ABSTRACT

First published in 1981, this book offers a study of British and American popular fiction in the 1970s, a decade in which the quest for the superseller came to dominate the lives of publishers on both sides of the Atlantic. Illustrated by examples of the lurid incidents that catapult so many books into the bestseller charts, this comprehensive study covers the work of Robbins, Hailey and Maclean, the 'bodice rippers', the disaster craze, horror, war stories and media tie-ins such as The Godfather, Jaws and Star Wars.

chapter |6 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|13 pages

An American kind of book?

chapter 3|6 pages

The Godfather

chapter 4|7 pages

The novels of Arthur Hailey

chapter 6|5 pages

Women’s fiction I: The Thorn Birds

chapter 8|5 pages

Star Wars

chapter 9|9 pages

Alistair MacLean and James Clavell

chapter 10|8 pages

Jaws

chapter 11|5 pages

Harold Robbins: The roman à clef I

chapter 12|5 pages

The roman à clef II

chapter 13|11 pages

Full disclosure: Research and insider novels

chapter 6|8 pages

teen: Images of war I: Secret histories

chapter 18|6 pages

Fashionable crime I: Hijack

chapter 21|6 pages

Nightmare and medicare: Coma

chapter 23|5 pages

Disaster