{"product_id":"nothing-random-bennett-cerf-and-the-publishing-house-he-built","title":"Nothing Random: Bennett Cerf and the Publishing House He Built","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBy Gayle Feldman\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRandom House\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublished in 2026\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e1,072 pages, 9 x 6 in\u003cbr\u003eHardcover\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"mobile-about-the-book\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"slot product-about 9780394536460 isbn-related seemoreenable show opened\" id=\"seemore-0\"\u003e\n\u003csection class=\"overview\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003eAt midcentury, everyone knew Bennett Cerf: witty, beloved, middle-aged panelist on \u003cem\u003eWhat’s My Line?\u003c\/em\u003e whom TV brought into America’s homes each week. But they didn’t know that the handsome, driven, paradoxical young man of the 1920s had vowed to become a great publisher and, a decade later, was. By then, he’d signed Eugene O’Neill, Gertrude Stein, and William Faulkner, and had fought the landmark censorship case that gave Americans the freedom to read James Joyce’s \u003cem\u003eUlysses\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith his best friend and lifelong business partner Donald Klopfer, and other young Jewish entrepreneurs like the Knopfs and Simon \u0026amp; Schuster, Cerf remade the book business: what was published, and how. In 1925, he and Klopfer bought the Modern Library and turned it into an institution, then founded Random House, which eventually became a home to Truman Capote, Ralph Ellison, Ayn Rand, Dr. Seuss, Toni Morrison, James Michener, and many more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEven before TV, Cerf was a bestselling author and columnist as well as publisher; the show super-charged his celebrity, bringing fame—but also criticism. A brilliant social networker and major influencer before such terms existed, he connected books to Broadway, TV, Hollywood, and politics. A fervent democratizer, he published “high,” “low,” and wide, and from the Roaring Twenties to the Swinging Sixties collected an incredible array of friends, from George Gershwin to Frank Sinatra, having a fabulous time along the way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUsing interviews with more than two hundred individuals, deeply researched archival material, and letters from private collections not previously available, this book brings Bennett Cerf to vibrant life, drawing book lovers into his world, finally laying open the page on a quintessential American original.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection class=\"overview\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection class=\"overview\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection class=\"overview\"\u003e\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlease note this book has limited availability.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eItems ship in 3-5 business days.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"YIVO Institute for Jewish Research","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47536492937434,"sku":null,"price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0648\/4587\/3370\/files\/NothingRandom.jpg?v=1769440963","url":"https:\/\/yivo-institute.myshopify.com\/products\/nothing-random-bennett-cerf-and-the-publishing-house-he-built","provider":"YIVO Institute for Jewish Research","version":"1.0","type":"link"}