1950s Books

Showing 1-50 of 12,085
The Catcher in the Rye The Catcher in the Rye (Paperback)
by (shelved 302 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.80 — 3,922,766 ratings — published 1951
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Fahrenheit 451 Fahrenheit 451 (Mass Market Paperback)
by (shelved 267 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.97 — 2,876,366 ratings — published 1953
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Lord of the Flies Lord of the Flies (Paperback)
by (shelved 237 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.70 — 3,228,298 ratings — published 1954
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Lolita Lolita (Kindle Edition)
by (shelved 211 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.87 — 954,349 ratings — published 1955
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The Old Man and the Sea The Old Man and the Sea (Hardcover)
by (shelved 188 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.81 — 1,327,971 ratings — published 1952
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The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1) The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)
by (shelved 175 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.41 — 3,179,132 ratings — published 1954
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The Haunting of Hill House The Haunting of Hill House (Paperback)
by (shelved 172 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.81 — 401,494 ratings — published 1959
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Giovanni’s Room Giovanni’s Room (Paperback)
by (shelved 159 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.34 — 263,333 ratings — published 1956
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On the Road On the Road (Paperback)
by (shelved 157 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.61 — 451,306 ratings — published 1957
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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)
by (shelved 145 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.24 — 3,172,206 ratings — published 1950
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Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1) Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1)
by (shelved 138 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.75 — 416,211 ratings — published 1958
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East of Eden East of Eden (Paperback)
by (shelved 130 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.44 — 653,736 ratings — published 1952
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The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2) The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2)
by (shelved 127 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.50 — 1,139,972 ratings — published 1954
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The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3) The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3)
by (shelved 122 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.58 — 1,053,672 ratings — published 1955
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Charlotte’s Web Charlotte’s Web (Paperback)
by (shelved 120 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.21 — 2,061,423 ratings — published 1952
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Invisible Man Invisible Man (Paperback)
by (shelved 112 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.92 — 203,330 ratings — published 1952
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Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories (Paperback)
by (shelved 108 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.85 — 253,022 ratings — published 1958
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The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce, #1) The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce, #1)
by (shelved 105 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.82 — 179,603 ratings — published 2009
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The Crucible The Crucible (Paperback)
by (shelved 98 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.61 — 467,649 ratings — published 1953
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Night Night (Paperback)
by (shelved 98 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.38 — 1,374,759 ratings — published 1956
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Waiting for Godot Waiting for Godot (Paperback)
by (shelved 95 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.84 — 224,062 ratings — published 1951
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Foundation (Foundation, #1) Foundation (Foundation, #1)
by (shelved 94 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.17 — 601,225 ratings — published 1951
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The Talented Mr. Ripley (Ripley, #1) The Talented Mr. Ripley (Ripley, #1)
by (shelved 90 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.95 — 120,022 ratings — published 1955
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The Martian Chronicles The Martian Chronicles (Mass Market Paperback)
by (shelved 90 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.16 — 287,840 ratings — published 1950
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Mexican Gothic Mexican Gothic (Hardcover)
by (shelved 82 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.66 — 448,250 ratings — published 2020
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The Quiet American The Quiet American (Paperback)
by (shelved 82 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.98 — 72,499 ratings — published 1955
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Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia, #2) Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia, #2)
by (shelved 80 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.98 — 488,990 ratings — published 1951
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The Magician’s Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia, #6) The Magician’s Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia, #6)
by (shelved 79 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.06 — 613,090 ratings — published 1955
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The Price of Salt The Price of Salt (Paperback)
by (shelved 75 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.02 — 85,887 ratings — published 1952
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I, Robot (Robot, #0.1) I, Robot (Robot, #0.1)
by (shelved 75 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.21 — 381,905 ratings — published 1950
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Lessons in Chemistry Lessons in Chemistry (Paperback)
by (shelved 72 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.28 — 1,814,508 ratings — published 2022
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Brooklyn (Eilis Lacey, #1) Brooklyn (Eilis Lacey, #1)
by (shelved 71 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.75 — 162,394 ratings — published 2009
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The Lord of the Rings The Lord of the Rings (Paperback)
by (shelved 71 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.54 — 735,345 ratings — published 1959
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The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia, #3) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia, #3)
by (shelved 71 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.09 — 511,014 ratings — published 1952
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Go Tell It on the Mountain Go Tell It on the Mountain (Paperback)
by (shelved 70 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.06 — 83,531 ratings — published 1953
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The Briar Club The Briar Club (Hardcover)
by (shelved 69 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.28 — 277,467 ratings — published 2024
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The Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway (Hardcover)
by (shelved 68 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.22 — 315,562 ratings — published 2021
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The Sirens of Titan The Sirens of Titan (Paperback)
by (shelved 68 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.15 — 159,484 ratings — published 1959
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The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia, #5) The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia, #5)
by (shelved 67 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.91 — 395,766 ratings — published 1954
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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (Hardcover)
by (shelved 66 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.39 — 4,179,203 ratings — published 2017
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A Raisin in the Sun A Raisin in the Sun (Hardcover)
by (shelved 66 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.85 — 111,943 ratings — published 1959
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A Separate Peace A Separate Peace (Paperback)
by (shelved 66 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.60 — 233,333 ratings — published 1959
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Naked Lunch: The Restored Text Naked Lunch: The Restored Text (Paperback)
by (shelved 65 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.46 — 99,185 ratings — published 1959
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Where the Crawdads Sing Where the Crawdads Sing (ebook)
by (shelved 65 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.37 — 3,672,766 ratings — published 2018
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The Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia, #4) The Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia, #4)
by (shelved 65 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.96 — 333,629 ratings — published 1953
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Nine Stories Nine Stories (Paperback)
by (shelved 63 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.18 — 155,331 ratings — published 1953
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Go Set a Watchman Go Set a Watchman (Hardcover)
by (shelved 61 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.31 — 292,444 ratings — published 2015
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Doctor Zhivago Doctor Zhivago (Paperback)
by (shelved 61 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.01 — 103,717 ratings — published 1957
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The Day of the Triffids The Day of the Triffids (Paperback)
by (shelved 61 times as 1950s)
avg rating 4.01 — 118,248 ratings — published 1951
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Revolutionary Road Revolutionary Road (Paperback)
by (shelved 60 times as 1950s)
avg rating 3.93 — 94,002 ratings — published 1961
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Betty Friedan
“Then, it was easier to build the need for love and sex into the end-all purpose of life, avoiding personal commitment to truth in a catch-all commitment to "home" and "family." . . . . Irwin Shaw, who once goaded the American conscience on the great issues of war and peace and racial prejudice now wrote about sex and adultery; Norman Mailer and the young beatnik writers confined their revolutionary spirit to sex and kicks and drugs and advertising themselves in four-letter words. It was easier and more fashionable for writers to think about psychology than politics, about private motives than public purposes. Painters retreated into an abstract expressionism that flaunted discipline and glorified the evasion of meaning. Dramatists reduced human purpose to bitter, pretentious nonsense: "the theater of the absurd." Freudian thought gave this whole process of escape its dimension of endless, tantalizing, intellectual mystery: process within process, meaning hidden within meaning, until meaning itself disappeared and the hopeless, dull outside world hardly existed at all. As a drama critic said, in a rare note of revulsion at the stage world of Tennessee Williams, it was as if no reality remained for man except his sexual perversions, and the fact that he loved and hated his mother.”
Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique

Tori Telfer
“Think of everything cliché you know about the 1950s: housewives spent their days vacuuming with martinis in hand and a look of existential horror in their eyes, and every home was outfitted with a TV set.”
Tori Telfer, Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History

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