{"product_id":"nothing-random-bennett-cerf-and-the-publishing-house-he-built-hardcover","title":"Nothing Random: Bennett Cerf and the Publishing House He Built - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eGayle Feldman\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe story of the legendary Random House founder, whose seemingly charmed life at the apogee of the American Century afforded him a front-row seat to literary and cultural history in the making\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A stunning achievement . . . a sweeping intellectual history with a stunning cast of characters that reveals the inner struggles of a great publishing house.\"--Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eAmerican Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAt midcentury, everyone knew Bennett Cerf: witty, beloved, middle-aged panelist on \u003ci\u003eWhat's My Line?\u003c\/i\u003e whom TV brought into America's homes each week. But they didn't know that the handsome, driven, paradoxical young man of the 1920s had vowed to become a great publisher and, a decade later, was. By then, he'd signed Eugene O'Neill, Gertrude Stein, and William Faulkner, and had fought the landmark censorship case that gave Americans the freedom to read James Joyce's \u003ci\u003eUlysses\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith his best friend and lifelong business partner Donald Klopfer, and other young Jewish entrepreneurs like the Knopfs and Simon \u0026amp; Schuster, Cerf remade the book business: what was published, and how. In 1925, he and Klopfer bought the Modern Library and turned it into an institution, then founded Random House, which eventually became a home to Truman Capote, Ralph Ellison, Ayn Rand, Dr. Seuss, Toni Morrison, James Michener, and many more. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEven before TV, Cerf was a bestselling author and columnist as well as publisher; the show super-charged his celebrity, bringing fame--but also criticism. A brilliant social networker and major influencer before such terms existed, he connected books to Broadway, TV, Hollywood, and politics. A fervent democratizer, he published \"high,\" \"low,\" and wide, and from the Roaring Twenties to the Swinging Sixties collected an incredible array of friends, from George Gershwin to Frank Sinatra, having a fabulous time along the way. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eUsing interviews with more than two hundred individuals, deeply researched archival material, and letters from private collections not previously available, this book brings Bennett Cerf to vibrant life, drawing book lovers into his world, finally laying open the page on a quintessential American original.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eGayle Feldman \u003c\/b\u003ehas written for \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e for forty years, including as a senior staff editor; since 1999, as U.S. correspondent for \u003ci\u003eThe Bookseller\u003c\/i\u003e, she has analyzed the American book business for U.K. readers; and she has contributed features and reviews on books and culture to \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Nation\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Daily Beast\u003c\/i\u003e, and other publications. Her essays have appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Philadelphia Inquirer\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e of London. She is the author of the cancer memoir \u003ci\u003eYou Don't Have to Be Your Mother\u003c\/i\u003e, published by W. W. Norton, and was awarded a National Arts Journalism Program fellowship at Columbia University, through which she published \u003ci\u003eBest and Worst of Times: The Changing Business of Trade Books.\u003c\/i\u003e The National Endowment for the Humanities has supported her work on \u003ci\u003eNothing Random\u003c\/i\u003e with a Public Scholars award. She lives in New York City and Sag Harbor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1072\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2.1 x 9.3 x 6.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e January 13, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53218438480205,"sku":"9781400060276","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0927\/3304\/7117\/files\/lx5DkUN1Pu9781400060276.webp?v=1768989119","url":"https:\/\/belfastbooks.us\/products\/nothing-random-bennett-cerf-and-the-publishing-house-he-built-hardcover","provider":"belfastbooks.us","version":"1.0","type":"link"}