At Random: The Reminiscences of Bennett Cerf

At Random: The Reminiscences of Bennett Cerf
by Bennett Cerf

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Book Summary Information

Author: Bennett Cerf
Introduction: Christopher Cerf
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2002-03-05
ISBN: 037575976X
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks

Book Reviews of At Random: The Reminiscences of Bennett Cerf

Book Review: Outstanding Comments of Legendary Publisher/ Author/ Etc.!!
Summary: 5 Stars

From his early days at Columbia, starting out with the Liveright Publishers in the 1920's, and buying into the Modern Library Classics, this is without doubt the best look at publishing I've ever read! The amusing story of how a special copy of Ulysses came across the Atlantic, and into the hands of US Customs is worth the price of the book! Add to that, hilarious yarns, like meeting with Gerturde Stein & her Sidekick Alice, featuring the hilarious promotion of their book so it could "compete" with the hot new book FOREVER AMBOR ,and its even hotter author K. Windor makes for some real fun. Mr. Cerf even wrote a short comment in some of Ms. Stein's books admitting he could not always figure out what they were about. A trip to London to meet Bernard Shaw is also good for some laughs. His comments on many other "Literati", including Saroyan, Faulkner, O' Hara, Ayn Rand,Wittaker Chambers, etc. plus general comments on the state of the world are all top. In short, a must read for anyone of all ages, even if you don't care too much about writing and publishing!

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Summary of At Random: The Reminiscences of Bennett Cerf

"I've got the name for our publishing operation. We just said we were going to publish a few books on the side at random. Let's call it Random House." So recounts Bennett Cerf in this wonderfully amusing memoir of the making of a great publishing house. An incomparable raconteur, possessed of an irrepressible wit and an abiding love of books and authors, Cerf brilliantly evokes the heady days of Random House's first decades.

Part of the vanguard of young New York publishers who revolutionized the book business in the 1920s and '30s, Cerf helped usher in publishing's golden age. Cerf was a true personality, whose other pursuits (columnist, anthologist, author, lecturer, radio host, collector of jokes and anecdotes, perennial judge of the Miss America pageant, and panelist on What's My Line?) helped shape his reputation as a man of boundless energy and enthusiasm and brought unprecedented attention to his company and to his authors. At once a rare behind-the-scenes account of book publishing and a fascinating portrait of four decades' worth of legendary authors, from James Joyce and William Faulkner to Ralph Ellison and Eudora Welty, At Random is a feast for bibliophiles and anyone who's ever wondered what goes on inside a publishing house.

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