Tag: Social change

1978: Harper & Row publishes Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series…

Harper & Row publishes the first book in Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series after it is serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle. The series highlights gay issues and becomes a cultural icon for generations of readers. More

Gabriel García Márquez

Gabriel García Márquez drew on his childhood experiences in Colombia when crafting the story of the fictional Buendía family in the classic One Hundred Years of Solitude. More

1862: Thomas Nast documents the Civil War and politics in Harper’s Weekly

Thomas Nast begins documenting the Civil War and politics through caricature in Harper’s Weekly. More

To Kill a Mockingbird

When J. B. Lippincott (later acquired by HarperCollins) editor Therese (Tay) von Hohoff saw the first draft of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), she saw a promising story, but one in need of some reshaping and editing. More

Social Change: Collins Gives Back

In the UK, William Collins II of Collins and Sons took up labor causes, especially child labor. More

Their Eyes Were Watching God

One of the most widely read and acclaimed novels in the canon of African-American literature. More

Education and Publishing

Beginning in 1830, the Harper brothers believed that the increasingly literate populace might clamor for turnkey collections. More

Native Son

Wright’s unsparing reflection on what it means to be black in America. More

Profiles in Courage

Pulitzer Prize winner that helped propel the young senator to the White House. More

Half of a Yellow Sun

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s masterpiece, and winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction. More

Telegram regarding the publication of One Hundred Years of Solitude

In this Western Union telegram dated September 14, 1967, from Cass Canfield Jr. (an editor at Harper) to Carmen Balcells (the agent of Gabriel García Márquez)... More

1895: Mark Twain signs an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers

Mark Twain signs an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers, which serializes Joan of Arc in its periodicals and publishes it as a book one year later. More

Periodicals: Harper’s Weekly, Harper’s New Monthly and Harper’s Bazaar

The Harper brothers consistently sought ways to reach more readers with less expensive publications, and in 1850 they revolutionized the concept of the modern literary magazine with Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. More

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943), a story about growing up poor in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn, was originally an entry for a Harper & Brothers memoir contest. More

Brenda Jackson

Of all the books I’ve read, it was a romance story that influenced me the most. More

Brenda Jackson

1927: Harper & Brothers signs Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World…

Harper & Brothers signs Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World. More

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus

While giving a talk to a group of men and women about relationships, author John Gray realized he had a hook for a new book. More

Monster

Winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award and the Coretta Scott King Award. More

1949: Harper & Brothers publishes the Pulitzer-Prize winning Annie Allen by Gwendolyn Brooks…

Harper & Brothers publishes Annie Allen by Gwendolyn Brooks, which wins the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and makes Brooks the first African American writer to receive the award. More

Collins Operations during WWII

Collins maintained combined office and warehouse space at Bridewell Place in London for many years, and in 1917, its new London publishing office at 48 Pall Mall was complemented by printing works in Mayfair that included a state-of-the-art bindery, warehouse, and distribution center. More

Sympathy telegram to Coretta Scott King following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

The day after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (April 5, 1968), Harper honorary director Cass Canfield sent this telegram... More

Lawrence Hill

Writing is the one pursuit I have always pursued, and always known I was compelled to pursue. More

Lawrence Hill

Tales of the City

First book in Maupin’s acclaimed and groundbreaking series documenting San Francisco’s underground and gay culture. More

Down and Out in Paris and London

The first book by the author of the twentieth-century classics Animal Farm and 1984. More

1863: Harper & Brothers takes a clear stand in favor of abolition

Harper & Brothers takes a clear stand in favor of abolition with the publication of Fanny Kemble’s Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838–1839. More

Social Change: The Harper Brothers and The American Civil War

Literacy became both a predictor of and influence on the American Civil War, being one of the disparities between North and South. More

1960: The Pulitzer Prize–winning To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is published…

J. B. Lippincott publishes the Pulitzer Prize–winning To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, one of the most influential books on race in America, which goes on to sell more than 40 million copies. More