1960S RETRO BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS!

1960's: A Decade of Change

The 1960s includes over 60 interviews, and over 25 student writings. The book tells about the lives of Vietnam veterans, housewives, college students, and hippies and their perspectives of life during a decade of change.

The 1960's were indeed a decade of change on every level of American life. Author really began pushing the envelope in earnest. Women writers found their voice as with Harper Lee's exciting novel To Kill a Mockingbird, she kicked the doors down for women writers everywhere. Women would no longer be stuck writing cooking and sewing books.

The Spy novel came to the forefront as inside information became more accessible to the masses. The readers were being informed on the inside workings of international governmental subterfuge.

The celebrity/trash novels really lept forward with the help of Jacqueline Susann and Jackie Collins wasn't that far behind...

Diet books were flying off the shelves in the 60's too. Well some things never change!

The true crime genre (television, books and films) sprang from In Cold Blood not to mention all of the True Crime writers like my favorite Ann Rule. So enjoy some of my favorites for the holidays. Cheers! Kim :)

The Godfather, Mario Puzo

The Godfather is a crime novel written by Italian-American author Mario Puzo, originally published in 1969 by G. P. Putnam's Sons. It details the story of a fictitious Sicilian Mafia family based in New York City (and Long Beach, New York) and headed by Don Vito Corleone, who became synonymous with the Italian Mafia. The novel covers the years 1945 to 1955, and also provides the back story of Vito Corleone from early childhood to adulthood.

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, John Le Carré

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), by John le Carré, is a British Cold War spy novel that became famous for its portrayal of Western espionage methods morally inconsistent with Western democracy and values. The novel received critical acclaim at the time of its publication, and became an international best-seller. The novel was selected as one of the All-Time 100 Novels by TIME Magazine. In 2006, Publishers Weekly named it the “best spy novel of all-time”

Hotel, Arthur Hailey

Hotel is a 1965 novel by Arthur Hailey. It is the story of an independent New Orleans hotel, the St. Gregory, and its management's struggle to regain profitability and avoid being assimilated into the O'Keefe chain of hotels. The St. Gregory is supposedly based on the Roosevelt Hotel.

Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann

The novel begins in New York, 1945, and chronicles the story of three young women who embark on careers that bring them to the dizzying heights of fame and eventual self-destruction. The three characters are brought together by a Broadway play called Hit The Sky. Anne Welles Neely O'Hara and Jennifer North. The three women become fast friends, and share a bond of ambition and the tendency to be involved with the wrong men.

In Cold Blood, Truman Capote

The book details the brutal 1959 murders of Herbert Clutter, a wealthy farmer from Holcomb, Kansas, his wife and two of their children. When Capote learned of the quadruple murder before the killers were captured, he decided to travel to Kansas and write about the crime.

A Thousand Days, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.

This widely-read hagiography of John F. Kennedy gives an insider's view of the administration, mixing personal detail with an account of the domestic and international politics of Kennedy's tenure. He follows John F. Kennedy from the campaign trail to the White House and eventually to the President's assassination in Dallas.

Up the Down Staircase, Bel Kaufman

Sylvia Barrett, a young idealistic English teacher at an inner-city high school who hopes to nurture her students' interest in classic literature (especially Chaucer) and writing. She quickly becomes discouraged during her first year, frustrated by petty bureaucracy (the name of the novel refers to an infraction one of her students was punished for), the indifference of her students, and the incompetence of many of her colleagues. She decides to leave public school to work in a smaller private setting. Her mind is changed, however, by the realization that she has indeed touched the lives of her students.

The Sand Pebbles, Richard McKenna

The Sand Pebbles is a gripping novel of adventure aboard a Yangtze River gunboat (The U.S.S. San Pablo) at the very moment of China's bloody awaking to its new destiny. It is the story of men, a ship, and a way of life engulfed in a tidal wave of revolution. But most of all, it is the story of Jake Holman, a tough young American sailor who finds himself caught between the perils of love and the madness of war."

The Carpetbaggers, Harold Robbins

In this novel, the territory is the movie industry, and the newcomer is a wealthy heir to an industrial fortune who, like Howard Hughes, simultaneously pursued aviation and movie making avocations.

1960's Bestseller's List