The Time of Their Lives: The Golden Age of Great American Book Publishers, Their Editors and Authors - Hardcover

"Of course, Al Silverman is both a 'bookman' par excellence and also the ultimate publishing insider, so it almost goes without saying that he is exactly the right person to write the story of book publishing since the Second World War, in the now bygone age of independent publishers and bigger-than-life editors. With world-class total recall, a clear eye, and a nice sense of humor, he brings back to life the publishers, the authors, the agents, and the editors who have filled his life, and whose personalities, often odd and marvelous, make his book a must for anyone who loves books and the world of book publishing."---Michael Korda, author of "Charmed Lives", "Another Life, " and "Ike"

In his history of mid-century publishing, heads of houses like Alfred Knopf, Bennett Cerf of Random House, Cass Canfield of Harper's, the Doubleday fathers and sons, and the Thornhills of Little, Brown come to the fore.Along with houses that go back to the mid-1800s, Al Silverman covers publishing's post-WWII newcomers such as Roger Straus, who started Farrar, Straus in 1946, and amassed nineteen Nobel Prizes in his time; and Barney Rosset, whose Grove Press freed such banned authors as D.H. Lawrence and Henry Miller. He takes a close look at the Paperback Revolution of the 1950s and the 1960s, focusing on its two grandmasters - Victor Weybright of NAL and Oscar Dystel of Bantam. Silverman pays particular homage to the Golden Age's talented horde of editors, who offer marvellous stories about their authors.