

Picture


Lillian Ross - 1951
    Journalism of the Twentieth Century were chosen by the New York University Department of Journalism and a distinguished panel that included David Brinkley, Pete Hamill, Jeff Greenfield, Mary McGrory, and Morley Safer, Picture had an honored place on that list.

The Internet and Everyone


J. Christopher Jones - 1951
    In the author's words, it is 'a record of trying to think some of the unthinkables that our technologies have brought before us in this pause before the post-industrial breakfast ... '. Based on an analysis of automation (the replacement of human skills by machines, as industrialisation was the replacement of human effort), the possibilities opened up by the transmission of information by electricity, and a refuel to accept that the virtual' world is in any sense less real than the world excluding computers, Jones sees the internet as making possible an awakening from the 'frozen dreaming' of industrial life.

The Exploration of Space


Arthur C. Clarke - 1951
    Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Outline Political History of the Americas


William Z. Foster - 1951
    The book’s central purpose is thus to provide an outline that will make clear the forces that have laid the groundwork for the broad social development now taking place throughout the Americas, and, by the same token, also to indicate the progressive attitude of the peoples towards their problems and their future. This book especially bears in mind the relationship of the peoples and nations of our hemisphere to the most fundamental social process of our times; namely, to the developing general crisis and decay of world capitalism, and the birth and growth of world socialism.—from the inside flap of the dust jacket which reproduces part of the author’s preface.Includes Glossary; Maps; Reference Notes; and Index

Forged In Fury


Michael Elkins - 1951
    This book tells of the war, the people, the SS officers, the Jewish ghettos, the concentration camps, the resistance, the heroism and the horror. In particular it follows the lives of the Jewish men and women who, in 1945, formed an organization called DIN or "judgment", whose mission it was to avenge those millions of Jews murdered by the Germans.Between 1945 and 1946 DIN was responsible for over 1,000 deaths. This strange, secret organization continued to exist for more than three decades, in Europe, Israel and elsewhere. At its peak its members comprised farmers, merchants, journalists, government officials, a poet, even ministers of religion, all sharing the same voluntary and consuming task -- to hunt and kill.

Grammar Without Tears


Hugh Sykes Davies - 1951
    

The Scots


Moray McLaren - 1951
    'A Scot expounds and explains the peculiar genius of his fellow-countrymen in a general survey of their history, culture and beliefs and their contribution to the British way of life.

Our Goal and Our Guides


Clarence Elwell - 1951
    The first book, Our Goal and Our Guides, focuses on understanding our goal in life - attaining Heaven - and spiritual and doctrinal issues that are related to that goal (such as the roles of faith and reason, the liturgical year, the Blessed Trinity, the Fall, and Salvation through Christ).

Back To The Slaughterhouse and Other Ugly Moments


Ronald Searle - 1951
    

A Short History of Science: Origins and Results of the Scientific Revolution


Anonymous - 1951
    The contents were originally delivered as a series of Broadcast Talks to Sixth Forums during 1949-1950.

The National Parks: What They Mean to You and Me


Freeman Tilden - 1951
    Forward by George B. Hartzog, Jr., Director of the National Park Service.

The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man


Marshall McLuhan - 1951
    It shows how sex was first used to sell industrial hardware, how Orphan Annie still keeps the world on track, and how an Arabian Nights wonderland of mass entertainment and suggestion makes information irrelevant, and sends us to bed at night too dazed to question whether we're happy or not. We live in an age in which legions of highly educated professionals dedicate themselves to the task of getting inside the collective public mind with the object of manipulating, exploiting and controlling.

The Art of Hebrew Lettering


L.F. Toby - 1951
    

Chippewa Child Life: And Its Cultural Background


M. Inez Hilger - 1951
    Her study captures the essential details of Chippewa child life and provides a comprehensive overview of a fascinating culture.

A Child's History of Art: Architecture


V.M. Hillyer - 1951
    

The Territory : The Classic Saga of Australia's Far North


Ernestine Hill - 1951
    Based on the author's first-hand knowledge and experience, this is the result not only of years of research but of thousands of kilometres of strenuous travel. Cattle-droving over unknown wildernesses, tragic encounters with Aborigines, the efforts to establish settlements that were cut off from the world and inevitably covered by the relentless growth of vegetation, the first crossing if the continent, the building of the Overland telegraph Line, and the incredible lives of men and women of three generations - this is the stuff of the territory.

The Letters of Robert G Ingersoll


Robert G. Ingersoll - 1951
    

Italian Painting: The Rennaissance (Painting, color, history, 5)


Lionello Venturi - 1951
    

Good Taste Costs No More


Richard Gump - 1951
    Includes the business practices of the furniture design and marketing industries, and how to avoid getting manipulated by magazines and salespeople. The writer's family owned/ran a classic San Francisco department store that was already over 100 years old when the book was written. Examples of Asian art and design are thus featured as frequently as European.

Coco the Clown: by Himself


Nicolai Poliakoff - 1951