EIU Booth Library

New York Times Bestsellers of the 1960s

Posted on October 30th, 2014

The New York Times bestselling fiction lists reflect the diverse tastes of the reading public–whether it is a Sci-Fi medical thriller where a deadly virus from a satellite is brought back to earth in The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton; Gore Vidal’s dark, gender bending comedy Myra Breckinridge; the nosy, creepy neighbors who come bearing bitter chocolate mousse in Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin; a Christian romance in Christy who is torn between two suitors by Catherine Marshall; a burned out womanizer and world famous artist seeks escape in the Congo in A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Green;  or eight female friends from Vassar, 30 years after graduation–their marriages, their work, their lives–in Mary McCarthy’s social satire, The Group. Currently on display in the Atrium, 1st floor, above the Read & Relax paperbacks.

January 17, 1960

1. Hawaii by James Michener—9 weeks
2. Advise and Consent by Allen Drury—23 weeks
3. Dear and Glorious Physician by Taylor Caldwell—42 weeks
4. Poor No More by Robert Ruark—10 weeks
5. The War Lover by John Hersey—13 weeks
6. Exodus by Leon Uris—67 weeks
7. The Darkness and the Dawn by Thomas B. Costain—12 weeks
8. The Devil’s Advocate by Morris L. West—16 weeks
9. The Ugly American by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick—65 weeks
10. The Mansion by William Faulkner—8 weeks

April 23, 1961

1. The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone—4 weeks
2. The Last of the Just by Andre Schwarz-Bart —23 weeks
3. A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene—9 weeks
4. Hawaii by James Michener—75 weeks
5. Advise and Consent by Allen Drury—89 weeks
6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee—38 weeks
7. Midcentury by John Dos Passos—6 weeks
8. China Court by Rumer Godden—5 weeks
9. Winnie Ille Pu by A.A. Milne—9 weeks
10. Manila Galleon by F. Van Wyck Mason—5 weeks

October 28, 1962

1. A Shade of Difference by Allen Drury—4 weeks
2. Seven Days in May by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey, II—6 weeks
3. Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter—29 weeks
4. The Prize by Irvin Wallace—19 weeks
5. Dearly Beloved by Anne Morrow Lindbergh—20 weeks
6. The Thin Red Line by James Jones—5 weeks
7. The Reivers by William Faulkner—19 weeks
8. Youngblood Hawke by Herman Wouk—23 weeks
9. Act of Anger by Bart Spicer—9 weeks
10. Another Country by James Baldwin—17 weeks

May 19, 1963

1. The Glass Blowers by Daphne du Maurier—7 weeks
2. Seven Days in May by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey, II—23 weeks
3. Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters by J.D. Salinger—14 weeks
4. Grandmother and the Priests by Taylor Caldwell—7 weeks
5. The Sand Pebbles by Richard McKenna—18 weeks
6. The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton—13 weeks
7. The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass—4 weeks
8. The Centaur by John Updike—10 weeks
9. The Bedford Incident by Mark Rascovich—1 weeks
10. Fail-Safe by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler —29 weeks

February 23, 1964

1. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre—6 weeks
2. The Group by Mary McCarthy—25 weeks
3. The Venetian Affair by Helen MacInnes—18 weeks
4. The Hat on the Bed by John O’Hara—12 weeks
5. The Wapshot Scandal by John Cheever—5 weeks
6. The Shoes of the Fisherman by Morris L. West—38 weeks
7. Caravans by James Michener—29 weeks
8. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Ian Fleming—24 weeks
9. The Living Reed by Pearl S. Buck—20 weeks
10. Von Ryan’s Express by David Westheimer—1 week

July 11, 1965

1. The Source by James Michener—7 weeks
2. Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman—18 weeks
3. The Ambassador by Morris West—11 weeks
4. Hotel by Arthur Hailey—19 weeks
5. Night of Camp David by Fletcher Knebel—5 weeks
6. Don’t Stop the Carnival by Herman Wouk—15 weeks
7. The Green Berets by Robin Moore—2 weeks
8. The Looking Glass War by John le Carre—1 weeks
9. A Pillar of Iron by Taylor Caldwell—8 weeks
10. The Flight of the Falcon by Daphne du Maurier—10 weeks

November 20, 1966

1. The Secret of Santa Vittoria by Robert Crichton—10 weeks
2. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann—37 weeks
3. Capable of Honor by Allen Drury—8 weeks
4. Tai-Pan by James Clavell—24 weeks
5. The Birds Fall Down by Rebecca West—4 weeks
6. The Fixer by Bernard Malamud—8 weeks
7. The Mask of Apollo by Mary Renault—1 week
8. All in the Family by Edwin O’Connor—5 weeks
9. The Adventurers by Harold Robbins—34 weeks
10. A Dream of Kings by Harry Mark Petrakis—4 weeks

March 26, 1967

1. The Arrangement by Elia Kazan—5 weeks
2. The Secret of Santa Vittoria by Robert Crichton—28 weeks
3. Capable of Honor by Allen Drury—26 weeks
4. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann—55 weeks
5. The Captain by Jan de Hartog—10 weeks
6. The Birds Fall Down by Rebecca West—22 weeks
7. All in the Family by Edwin O’Connor—23 weeks
8. The Mask of Apollo by Mary Renault—19 weeks
9. Tai-Pan by James Clavell—42 weeks
10. The Fixer by Bernard Malamud—23 weeks

April 7, 1968

1. Airport by Arthur Hailey—2 weeks
2. Vanished by Fletcher Knebel—11 weeks
3. Myra Breckinridge by Gore Vidal—6 weeks
4. The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron—25 weeks
5. Topaz by Leon Uris—28 weeks
6. The Tower of Babel by Morris West—7 weeks
7. Christy by Catherine Marshall—23 weeks
8. The Exhibitionist by Henry Sutton—17 weeks
9. The President’s Plane is Missing by Robert J. Serling—19 weeks
10. Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin—43 weeks

September 21, 1969

1. The Godfather by Mario Puzo—26 weeks
2. The Love Machine by Jacqueline Susann—18 weeks
3. Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth—31 weeks
4. The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton—13 weeks
5. The Pretenders by Gwen Davis—10 weeks
6. Naked Came the Stranger by Penelope Ashe—4 weeks
7. ADA, or Ardor by Vladimir Nabokov—18 weeks
8. A Place in the Country by Sarah Gainham—4 weeks
9. The Goodbye Look by Ross MacDonald—12 weeks
10. The Three Daughters of Madame Liang by Pearl S. Buck—2 weeks

For more fiction from 1964, see below… 2014 World Almanac fiction 1964 bestsellers