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The Modern Library, a current division of Random House publishers, was founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright. It was bought in 1925 by Bennett Cerf. Random House began in 1927 as a subsidiary of the Modern Library, but eventually became the parent company. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... // Random House is a publishing house based in New York City. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... Horace Liveright (1884 – September 1933) was an American publisher and stage producer. ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bennett Cerf on Whats My Line?, 1962 Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 - August 27, 1971) was a publisher and co-founder of Random House, also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearances lecturing across the United States, and for his television appearances... Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Recent history

The Modern Library originally published only hardbound books (beginning in 1917). In 1950 it began publishing the Modern Library College Editions, a forerunner of their current series of paperback classics. From 1955 to 1960 they published a quality numbered paperback series but discontinued it in 1960, when the series was folded into the newly acquired Vintage paperbacks group. Their homepage says: Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1992, on the occasion of the Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House embarked on an ambitious project to refurbish the series. We revived the torchbearer emblem that Cerf and Klopfer commissioned in 1925 from Lucian Bernhard. The Promethean bearer of enlightenment (known informally around the old Modern Library offices as the "dame running away from Bennett Cerf") was redesigned several times over the years, most notably by Rockwell Kent.

Today's Modern Library proudly displays the Bernhard colophon and endpapers, but everything else is new - we've designed new jackets and created new bindings; worn out type has been reset; out-of-date introductions have been replaced, translations scrutinized, titles added, and a line of Modern Library paperbacks has been launched, including Science, Food, Exploration, The Movies, Humor and Wit, and War. A Board of prominent thinkers advises us on selections, and our readers are participating as never before in the workings of the Modern Library via this website's Reading Guide Center and Suggest a Title link and 100 Best polls for the best novels and nonfiction of the 20th century. [1]

In 1998, novelist David Ebershoff became the Modern Library's new Publishing Director. Ebershoff ran the imprint until 2005, stepping down to concentrate on his own writing and to become editor-at-large at Random House. Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ... Cerf can refer to: Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), a United Nations fund created by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to aid regions threatened by starvation and other disasters. ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lucian Bernhard was a German graphic designer, type designer, professor, interior designer, and artist during the first half of the twentieth century. ... Rockwell Kent photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1933 Rockwell Kent (1882-1971), an American artist was born in Tarrytown, New York, was well educated in art. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... Explorer redirects here. ... For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as part of... Look up Humour in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Wit in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see War (disambiguation). ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... David Ebershoff is an American-born writer, editor, and teacher. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... // Random House is a publishing house based in New York City. ...

In September 2000 the Modern Library launched a newly designed Paperback Classics series. Six new titles are published in the series on the second Tuesday of each month. Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ...

Modern Library lists

The Modern Library identified itself at its onset as "The Modern Library of the World's Best Books". In trying to keep with that identity, they made a list of what they called "100 best novels and non-fiction books of the 20th century" in 1998; an unscientific web poll to gather public opinion on the same was also conducted. The list was actually restricted to works in English, but the title of the list was not modified to reflect this, and little attention was paid to the fact in publicity for the list. The top ten books from both lists in each category are shown below. According to an article about the list in the New York Times, An open access poll is a type of opinion poll in which participants are self-selected. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

Executives at Random House said they hoped that as the century drew to a close their list would encourage public debate about the greatest works of fiction of the last hundred years, thus both increasing awareness of the Modern Library and stimulating sales of novels the group publishes. [2]

The lists have drawn heavy criticism. Their ranking system concerned many professional scholars and critics. The board members themselves, who did not create the rankings and were unaware of it until the list was published, expressed disappointment and puzzlement [3]. There are only eight or nine women on the list, some highly influential works are ranked below works of questionable literary merit, and the works of major writers from many English-speaking countries apart from the USA and England - such as Australia, India, Canada, Sri Lanka and South Africa - have been ignored.^{[citation needed]} There were also hypotheses that the Modern Library merely made a selection based on its stocklist.^{[citation needed]} A. S. Byatt, the well known English novelist who was on the board, called the list "typically American." Literary Merit a written text has Liteary Merit if it is a work of quality, that is if it has some aesthetic value. ... For A. Byatt, the director of French documentary films, see Andy Byatt. ...

The list was compiled via approval voting, by sending each board member a list of 440 pre-selected books from the Modern Library catalogue and asking each member to place a check beside novels they wished to choose. Then the works with the most votes were ranked the highest, and ties were broken arbitrarily by Random House publishers. This explains surprising results like the #5 placement of Brave New World, which most of the judges agreed belonged somewhere on the list, but much lower than the very top. On an approval ballot, the voter can vote for any number of candidates. ... For other uses, see Brave New World (disambiguation). ...

Board selections

Best 20th century novels

1. Ulysses by James Joyce
2. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
4. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
6. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
7. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
8. Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
9. Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence
10. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

In 1998 the Modern Library created a list of what are, in their opinion, the 100 best novels published since 1900. ... Ulysses is a novel by James Joyce, first serialized in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on February 2, 1922, in Paris. ... This article is about the writer and poet. ... This article is about the novel. ... Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American Jazz Age author of novels and short stories. ... A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a semi-autobiographical novel by James Joyce, first serialized in The Egoist from 1914 to 1915 and published in book form in 1916. ... This article is about the writer and poet. ... Lolita (1955) is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov. ... Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Набо́ков, pronounced ) (April 22 [O.S. April 10] 1899, Saint Petersburg – July 2, 1977, Montreux) was a Russian-American, Academy Award nominated author. ... For other uses, see Brave New World (disambiguation). ... Aldous Leonard Huxley (July 26, 1894 – November 22, 1963) was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. ... The Sound and the Fury is a Southern Gothic novel written by American author William Faulkner, which makes use of the stream of consciousness narrative technique pioneered by European authors such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. ... William Cuthbert Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American novelist and poet whose works feature his native state of Mississippi. ... Catch 22 can refer to: A book by Joseph Heller, or the movie based on the book; see Catch-22. ... Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American satirical novelist and playwright. ... Darkness at Noon is the most famous novel by Hungarian-born British novelist Arthur Koestler. ... Arthur Koestler (September 5, 1905, Budapest – March 3, 1983, London) was a Hungarian polymath who became a naturalized British subject. ... Sons and Lovers is a novel written by D.H. Lawrence. ... D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 - 2 March 1930) was one of the most important, certainly one of the most controversial, English writers of the 20th century, who wrote novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, and letters. ... This article is about the novel. ... For other members of the family, see Steinbeck (disambiguation). ...

Best 20th century non-fiction

1. The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams
2. The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James
3. Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington
4. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
5. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
6. Selected Essays, 1917-1932 by T. S. Eliot
7. The Double Helix by James D. Watson
8. Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
9. The American Language by H. L. Mencken
10. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes

The Modern Library List of 100 Best Nonfiction Books published in the 20th Century was published in 1998, chosen by the Modern Library Editorial Board. ... The Education of Henry Adams records the struggle of Bostonian Henry Adams (1838-1918), in early old age, to come to terms with the dawning 20th century, so different from the world of his youth. ... Henry Adams Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian, journalist and novelist. ... The Varities of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature is a work by William James. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Up From Slavery is the 1901 autobiography of Booker T. Washington detailing his slow and steady rise from a slave child during the Civil War, to the difficulties and obstacles he overcame to get an education at the new Hampton University, to his work establishing vocational schools (most notably the... Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author and leader of the African American community. ... A Room of Ones Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. ... For the American writer, see Virginia Euwer Wolff. ... Silent Spring is a book written by Rachel Carson and published by Houghton Mifflin in September 1961. ... Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist and nature writer whose writings are often credited with launching the global environmental movement. ... Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965), was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. ... James Watson The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA is an autobiographical account of the discovery of structure of DNA. It was written by James D. Watson and published in 1968. ... James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA. Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic... Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (Russian: Владимир Владимирович Набоков; pronounced: vlah-DEE-meer nah-BAWK-awf) (April 10 O.S. [April 22 N.S.], 1899 - July 2, 1977) was a Russian-American author. ... Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Набо́ков, pronounced ) (April 22 [O.S. April 10] 1899, Saint Petersburg – July 2, 1977, Montreux) was a Russian-American, Academy Award nominated author. ... The American Language is H. L. Menckens 1919 book about changes Americans had made to the English Language. ... H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (September 12, 1880, Baltimore – January 29, 1956, Baltimore), was a journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a student of the American English. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and conform with our NPOV policy, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Keynes redirects here. ...

Reader selections

Best 20th century novels

Best 20th century non-fiction

1. Objectivism: the Philosophy of Ayn Rand by Leonard Peikoff
2. 101 Things to do 'Til the Revolution by Claire Wolfe
3. The God of the Machine by Isabel Paterson
4. Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life by Michael Paxton
5. The Ultimate Resource by Julian Lincoln Simon
6. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
7. Send in the Waco Killers by Vin Suprynowicz
8. More Guns, Less Crime by John R. Lott

David Ebershoff, the Modern Library division's publishing director, stated in a follow-up "the people who were drawn to go to the Modern Library Web site and compelled to vote have a certain enthusiasm about books and their favourite books that many people don't, so that the voting population is skewed." [4] In other words, he believed that it was an insecure web poll, probably because of the success of Rand and Hubbard, especially Mission Earth, which is considered by many to be one of the worst science fiction novels ever published. (In addition, people were allowed to vote repeatedly, once per day, making the poll a measure of how much effort people would put into promoting their favorite books.) Others have been more direct in their descriptions of the results; librarian Robert Teeter remarks that the ballot boxes were "stuffed by cultists." [5], as Scientology is a non-mainstream religion, and some have described Ayn Rand's following as cult-like. (The Reader's List in a way criticizes itself, with the inclusion of Darrell Huff's How to Lie with Statistics in the best non-fiction category.) Objectivism is the philosophical system developed by Russian-American philosopher and writer Ayn Rand. ... Leonard Peikoff circa 1970 Leonard Peikoff (born 1933) is an Objectivist philosopher and author. ... Claire Wolfe is a survivalist-libertarian author and columnist. ... Isabel Bowler Paterson (January 22, 1886, Manitoulin Island Canada -- 1961) was a journalist, literary critic, author, and libertarian advocate. ... The Ultimate Resource is a 1981 book written by Julian Lincoln Simon challenging the notion that humanity was running out of natural resources. ... This article is about the economist Julian Simon. ... Economics in One Lesson is an introduction to free-market economics written by Henry Hazlitt in 1946, based on Frederic Bastiats essay Ce quon voit et ce quon ne voit pas (What is Seen and What is Not Seen). ... Henry Hazlitt (November 28, 1894 - July 8, 1993) was a libertarian philosopher, economist and journalist for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Newsweek, among other publications. ... Vin Suprynowicz is a libertarian columnist who lives in Las Vegas and writes for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. ... John R. Lott Jr. ... John R. Lott Jr. ... David Ebershoff is an American-born writer, editor, and teacher. ... Darrell Huff (July 15, 1913 - June 27, 2001) was an American writer, and is best known as the author of How to Lie with Statistics (1954), a brief, breezy, illustrated volume which is the best-selling statistics book of all time. ...

References

1. July 20, 1998 article in the NYT: "'Ulysses' on Top Among 100 Best Novels"
2. The Lowdown on the Literary List by David Streitfeld
3. Modern Library Collector's FAQ

External links

• The Modern Library
• The complete list of novels
• The complete list of non-fiction
• CNN - 100 best novels list draws heavy dose of criticism
• Web site dealing with Collecting the Modern Library
• Collectors web site for Modern Library book collecting
• History of the Modern Library (speech) by Henry Toledano