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The Man Who Changed the Way We Read: The Story of Allen Lane and Penguin Books
Brought to you by Penguin.
The story of Penguin Books, Allen Lane and how they changed the world, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Penguin
By founding Penguin books and popularizing the paperback, Allen Lane not only changed publishing in Britain, he was also at the forefront of a social and cultural revolution that saw the millions of people given access to what had previously been the preserve of a wealthy few.
In Penguin Special, Jeremy Lewis brings this extraordinary era brilliantly to life, recounting how Allen Lane came to launch his Penguins for the price of a packet of cigarettes; how they became enormously influential in alerting the public to the threat of Nazi Germany; and how Penguin itself gradually became a national institution, like the BBC and the NHS, whilst at the same time challenging the status quo through the famous Lady Chatterley case. Above all, it is the story of how one often fallible, complex man used his vision to change the world.
Jeremy Lewis 2005 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
The story of Penguin Books, Allen Lane and how they changed the world, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Penguin
By founding Penguin books and popularizing the paperback, Allen Lane not only changed publishing in Britain, he was also at the forefront of a social and cultural revolution that saw the millions of people given access to what had previously been the preserve of a wealthy few.
In Penguin Special, Jeremy Lewis brings this extraordinary era brilliantly to life, recounting how Allen Lane came to launch his Penguins for the price of a packet of cigarettes; how they became enormously influential in alerting the public to the threat of Nazi Germany; and how Penguin itself gradually became a national institution, like the BBC and the NHS, whilst at the same time challenging the status quo through the famous Lady Chatterley case. Above all, it is the story of how one often fallible, complex man used his vision to change the world.
Jeremy Lewis 2005 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
496 pages, Paperback
Published July 10, 2025
6 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Jeremy Lewis
54 books5 followersJeremy Lewis spent much of his life working in publishing. He is the author of two highly-praised volumes of autobiography, Playing for Time and Kindred Spirits, and of biographies of Cyril Connolly and Tobias Smollett.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 21, 2025
Man publishes paperbacks, drinks a lot, gets a knighthood. Quite a sexist time, amplified by the author's habit of always describing women in terms of their physical attractiveness.
That said, Allen Lane was clearly a force of nature, smashing convention and genuinely standing up for good books while at the same time managing to keep an eye on the profits. As well as a biography of Lane, this is an engaging view of the history of England from approximately the 20s to the 60s, chronicling the enormous social change from the pre- to post-war years through the lens of the dominant publisher of the age.
That said, Allen Lane was clearly a force of nature, smashing convention and genuinely standing up for good books while at the same time managing to keep an eye on the profits. As well as a biography of Lane, this is an engaging view of the history of England from approximately the 20s to the 60s, chronicling the enormous social change from the pre- to post-war years through the lens of the dominant publisher of the age.
October 4, 2025
I started this biography hoping for a human portrayal of Penguin’s evolution and its revolutionising the world of publishing, but I ended up reading more of a dense chronology. Allen Lane was a man with a bold vision and created a brand that reshaped how people access literature. However, the storytelling is so flat, it reads like a history textbook, and the book completely avoids any critical discussion of the issues with publishing (then and now), like the sexism in the industry, for example.
Allen Lane founded Penguin Books in 1935, rebranding the publishing company he inherited from his uncle. He came from a well-off family and never lacked funds because of it, so this is more of a story of the privileged class in Britain; there is no underdog here. Lane brought to the world of publishing quality paperback editions at an affordable price, intended for mass readership. His Penguin series sold out instantly and contributed to a higher literacy rate in the country. This move democratised literature and allowed access to classics and contemporary writers, serious works behind affordable covers.
Lane’s Penguin was also a cultural institution, on par with public trust institutions like the BBC or NHS in Bthe ritish imagination. Penguin also broke boundaries, like when they published Lady Chatterley’s Lover and contested the obscenity laws.
Under Lane’s leadership, Penguin also launched Pelican Books in 1937, a non-fiction imprint dedicated to affordable intellectual works. These were also intended to broaden public access to knowledge.
Lewis shows us how Penguin navigated paper rationing, war, legal battles, and commercial pressures while preserving a sense of idealism. However, much of the narrative is conveyed in lengthy passages of corporate decisions, names, dates, and mergers. It was a harrowing read, even for book-obsessed people like myself. The depth of the archival detail is impressive, but it felt like this was all that Lewis wanted to deliver. I didn’t get a strong sense of who Lane was as a person, as Lewis shares multiple accounts and doesn’t draw any conclusion. In this sense, the book feels like a bunch of information put together in chronological order, and this is where it lost me.
Its biggest flaw, however, is that the book glosses over the male-dominated nature of publishing. Women typically appear in supportive and emotional roles. When they hold significant roles in publishing, they are often portrayed as neurotic and unlikable, much like professional women were perceived at the time. To this, Lewis has nothing to say, and that bothered me. It reminded me why I don’t read male biographies, as I have a very low tolerance for sexism these days (I blame it on peri-menopause). So, even if there are women who played an important role in publishing and climbed to the top of this fully male-dominated field (like Eunice Frost or Norah Smallwood), they are portrayed as neurotic, “pushy and prickly”, hated, horrible, addicted to large hats. I rolled my eyes so bad at Lewis not having any comment on this.
There is more to criticise about the book, but I will stop here. You should read this is if you like historical books, with no critical analysis of the time, who share mostly facts and less of the characters that commit them.
Allen Lane founded Penguin Books in 1935, rebranding the publishing company he inherited from his uncle. He came from a well-off family and never lacked funds because of it, so this is more of a story of the privileged class in Britain; there is no underdog here. Lane brought to the world of publishing quality paperback editions at an affordable price, intended for mass readership. His Penguin series sold out instantly and contributed to a higher literacy rate in the country. This move democratised literature and allowed access to classics and contemporary writers, serious works behind affordable covers.
Lane’s Penguin was also a cultural institution, on par with public trust institutions like the BBC or NHS in Bthe ritish imagination. Penguin also broke boundaries, like when they published Lady Chatterley’s Lover and contested the obscenity laws.
Under Lane’s leadership, Penguin also launched Pelican Books in 1937, a non-fiction imprint dedicated to affordable intellectual works. These were also intended to broaden public access to knowledge.
Lewis shows us how Penguin navigated paper rationing, war, legal battles, and commercial pressures while preserving a sense of idealism. However, much of the narrative is conveyed in lengthy passages of corporate decisions, names, dates, and mergers. It was a harrowing read, even for book-obsessed people like myself. The depth of the archival detail is impressive, but it felt like this was all that Lewis wanted to deliver. I didn’t get a strong sense of who Lane was as a person, as Lewis shares multiple accounts and doesn’t draw any conclusion. In this sense, the book feels like a bunch of information put together in chronological order, and this is where it lost me.
Its biggest flaw, however, is that the book glosses over the male-dominated nature of publishing. Women typically appear in supportive and emotional roles. When they hold significant roles in publishing, they are often portrayed as neurotic and unlikable, much like professional women were perceived at the time. To this, Lewis has nothing to say, and that bothered me. It reminded me why I don’t read male biographies, as I have a very low tolerance for sexism these days (I blame it on peri-menopause). So, even if there are women who played an important role in publishing and climbed to the top of this fully male-dominated field (like Eunice Frost or Norah Smallwood), they are portrayed as neurotic, “pushy and prickly”, hated, horrible, addicted to large hats. I rolled my eyes so bad at Lewis not having any comment on this.
There is more to criticise about the book, but I will stop here. You should read this is if you like historical books, with no critical analysis of the time, who share mostly facts and less of the characters that commit them.
February 17, 2026
The other reviewers are wrong about this book! For a start it's a great source book. And if you know a bit about the most famous books and authors of the C20th it contains a medley of anecdotes that are entertaining and enriching.
Most of all though it shows the lower class and left leaning Allen Lane working his way up the publishing business and making a powerful stand against the incipient fascism that was engulfing the rest of Europe. He and his team invented the quality paperback that was just six pence a copy and fitted in a jacket pocket or handbag. So in this way the story is relevant to the current insurgent right wing threat to our culture and democracy. Lane had a belief in the intelligence and judgement of the working class majority who had previously not been able to afford good quality books. The Penguins assumed people could think for themselves and have a wide range of interests, rather than needing to be 'talked down' to.
This was a historical moment when an enormous wealth of literary knowledge had accumulated in hardback books selling to an elite market, and it was mainly these existing works that were leased from the original publishers to appear as cheap but well designed 'Penguins'.
The scale of the operation from 1936 to 1970 when Lane died, was immense - 3500 titles and 250 million books. We get well researched information from Jeremy Lewis on all the main movers and shakers employed by Lane over the years. It is a complex story that tends to get overwhelming about three quarters of the way through; unless you've got a very good memory for names.
There's a chapter about the show trial for obscenity of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' by DH Lawrence, in 1960 which filtered down to me as a schoolboy in Sunbury On Thames.
I was involved with publishing from the early 1970s when my Survival Scrapbooks were published by Unicorn Books in Brighton, so I can perhaps relate to the commercial information about 'unit costs' and publisher intrigues more than a reader with no contact with publishing or the book trade.
I've also taken an interest in working class writing and culture from the Thirties in English and so my knowledge was further enriched by mention of people like Ethel Mannin and Richard Hoggart. See my Blogger for more on this book and other related reviews.
https://stefan-szczelkun.blogspot.com...
Most of all though it shows the lower class and left leaning Allen Lane working his way up the publishing business and making a powerful stand against the incipient fascism that was engulfing the rest of Europe. He and his team invented the quality paperback that was just six pence a copy and fitted in a jacket pocket or handbag. So in this way the story is relevant to the current insurgent right wing threat to our culture and democracy. Lane had a belief in the intelligence and judgement of the working class majority who had previously not been able to afford good quality books. The Penguins assumed people could think for themselves and have a wide range of interests, rather than needing to be 'talked down' to.
This was a historical moment when an enormous wealth of literary knowledge had accumulated in hardback books selling to an elite market, and it was mainly these existing works that were leased from the original publishers to appear as cheap but well designed 'Penguins'.
The scale of the operation from 1936 to 1970 when Lane died, was immense - 3500 titles and 250 million books. We get well researched information from Jeremy Lewis on all the main movers and shakers employed by Lane over the years. It is a complex story that tends to get overwhelming about three quarters of the way through; unless you've got a very good memory for names.
There's a chapter about the show trial for obscenity of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' by DH Lawrence, in 1960 which filtered down to me as a schoolboy in Sunbury On Thames.
Lane said his idea was "to produce a book which could sell for the price of ten cigarettes, which would give no excuse for anyone not being able to buy it, and would be the type of book which they would get it they had gone on to further education."
I was involved with publishing from the early 1970s when my Survival Scrapbooks were published by Unicorn Books in Brighton, so I can perhaps relate to the commercial information about 'unit costs' and publisher intrigues more than a reader with no contact with publishing or the book trade.
I've also taken an interest in working class writing and culture from the Thirties in English and so my knowledge was further enriched by mention of people like Ethel Mannin and Richard Hoggart. See my Blogger for more on this book and other related reviews.
https://stefan-szczelkun.blogspot.com...
November 24, 2025
Penguin is a national institution of the UK as much as the BBC or NHS and most of the growth in the early days can be credited to its founder Allen Lane. At a time when publishing was all about extremely costly hardbacks, Lane thought out of the box about paperbacks and that has changed the entire face of publishing. This book is an account of the life of Allen Lane and how Penguin rose to prominence.
Lane had his moments of brilliance and quite amusing and sometimes plainly irritating quirks. The narrative is built on how these were put to best effect for the growth of Penguin. The writing is very academic and has a lot of dry spells. Overall it was a frustrating book to read because it seemed quite interminable.
Lane had his moments of brilliance and quite amusing and sometimes plainly irritating quirks. The narrative is built on how these were put to best effect for the growth of Penguin. The writing is very academic and has a lot of dry spells. Overall it was a frustrating book to read because it seemed quite interminable.
January 12, 2026
Great!
Very thorough book on the history of not only Penguin Books, but book publishing in general. The evolution towards paperback books was especially interesting, including the uproar and objections of hard cover book publishers. Recommended.
Very thorough book on the history of not only Penguin Books, but book publishing in general. The evolution towards paperback books was especially interesting, including the uproar and objections of hard cover book publishers. Recommended.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews