Some Bestsellers Aren't So Bad

Being a bestselling book doesn't mean that the book is worthwhile. Since the World started in 1943, when I was born, I though that you might like to see what sold in that most fateful of decades. Some of them are still really good reads. Enjoy !

1940 s BESTSELLERS

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Fiction
1. How Green Was My Valley, Richard Llewellyn
2. Kitty Foyle, Christopher Morley
3. Mrs. Miniver, Jan Struther
4. For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
5. The Nazarene, Sholem Asch
6. Stars on the Sea, F. van Wyck Mason
7. Oliver Wiswell, Kenneth Roberts
8. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
9. Night in Bombay, Louis Bromfield
10. The Family, Nina Fedorova
Non-fiction
1. I Married Adventure, Osa Johnson
2. How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler
3. A Smattering of Ignorance, Oscar Levant
4. Country Squire in the White House, John T. Flynn
5. Land Below the Wind, Agnes Newton Keith
6. American White Paper, Joseph W. Alsop Jr. and Robert Kintnor
7. New England: Indian Summer, Van Wyck Brooks
8. As I Remember Him, Hans Zinsser
9. Days of Our Years, Pierre van Paassen
10. Bet It's a Boy, Betty B. Blunt
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Fiction
1. The Keys of the Kingdom, A. J. Cronin
2. Random Harvest, James Hilton
3. This Above All, Eric Knight
4. The Sun Is My Undoing, Marguerite Steen
5. For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
6. Oliver Wiswell, Kenneth Roberts
7. H. M. Pulham, Esquire, John P. Marquand
8. Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, Isabel Scott Rorick
9. Saratoga Trunk, Edna Ferber
10. Windswept, Mary Ellen Chase
Non-fiction
1. Berlin Diary, William L. Shirer
2. The White Cliffs, Alice Duer Miller
3. Out of the Night, Jan Valtin
4. Inside Latin America, John Gunther
5. Blood, Sweat and Tears, Winston S. Churchill
6. You Can't Do Business with Hitler, Douglas Miller
7. Reading I've Liked, Clifton Fadiman, editor
8. Reveille in Washington, Margaret Leech
9. Exit Laughing, Irvin S. Cobb
10. My Sister and I, Dirk van der Heide
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Fiction
1. The Song of Bernadette, Franz Werfel
2. The Moon Is Down, John Steinbeck
3. Dragon Seed, Pearl S. Buck
4. And Now Tomorrow, Rachel Field
5. Drivin' Woman, Elizabeth Pickett
6. Windswept, Mary Ellen Chase
7. The Robe, Lloyd C. Douglas
8. The Sun Is My Undoing, Marguerite Steen
9. Kings Row, Henry Bellamann
10. The Keys of the Kingdom, A. J. Cronin
Non-fiction
1. See Here, Private Hargrove, Marion Hargrove
2. Mission to Moscow, Joseph E. Davies
3. The Last Time I Saw Paris, Elliot Paul
4. Cross Creek, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
5. Victory Through Air Power, Major Alexander P. de Seversky
6. Past Imperfect, Ilka Chase
7. They Were Expendable, W. L. White
8. Flight to Arras, Antoine de St. Exupéry
9. Washington Is Like That, W. M. Kiplinger
10. Inside Latin America, John Gunther
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Fiction
1. The Robe, Lloyd C. Douglas
2. The Valley of Decision, Marcia Davenport
3. So Little Time, John P. Marquand
4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
5. The Human Comedy, William Saroyan
6. Mrs. Parkington, Louis Bromfield
7. The Apostle, Sholem Asch
8. Hungry Hill, Daphne du Maurier
9. The Forest and the Fort, Hervey Allen
10. The Song of Bernadette, Franz Werfel
Non-fiction
1. Under Cover, John Roy Carlson
2. One World, Wendell L. Willkie
3. Journey Among Warriors, Eve Curie
4. On Being a Real Person, Harry Emerson Fosdick
5. Guadalcanal Diary, Richard Tregaskis
6. Burma Surgeon, Lt. Col. Gordon Seagrave
7. Our Hearts Were Young and Gay, Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough
8. U. S. Foreign Policy, Walter Lippmann
9. Here Is Your War, Ernie Pyle
10. See Here, Private Hargrove, Marion Hargrove
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Fiction
1. Strange Fruit, Lillian Smith
2. The Robe, Lloyd C. Douglas
3. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
4. Forever Amber, Kathleen Winsor
5. The Razor's Edge, W. Somerset Maugham
6. The Green Years, A. J. Cronin
7. Leave Her to Heaven, Ben Ames Williams
8. Green Dolphin Street, Elizabeth Goudge
9. A Bell for Adano, John Hersey
10. The Apostle, Sholem Asch
Non-fiction
1. I Never Left Home, Bob Hope
2. Brave Men, Ernie Pyle
3. Good Night, Sweet Prince, Gene Fowler
4. Under Cover, John Roy Carlson
5. Yankee from Olympus, Catherine Drinker Bowen
6. The Time for Decision, Sumner Welles
7. Here Is Your War, Ernie Pyle
8. Anna and the King of Siam, Margaret Landon
9. The Curtain Rises, Quentin Reynolds
10. Ten Years in Japan, Joseph C. Grew
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Fiction
1. Forever Amber, Kathleen Winsor
2. The Robe, Lloyd C. Douglas
3. The Black Rose, Thomas B. Costain
4. The White Tower, James Ramsey Ullman
5. Cass Timberlane, Sinclair Lewis
6. A Lion Is in the Streets, Adria Locke Langley
7. So Well Remembered, James Hilton
8. Captain from Castile, Samuel Shellabarger
9. Earth and High Heaven, Adria Locke Langley
7. So Well Remembered, James Hilton
8. Captain from Castile, Samuel Shellabarger
9. Earth and High Heaven, Gwethalyn Graham
10. Immortal Wife, Irving Stone
Non-fiction
1. Brave Men, Ernie Pyle
2. Dear Sir, Juliet Lowell
3. Up Front, Bill Mauldin
4. Black Boy, Richard Wright
5. Try and Stop Me, Bennett Cerf
6. Anything Can Happen, George and Helen Papashvily
7. General Marshall's Report, U.S. War Department General Staff
8. The Egg and I, Betty MacDonald
9. The Thurber Carnival, James Thurber
10. Pleasant Valley, Louis Bromfield
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Fiction
1. The King's General, Daphne du Maurier
2. This Side of Innocence, Taylor Caldwell
3. The River Road, Frances Parkinson Keyes
4. The Miracle of the Bells, Russell Janney
5. The Hucksters, Frederic Wakeman
6. The Foxes of Harrow, Frank Yerby
7. Arch of Triumph, Erich Maria Remarque
8. The Black Rose, Thomas B. Costain
9. B. F.'s Daughter, John P. Marquand
10. The Snake Pit, Mary Jane Ward
Non-fiction
1. The Egg and I, Betty MacDonald
2. Peace of Mind, Joshua L. Liebman
3. As He Saw It, Elliott Roosevelt
4. The Roosevelt I Knew, Frances Perkins
5. Last Chapter, Ernie Pyle
6. Starling of the White House, Thomas Sugrue and Col. Edmund Starling
7. I Chose Freedom, Victor Kravchenko
8. The Anatomy of Peace, Emery Reves
9. Top Secret, Ralph Ingersoll
10. A Solo in Tom-Toms, Gene Fowler
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Fiction
1. The Miracle of the Bells, Russell Janney
2. The Moneyman, Thomas B. Costain
3. Gentleman's Agreement, Laura Z. Hobson
4. Lydia Bailey, Kenneth Roberts
5. The Vixens, Frank Yerby
6. The Wayward Bus, John Steinbeck
7. House Divided, Ben Ames Williams
8. Kingsblood Royal, Sinclair Lewis
9. East Side, West Side, Marcia Davenport
10. Prince of Foxes, Samuel Shellabarger
Non-fiction
1. Peace of Mind, Joshua L. Liebman
2. Information Please Almanac, 1947, John Kieran, editor
3. Inside U.S.A., John Gunther
4. A Study of History, Arnold J. Toynbee
5. Speaking Frankly, James F. Byrnes
6. Human Destiny, Pierre Lecomte du Noüy
7. The Egg and I, Betty MacDonald
8. The American Past, Roger Butterfield
9. The Fireside Book of Folk Songs, Margaret B. Boni, editor
10. Together, Katharine T. Marshall
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Fiction
1. The Big Fisherman, Lloyd C. Douglas
2. The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer
3. Dinner at Antoine's, Frances Parkinson Keyes
4. The Bishop's Mantle, Agnes Sligh Turnbull
5. Tomorrow Will Be Better, Betty Smith
6. The Golden Hawk, Frank Yerby
7. Raintree County, Ross Lockridge Jr.
8. Shannon's Way, A. J. Cronin
9. Pilgrim's Inn, Elizabeth Goudge
10. The Young Lions, Irwin Shaw
Non-fiction
1. Crusade in Europe, Dwight D. Eisenhower
2. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, Dale Carnegie
3. Peace of Mind, Joshua L. Liebman
4. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, A. C. Kinsey, et al.
5. Wine, Women and Words, Billy Rose
6. The Life and Times of the Shmoo, Al Capp
7. The Gathering Storm, Winston Churchill
8. Roosevelt and Hopkins, Robert E. Sherwood
9. A Guide to Confident Living, Norman Vincent Peale
10. The Plague and I, Betty MacDonald
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Fiction
1. The Egyptian, Mika Waltari
2. The Big Fisherman, Lloyd C. Douglas
3. Mary, Sholem Asch
4. A Rage to Live, John O'Hara
5. Point of No Return, John P. Marquand
6. Dinner at Antoine's, Frances Parkinson Keyes
7. High Towers, Thomas B. Costain
8. Cutlass Empire, Van Wyck Mason
9. Pride's Castle, Frank Yerby
10. Father of the Bride, Edward Streeter
Non-fiction
1. White Collar Zoo, Clare Barnes Jr.
2. How to Win at Canasta, Oswald Jacoby
3. The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton
4. Home Sweet Zoo, Clare Barnes Jr.
5. Cheaper by the Dozen, Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
6. The Greatest Story Ever Told, Fulton Oursler
7. Canasta, the Argentine Rummy Game, Ottilie H. Reilly
8. Canasta, Josephine Artayeta de Viel and Ralph Michael
9. Peace of Soul, Fulton J. Sheen
10. A Guide to Confident Living, Norman Vincent Peale