1954 BASEBALL BLOCKBUSTER still has lots of charm. Faustian plot handled well, and the prose is crisp as an apple.

THE YEAR THE YANKEES LOST THE PENNANT
W. W. Norton
2004

SWEEPING FAMILY SAGA topped US, UK, Canada bestseller lists in 1927. Strong characters and dry humor hold up well.

JALNA
Dundurn Press
2006

1914 BLOCKBUSTER BY Harold Bell Wright has some interesting stuff about old California amid lots of moralizing.

THE EYES OF THE WORLD
(Project Gutenberg)
1914

A RESTLESS NEBRASKA MAN finds purpose while serving in World War I; 1923 Pulitzer winner still tugs heartstrings.

ONE OF OURS
A. A. Knopf
1922

1927 PULITZER PRIZE novel tells the story of a New England family imprisoned by its traditions. Dated but effective.

EARLY AUTUMN: A STORY OF A LADY
Wooster Book Co.
2000

RUSSIAN JEWISH EMIGRÉ finds wealth in 19th century America, but not the happiness he seeks. 1917 smash still stuns.

THE RISE OF DAVID LEVINSKY
Penguin Twentieth Century Classics
1993

A GIRL FROM THE INDIANA WILDERNESS (really!) grows up, amid hardship, with a love of nature in this 1909 bestseller.

A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST
CreateSpace Publishing
2016

CHINESE EMIGRÉ LIFE in 1950s San Francisco, portrayed with a wealth of vivid detail, humor, compassion, and love.

THE FLOWER DRUM SONG
Penguin Books
2002

BRASH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE wins election, plunges US into fascism. Timely? Sure, but sometimes uncomfortably 1936.

IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE (SIGNET CLASSICS)
Signet
2014

THE OLD SOUTH, RICHLY portrayed in 1946 by bestselling Black author Frank Yerby. Gorgeous prose puts GWTW to shame.

THE FOXES OF HARROW
Frank Yerby
2016