BVBook Verdict

By decade

Books of the 1950s

Post-war literature found new subjects: the absurd, the empire, the suburbs. Beckett, Nabokov, Salinger, Murdoch. A decade that made difficulty into prestige. 73 titles in the catalogue from this decade.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis · 1950 Essential Read Get it on Amazon →
Foundation Isaac Asimov · 1951 Essential Read Get it on Amazon →
The End of the Affair Graham Greene · 1951 Essential Read Get it on Amazon →
Charlotte's Web E.B. White · 1952 Editor's Choice See details →
Invisible Man Ralph Ellison · 1952 Essential Read See details →
Wise Blood Flannery O'Connor · 1952 Essential Read See details →
East of Eden John Steinbeck · 1952 Essential Read See details →
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury · 1953 Essential Read See details →
The Crucible Arthur Miller · 1953 Essential Read See details →
Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett · 1953 Essential Read See details →
The Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien · 1954 Essential Read See details →
The Quiet American Graham Greene · 1955 Essential Read See details →
Pedro Paramo Juan Rulfo · 1955 Essential Read See details →
Giovanni's Room James Baldwin · 1956 Essential Read See details →
Long Day's Journey Into Night Eugene O'Neill · 1956 Essential Read See details →
On the Road Jack Kerouac · 1957 Essential Read See details →
The Haunting of Hill House Shirley Jackson · 1959 Essential Read See details →
A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Hansberry · 1959 Essential Read See details →
The Tin Drum Gunter Grass · 1959 Essential Read See details →
I, Robot Isaac Asimov · 1950 Recommended See details →
The Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury · 1950 Recommended See details →
The Story of Art Ernst Gombrich · 1950 Recommended See details →
A history of the English-speaking peoples Winston S. Churchill · 1950 Recommended See details →
The Return of the King J.R.R. Tolkien · 1950 Recommended See details →
A Murder Is Announced Agatha Christie · 1950 Recommended See details →
Principles of internal medicine Tinsley Randolph Harrison · 1950 Recommended See details →
The Human Use of Human Beings Norbert Wiener · 1950 Recommended See details →
The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger · 1951 Recommended See details →
The Origins of Totalitarianism Hannah Arendt · 1951 Recommended See details →
Imperialism [and] Social classes; two essays Joseph Alois Schumpeter · 1951 Recommended See details →
American wildlife & plants Alexander Campbell Martin · 1951 Recommended See details →
The Caine mutiny Herman Wouk · 1951 Recommended See details →
Sozialgeschichte der Kunst und Literatur Arnold Hauser · 1951 Recommended See details →
Round the Bend Nevil Shute · 1951 Recommended See details →
Annapurna-conquest of the first 8000 metre peak Maurice Herzog · 1951 Recommended See details →
The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway · 1952 Recommended See details →
Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis · 1952 Recommended See details →
Go Tell It on the Mountain James Baldwin · 1952 Recommended See details →
The Power of Positive Thinking Norman Vincent Peale · 1952 Recommended See details →
Rashomon and other stories Ryūnosuke Akutagawa · 1952 Recommended See details →
The natural Bernard Malamud · 1952 Recommended See details →
Casino Royale Ian Fleming · 1953 Recommended See details →
The Art of Eating M.F.K. Fisher · 1954 Recommended See details →
The Practice of Management Peter F. Drucker · 1954 Recommended See details →
Histoire d'O Dominique Aury · 1954 Recommended See details →
Live and let die Ian Fleming · 1954 Recommended See details →
Lord of the Flies William Golding · 1954 Recommended See details →
Alanna Tamora Pierce · 1954 Recommended See details →
Lolita Vladimir Nabokov · 1955 Recommended See details →
The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith · 1955 Recommended See details →
A Good Man Is Hard to Find Flannery O'Connor · 1955 Recommended See details →
The Chrysalids John Wyndham · 1955 Recommended See details →
The End of Eternity Isaac Asimov · 1955 Recommended See details →
Tristes Tropiques Claude Lévi-Strauss · 1955 Recommended See details →
Dead Man's Folly Agatha Christie · 1956 Recommended See details →
The Art of Loving Erich Fromm · 1956 Recommended See details →
Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies C. S. Forester · 1956 Recommended See details →
Breakfast at Tiffany's Truman Capote · 1956 Recommended See details →
4:50 from Paddington Agatha Christie · 1957 Recommended See details →
From Russia, with love Ian Fleming · 1957 Recommended See details →
The amateur astronomer Patrick Moore · 1957 Recommended See details →
The affluent society John Kenneth Galbraith · 1958 Recommended See details →
The Human Condition Hannah Arendt · 1958 Recommended See details →
Mystery Ranch Gertrude Chandler Warner · 1958 Recommended See details →
Emil Nolde Emil Nolde · 1958 Recommended See details →
The Ugly American William J. Lederer · 1958 Recommended See details →
Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe · 1958 Recommended See details →
This is my God Herman Wouk · 1959 Recommended See details →
Mathilda Mary Shelley · 1959 Recommended See details →
Naked Lunch William S. Burroughs · 1959 Recommended See details →
Hustler (Alpha Books) Walter S. Tevis · 1959 Recommended See details →
The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner Alan Sillitoe · 1959 Recommended See details →
Arabian sands Wilfred Thesiger · 1959 Recommended See details →

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