Fiction 1970

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

A rather short book with accompanying photography by Russel Munson. It is the story of a counter culture seagull who wants only to fly. An allegory of a mix of self help, spirituality and religion in the search for meaning in life rather than meaning in death. It was (and still is) a best seller which spun off a movie of the same name in 1973 with a soundtrack by Neal Diamond. Everything about Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

The Paper Chase by John Jay Osborn, Jr.

The same year John Osborn graduated from Harvard Law School, he also had this fictionalized story of the Harvard experience published, which became a best seller. A big year for the young man as it spun off a movie and a television series which we mostly remember because of the actor John Houseman who played the mean old Law Professor pictured here for the cover of the DVD rather than the book. The Paper Chase at Wikipedia

Deliverance By James Dickey

A down river canoe weekend turns sour when the four city boys are sexually attacked by Georgia Hillbillies. After suffering and committing murder the unlikely member must assume the title of hero and bring them out alive. Later made into a top box office movie of the same name. An essay on Deliverance

The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight By Jimmy Breslin

New York City icon, NEWSDAY columnist and friend of Norman Mailer, Breslin wrote a comedy novel making fun of the New York Mafia. Shortly after the book was published a local Mafia don had his boys beat the crap out him in a NY restaurant. With the added publicity, the following year a movie of the same name became the first major role for actor Robert DeNiro which helped him get his part in Godfather II and subsequently to the top of the game. Bio of Jimmy Breslen

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

This novel about a young girl's yearning to have blue eyes is the first. It leads to a Pulitzer Prize for Beloved in 1988 and entrance into the list of Best 100 American Writers. Toni Morrison is perhaps best known for naming Bill Clinton "our first Black President." She meant a poor child from a single mother household who the legal system treats unjustly (the impeachment). Bio Toni Morrison

E. B. White - The Trumpet Of The Swan

Leon Uris - QB VII

Larry Niven - Ringworld

Nina Bawden - The Birds on the Trees
Pierre Berton - The National Dream
Judy Blume - Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret
Jim Bouton - Ball Four
Wallace Breem - Eagle in the Snow
Taylor Caldwell - Great Lion of God
José Donoso - The Obscene Bird of Night
Graham Greene - Travels with My Aunt
Anne Hébert - Kamouraska
Susan Hill - I'm the King of the Castle
Pamela Hansford Johnson - The Honours Board
Anna Kavan - Julia and the Bazooka
Jaan Kross - Between Three Plagues (part 1)
Ira Levin - This Perfect Day
John D. MacDonald - The Long Lavender Look
Eric Malpass - Oh My Darling Daughter
Ruth Manning-Sanders - A Book of Devils and Demons
Brian Moore - Fergus
Robert W. Peterson - Only the Ball was White
Kurban Said - Ali and Nino
Sidney Sheldon - The Naked Face
Clark Ashton Smith - Other Dimensions
Muriel Spark - The Driver's Seat
Mary Stewart - The Crystal Cave
Jack Vance - The Pnume

1970 Tony Awards (theater)

Best Dramatic Play: Borstal Boy by Fred McMahon
Best Actor Dramatic Play: Fritz Weaver, Child's Play
Best Actress Dramatic Play: Tammy Grimes, Private Lives
Best Supporting Actor Dramatic Play: Ken Howard, Child's Play
Best Supporting Actress Dramatic Play: Blythe Danner, Butterflies are Free

Keir Dullea and Blythe Danner

Best Director Dramatic Play: Joseph Hardy, Child's Play

Nobel Prize for Literature: Alexander Solzhenitsyn

1970 Nobel Prize for Literature: Alexander Solzhenitsyn

The Pulitzer Prize:

Fiction: Collected Stories by Jean Stafford.
Drama: No Place To Be Somebody by Charles Gordone.
History: Present At The Creation: My Years In The State Department by Dean Acheson.
Biography or Autobiography: Huey Long by T. Harry Williams.
Poetry: Untitled Subjects by Richard Howard.
General Non-Fiction: Gandhi's Truth by Erik Erikson.

All 1970 Pulitzer Prizes

Comedy 1970

Best Comedy Recording: The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress - Flip Wilson Bio on Flip Wilson

Non Fiction 1970

Ball Four by Jim Bouton

Still in print and considered a classic sports book. It took the form of a diary in the experiences of Pitcher Jim Bouton's with the New York Yankees, Houston Astros and the first and only year of the Seattle Pilots. It shot to the top of the charts for the controversy. Bouton told the unflattering stories of sexism, drugs and alcoholism in the major Leagues using his teammates real names. More on Jim Bouton

Papillon by Henri Charrière

The book is a memoir of the 14 years (1931 to 1945) that Charrière spent on Devil's Island in French Guiana, wrongly convicted of a murder in his native France. Stories of the characters he met and his many escapes to finally settle in Venezuela where he lived and prospered a free man. The 1973 movie starring Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen was a big hit. He later published a sequel in 1973 called Banco. How much of either book was literally true no one really knows. Book review of Papillon

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown

A history of the displacement and slaughter of Native American tribes from 1860-1890. This book gained controversy because of its unfavorable view of the United States regarding historic and present Indian Affairs. Though well documented, author Dee Brown admits writing the book from the Indian perspective which was long overdue. Still in print with 2007 movie. Synopsis at eNotes

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Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer

An autobiographical memoir by Speer who claimed to be a moderate NAZI. In charge of the infrastructure he had access to the grand leaders and great moments of the Third Reich from 1942 to 1945. He made the notes for the book in Spandau Prison where he served a 20 year sentence for war crimes. The book was controversial because... There is no such thing as a moderate NAZI. Bio on Albert Speer

Future Shock by Alvin Toffler

Toffler does his writing with his partner and wife Heidi Toffler. Together they became the pre eminent Futurists of our world. They define the title of the book as "too much change in too short a period of time" and how we will become disconnected and suffer "shattering stress and disorientation! The Toffler website

Arthur Janov - The Primal Scream
Helene Hanff - 84 Charing Cross Road
Mahathir bin Mohamad - The Malay Dilemma
Kate Millet - Sexual Politics
Nancy Mitford - Frederick the Great

Literary News 1970

The British tabloid The Sun owned by Rupert Murdoch, publishes its first topless Page Three Girl, Stephanie Rahn beginning an English Newspaper trend.

John Lennon’s drawings were removed from a London gallery by the Obscene Publications Squad. Lennon shocked fans with 'obscene' art