AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: The New York Public Library's Books of the Century by Elizabeth Diefendorf, Diana Bryan, New York Public Library ISBN: 0-19-511790-5 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: October, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (3 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: The most significant books of the century (1895-1995)
Comment: It is quite ironic that the New York Public Library's "Books of the Century" would work better as a web page than an actual book. The question put to the librarians was "What are the books that helped shape and define the last hundred years?" The result was a highly popular exhibit during the Library's centennial celebration in 1995 (which explains why it is not about the books of the 20th century; just real close to that). This companion volume organizes 150 pivotal works into 12 topical categories: (1) Landmarks of Modern Literature, such as Eliot's "The Waste Land" and Joyce's "Ulysses"; (2) Nature's Realm, which includes Einstein's "The Meaning of Relativity" and Carson's "Silent Spring"; (3) Protest & Progress, represented by Sinclair's "The Jungle" and Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath"; (4) Colonialism & its Aftermath, including Gahdni's "Satyagraha" and Achebe's "Things Fall Apart"; (5) Mind & Spirit, which covers both Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams" and Gibran's "The Prophet"; (6) Popular Culture & Mass Entertainment, which takes us from Stoker's "Dracula" to Wolfe's "The Bonfire of the Vanities"; (7) Women Rise, which includes Simone de Beauvoir's "The Second Sex" and Walker's "The Color Purple"; (8) Economics & Technology, which offers light reading such as Veblen's 'The Theory of the Leisure Class" and Friedman's "A Theory of Consumption Function"; (9) Utopias & Dystopias, from Wells's "The Time Machine" to Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale"; (10) War, Holocaust, Totalitarianism, which lists both Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and Spiegelman's "Maus: A Survivor's Tale"; (11) Optimism, Joy, Gentility, which includes both Brown's "Goodnight Moon" and Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird"; and (12) Favorites of Childhood and Youth, from Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" to MacLachlan's "Sarah, Plain and Tall."

This abbreviated list gives you an idea of what you will find for each category. Each section has an introduction developing the themes and issues covered in those particular books. Each title has a brief description and an argument for its significance. I tend to think that this book is probably more useful for teachers, who are trying to pick books for a unit or an entire course devoted to a particular theme, but it can also suggest books you might consider reading, especially when you notice you have already read several suggestions under a particular category. Like any and all lists, this one is debatable, although certainly it also has the virtue of consensus. The fact that it includes non-fiction, so that you have the U.N. Charter as well as "The Cat in the Hat," gives it additional validity as well. If you have heard of most of the books on this list, then you are doing pretty good, but I bet there are not too many people who can claim to have read even half of this particular list of 150 books.

Rating: 5
Summary: Charming book
Comment: It isn't fair to characterize the entries as "summaries"; they're short, to-the-point statements of why the book was/is important. I particularly liked the "Public's Choice" selections. The cutout illustrations from the exhibit are delightful!

Rating: 2
Summary: unfortunate
Comment: Wonderful book for illiterates who may need a large-type, one paragraph summary of the great books of the century. Useless for the serious book-lover. Gracias