Norton's backlist is one of the most striking in U.S. publishing, marked by titles that "lock into people's brains," make readers look at the world in different ways and "change conversations," as Norton chairman and president Julia Reidhead puts it. These are books with "enduring influence," and she notes that numerous people inside and outside the company can name Norton books that changed their life.
Primarily nonfiction they include, in rough chronological order, Philosophy by Bertrand Russell, The Greek Way by Edith Hamilton, New Introductory Lectures by Sigmund Freud, Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, Childhood and Society by Erik Erikson, The Ugly American by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph P. Lash, Diving Into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972 by Adrienne Rich, Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History by Fawn M. Brodie, American Slavery, American Freedom by Edmund S. Morgan, The Black Unicorn by Audre Lorde, The Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch, The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" by Richard P. Feynman, edited by Ralph Leighton, Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis, Mother Love by Rita Dove, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger, House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III, The Return of Depression Economics by Paul Krugman, Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney, Stiff by Mary Roach, the authorized edition of The 9-11 Commission Report, Give Me Liberty! by Eric Foner, The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed, The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria, The Red Book by Carl Jung, edited by Sonu Shamdasani, The Overstory by Richard Powers, These Truths by Jill Lepore.
The Norton Anthologies also comprise a major part of the Norton backlist, and include The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women, and The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. In addition, the Norton Critical Editions--including hundreds of titles--help students study and appreciate a range of classic works in world literature.
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