Fiction 1964

Saul Bellow - Herzog

Not until he was 50 did Saul Bellow write the classic Herzog winning the National Book Award. A five day slice of life of a Jewish intellectual college professor going out of his mind when his personal life falls apart.

Thomas Berger - Little Big Man

111 year old Jack Crabb narrates the story of his life as an indian and an indian fighter. It takes the reader through the historical events of the 19th century west from a very different point of view. The best Western novel of its time.

Irving Wallace - The Man

Through a series of unexpected deaths, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Douglass Dilman - Black man - becomes President of the United States. He subsequently suffers assassination attempts and a race related impeachment

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Hubert Selby Jr. - Last Exit to Brooklyn

A raw slice of the hopeless lives of those on the bottom of our society. Written with such shocking language it was banned in Britain.

Ernest Hemingway - A Moveable Feast

Gore Vidal - Julian
Shel Silverstein - The Giving Tree

Chinua Achebe - Arrow of God
Lloyd Alexander - The Book of Three
Poul Anderson - Time and Stars
Louis Auchincloss - The Rector of Justin
J. G. Ballard - The Terminal Beach
Ray Bradbury - The Machineries of Joy
John Braine - The Jealous God
J. Ramsey Campbell - The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants
A. J. Cronin - A Song of Sixpence
Roald Dahl - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Len Deighton - Funeral in Berlin
August Derleth editor - Over the Edge
Ralph Ellison - Shadow and Act
Ian Fleming - You Only Live Twice
Carl Jacobi - Portraits in Moonlight
B. S. Johnson - Albert Angelo
Richard E. Kim - The Martyred
Ruth Manning-Sanders - A Book of Dwarfs
John D. MacDonald - A Purple Place For Dying
Sterling North - Rascal
Vladimir Nabokov - The Defense
Jan Pfloog - The Farm Book
Anthony Powell - The Valley of Bones
Mario Puzo - Fortunate Pilgrim
Ellery Queen - And On the Eighth Day
Ruth Rendell - From Doon With Death
Clark Ashton Smith - Tales of Science and Sorcery
Wilbur Smith - When the Lion Feeds
Rex Stout - Trio for Blunt Instruments
Rex Stout - A Right to Die
Leon Uris - Armageddon
Raymond Williams - Second Generation
Maia Wojciechowska - Shadow of a Bull

More on each new book of 1964 at Wikipedia

Literary News 1964

Arthur Miller's "After the Fall," premieres in New York City. Directed by Elia Kazan and starring Barbara Loden as the Marilyn Monroe character and Jason Robards Jr. as Miller, it became the controversy of the year for its demeaning portrayal of not only the recently dead Monroe but it's sexist nature. Though it won a Tony for Barbara Loden and a Tony nomination for Robards, it is considered to be Arthur Miller's lemon.

Pulitzer prize for non fiction awarded to Richard Hofstadter for his book Anti-intellectualism

Non Fiction 1964

Dick Gregory - Nigger: An Autobiography

Gregory’s autobiography became the best-selling book of the year. His choice for the title was explained in the forward, where Dick Gregory wrote a note to his mother. "Whenever you hear the word ‘Nigger’ you’ll know they are advertising my book.

Eric Berne - Games People Play

Psychiatrist Eric Berne describes both functional and dysfunctional social interactions. It defines three ego-states; the Child, the Parent, and the Adult and when the winner of our games of interaction most always go to those who play the adult.

John F. Kennedy - A Nation of Immigrants (published posthumously)

Martin Luther King, Jr. - Why We Can't Wait

Allan Bloom with Harry V. Jaffa - Shakespeare's Politics
Herbert Marcuse - One-Dimensional Man
Marshall McLuhan - Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man

1964 Tony Awards (theater)

Play - Luther

Actor - Alec Guinness, Dylan

Actress - Sandy Dennis, Any Wednesday

Supporting or Featured Actor - Hume Cronyn, Hamlet

Supporting or Featured Actress - Barbara Loden, After the Fall

Author - John Osborne, Luther

Director - Mike Nichols, Barefoot in the Park

Comedy 1964

1964 Grammy for Best Comedy Performance: I Started Out as a Child - Bill Cosby

With his second comedy album, Bill Cosby goes on to win the Grammy for the next 8 years.