1956

The Windward Road: Adventures of a Naturalist on Remote Caribbean Shores, was written by Archie Carr and originally published in 1956. It is an account of Dr. Carr's travels around the Caribbean to study sea turtles and their migratory and behavior patterns, especially Kemp's ridley, a species about which little was known at the time. This book led to the formation of The Brotherhood of the Green Turtle, which later became the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, and is now known as the Sea Turtle Conservancy. It was awarded the 1957 John Burroughs Medal for nature writing, which is awarded annually by the American Museum of Natural History. The chapter entitled "The Black Beach", originally published in Mademoiselle, won a 1956 O. Henry Award.

What Is Philosophy? (German: Was ist das - die Philosophie) is a book by Martin Heidegger, the published version of a lecture course he gave at Cerisy-la-Salle in 1955. It was translated into English by William Kluback and Jean T. Wilde.

Union Democracy: The Internal Politics of the International Typographical Union is a book by Seymour Martin Lipset, Martin Trow and James S. Coleman, originally published by New York Free Press in 1956.

Uncertain glory (in Catalan Incerta glòria) is a novel from the Catalan language writer and editor Joan Sales, first published in September 1956 and extended in successive subsequent editions until the final edition in 1971. However, this latter extension was titled Últimes notícies ("Latest news"), although in later editions it was presented as an independent novel titled El vent de la nit ("The wind of the night"). Written by a witness of the defeated side, it contains no political message neither leaves an easy partisan exaltation. It reflects a pain that survives any propaganda from two factions: both the novel and poetry squires of the Falange as communist or republican writers

A Tree is Nice is a children's picture book written by Janice May Udry and illustrated by Marc Simont. It was published by Harper and Brothers in 1956, and won the Caldecott Medal in 1957. The book tells Udry's poetic opinion on why trees are nice:

Taboo is a monograph based on a series of lectures by Franz Steiner, now considered to be a classic in the field of social anthropology. The volume was published posthumously, edited by Steiner's student Laura Bohannan, and the first edition, brought out in 1956, contained a preface by his mentor E. E. Evans-Pritchard. The lectures analyze one of the great problematic terms of modern ethnography, that of taboo, derived from the Polynesian word tapu, adopted by Western scholars to refer to a generic set of ritual inhibitions governing what was thought to be primitive society or the ‘savage mind’.

Studies in the Labour Theory of Value is a 1956 book about the labor theory of value by Ronald L. Meek.

The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud is a complete edition of the works of Sigmund Freud. It was translated from the German under the general editorship of James Strachey, in collaboration with Anna Freud, assisted by Alix Strachey and Alan Tyson. The Standard Edition (usually abbreviated as SE) consists of 24 volumes, and it was originally published by the Hogarth Press in London in 1956–1974. Unlike the German Gesammelte Werke, the SE contains critical footnotes by the editors. This editorial material has later been included in the German-language Studienausgabe edition of Freud.

Soziologie is a 1956-1958 book by Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy (1888-1973), German social philosopher, addressing the spatial and temporal influences on "human life, language and associations. To Rosenstock-Huessy, speech is central to sociology; sociology must recognize that speech is the concrete form of social reality." Although it is Rosenstock-Huessy’s most systematic work. His Soziologie, has never been translated into English. It is a work that he revised periodically throughout his adult life. The book has two volumes, Band I: Die Übermacht der Räume (Volume 1: Obsession with Spaces) and Band II: Die Vollzahl der Zeiten (Volume 2: The Full Count of Times). Peter Leithart writes on "The Relevance of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy" and his methods:

SF: The Year's Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy is a 1956 anthology of science fiction and fantasy short stories edited by Judith Merril. It was the first in a series of 12 annual anthologies edited by Merrill. Most of the stories originally appeared in the magazines Astounding, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Galaxy Science Fiction, Fantastic Universe, Science-Fantasy, If, Good Housekeeping and Bluebook.

A Sense of Life is the 1965 English translation of Un Sens à la Vie, by the French writer, poet and pioneering aviator, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The original French compilation was published posthumously in 1956 by Editions Gallimard, and translated into English by Adrienne Foulke, with an introduction by Claude Reynal. Saint-Exupéry was killed during the Second World War while flying for the Free French Air Force.

Russia Leaves the War (1956) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by George F. Kennan, which won the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for History, the 1957 National Book Award for Nonfiction,the 1957 George Bancroft Prize, and the 1957 Francis Parkman Prize. The first of two volumes discussing Soviet-American relations from 1917-1920, it covers the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the departure of Russia from World War I in 1918. The second volume, The Decision to Intervene (1958) explores U.S. involvement in Siberia.

The Rules of Russian Orthography and Punctuation (Russian: "Правила русской орфографии и пунктуации", tr.: Pravila russkoj orfografii i punktuacii) of 1956 is the current reference to regulate the modern Russian language. Approved by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Soviet Ministries of Education and Higher Education, it also became the first legally fixed obligatory set of rules. However, it became a rare book and its principles are learned from school-books and manuals based upon it.

The Road of Winds (a.k.a. Gobi Notes) is a non-fiction book by Ivan Yefremov about his three years' travel in Mongolia (1946–1949) when he was the head of the Joint Soviet-Mongolian Paleontology Expedition.

Quiet Days in Clichy is a novella written by Henry Miller. It is based on his experience as a Parisian expatriate in the early 1930s, when he and Alfred Perlès shared a small apartment in suburban Clichy as struggling writers (at 4 Avenue Anatole-France). It takes place around the time Miller was writing Black Spring. According to his photographer friend George Brassaï, Miller admitted the title is "completely misleading."

Profiles in Courage is a 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning volume of short biographies describing acts of bravery and integrity by eight United States Senators throughout the Senate's history. The book profiles senators who defied the opinions of their party and constituents to do what they felt was right and suffered severe criticism and losses in popularity because of their actions. It begins with a quote from Edmund Burke on the courage of the English Statesman, Charles James Fox, in his 1783 attack upon the tyranny of the East India Company in the House of Commons.

The Power Elite is a book written by sociologist C. Wright Mills in 1956. In it Mills calls attention to the interwoven interests of the leaders of the military, corporate, and political elements of society and suggests that the ordinary citizen is a relatively powerless subject of manipulation by those entities.

The Poem of the Man-God (Italian title: Il Poema dell'Uomo-Dio) is a multi volume book of about five thousand pages on the life of Jesus Christ written by Maria Valtorta. The current editions of the book bear the title: The Gospel As Revealed to Me.

Persian Inscriptions on Indian Monuments is a book in Persian language by late minister Dr. Ali Asghar Hekmat E Shirazi which was published 1956 and 1958. It contains the Persian texts of more than 80 excellent epigraphy and inscriptions found in the historical monuments of India, many of which today are included in the national heritage or have been registered as the world heritage by the UNESCO.new edition with extra 200 more excellent epigraphy in the Indian monuments has been published in Persian and the English version also is under print.

The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South is a book about slavery published in 1956 by academic Kenneth M. Stampp of the University of California, Berkeley and other universities.

Panzerschlachten ("Panzer Battles") is the German language title of Major-General Friedrich W. von Mellenthin's autobiographical account of his service in the Panzer arm of the Wehrmacht Heer during World War II. The most prominent English version is Panzer Battles: A Study of the Employment of Armor in the Second World War, 1956 University of Oklahoma Press, translated by H. Betzler and edited by L. C. F. Turner.

Over Seventy is an autobiographical work by P.G. Wodehouse, including a collection of articles originally from Punch magazine. It was first published in the United States on 3 May 1956 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York under the title America, I Like You, and in the United Kingdom, in a considerably expanded form, on October 11, 1957 by Herbert Jenkins, London, with the Over Seventy title and the subtitle An Autobiography with Digressions.

The Outsider is a non-fiction book by Colin Wilson first published in 1956.

The Outdatedness of Human Beings (German: Die Antiquiertheit des Menschen) is a two-volume work by philosopher and journalist Günther Anders. It was first published by C.H. Beck in Munich in 1956. The work has seen several editions in German but has not been translated into English.

Oriental Magic, by Idries Shah, is a study of magical practices in diverse cultures from Europe and Africa, through Asia to the Far East. Originally published in 1956 and still in print today, it was the first of this author’s 35 books. The work was launched with the encouragement of the anthropologist, Professor Louis Marin, who in his preface to the book stressed its "scholarly accuracy" and "real contribution to knowledge".

The Organization Man is a bestselling book by William H. Whyte, originally published by Simon & Schuster in 1956. It is considered one of the most influential books on management ever written.

Noblesse Oblige: An Enquiry Into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy (1956) is a book that purports to be edited by Nancy Mitford, illustrated by Osbert Lancaster, caricaturist of English manners, and published by Hamish Hamilton. The anthology comprises four brief essays by Nancy Mitford, Alan S. C. Ross, "Strix" and Christopher Sykes, a letter by Evelyn Waugh, and a poem written by John Betjeman.

No Moon Tonight is a World War II autobiographical book by Halifax/Lancaster/Wellington bomber navigator Don Charlwood. Born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1915 Charlwood joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1940 and was trained in Canada via the Empire Air Training Scheme. The book covers his training and his experiences as part of the RAF's Bomber Command, and his crew's ordeal completing their tour of operations. The book's title is derived from a line in the song Tristesse that was often played in the mess before a mission.

The Muses Are Heard is an early journalistic work of Truman Capote. Originally published in The New Yorker, it is a narrative account of the cultural mission by The Everyman's Opera to the U.S.S.R. in the mid-1950s.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Baxter was a novel written and published in 1956 by American author Edward Streeter. It was preceded in his list of novels by Mr. Hobbs' Vacation in 1954, and followed by Mr. Robbins Rides Again in 1958. It is a humorous view of a successful businessman's methodical approach to "this Christmas business", contrasted with his wife's chiding scorn over his "typical businessman's approach to something beautiful and intangible". The book was published in the fall of 1956 by Harper & Brothers, New York, and is 181 pages in length in the original edition. The illustrations were by Dorthea Warren Fox. The book is divided into four sections: "October", "November", "December", and "Christmas Eve", which are further divided by numbered chapters. A Reader's Digest Condensed Books edition was also published in the Fall of 1956, with illustrations by Charles Hawes.

The Memoirs of an Amnesiac is the autobiography of composer, radio, and television personality Oscar Levant. Published in 1965 by G. P. Putnam's Sons, it was Levant's second best-seller, following a quarter-century after his first book, A Smattering of Ignorance.

Madeline's Christmas is an illustrated children's book by Ludwig Bemelmans. It features popular children's character Madeline. It was first published in 1956 as a special book insert to McCalls Magazine.. And not issued independently until 1985.

Madeline and the Bad Hat is an illustrated children's novel by Ludwig Bemelmans featuring the popular children's character Madeline. First published by Viking Press in 1956.

Lucky Luke contre Phil Defer is a Lucky Luke adventure in French, written and illustrated by Morris it was the eighth title in the original series and was published by Dupuis in 1956. Phil Defer is a caricature of Jack Palance; the name means 'barbed wire' (Fil de fer).

Lost Trails of the Transvaal is a history book written by TV Bulpin.

Let Us Compare Mythologies is the first poetry book by Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen. Written in 1956, shortly after Cohen left McGill University where he studied English literature, it was first published as part of the McGill Poetry Series operated by Louis Dudek. In 2007, the book returned to print in a 50th anniversary facsimile edition, published by Ecco Press.

The Last Grain Race is a 1956 book by Eric Newby, a travel writer, about his time spent on the four-masted steel barque Moshulu during the vessel's last voyage in the Australian grain trade.

Lady Sings the Blues (1956) is an autobiography by jazz singer Billie Holiday, which was co-authored by William Dufty.

Kenny's Window is the first children’s book written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. It tells the story of a young boy’s quest for a garden that he sees in his dream, which involves answering seven questions given to him by a four legged rooster in that dream. His toys and stuffed animals help him along the way.

Italian Folktales (Fiabe italiane) is a collection of 200 Italian folktales published in 1956 by Italo Calvino. Calvino began the project in 1954, influenced by Vladimir Propp's Morphology of the Folktale; his intention was to emulate the Straparola in producing a popular collection of Italian fairy tales for the general reader. He did not compile tales from listeners, but made extensive use of the existing work of folklorists; he noted the source of each individual tale, but warned that was merely the version he used.

Inside the Atom is a popular science book by American author Isaac Asimov. The first edition of the book was published in 1956 by Abelard-Schuman. Revised editions were brought out in subsequent years.

Initiation into Hermetics is the title of the English translation of Franz Bardon's first of three volumes concerning self-realization in line with the Hermetic tradition.

The book In the Shadow of Your Wings (Unter dem Schatten deiner Flügel) contains well-chosen diary recordings which Jochen Klepper wrote down in the time from April, 1932 to 10 December 1942. The choice appeared first in 1956.

In Search of Wonder: Essays on Modern Science Fiction is a collection of critical essays by Damon Knight. Most of the material in the original version of the book was originally published between 1952 and 1955 in various science fiction magazines including Infinity Science Fiction, Original SF Stories, and Future SF. The essays were highly influential, and contributed to Knight's stature as the foremost critic of science fiction of his generation. The book also constitutes an informal record of the "Boom Years" of science fiction from 1950-1955.

If I Ran the Circus is a children's book by Dr. Seuss, published in 1956 by Random House.

I, Libertine was a literary hoax novel that began as a practical joke by late-night radio raconteur Jean Shepherd.

Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life? is a 1956 book about homosexuality by the psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler, who argues that homosexuality is a disease and that legal restrictions on homosexuality are necessary. The book provoked rage.

A History of the English-Speaking Peoples is a four-volume history of Britain and its former colonies and possessions throughout the world, written by Winston Churchill, covering the period from Caesar's invasions of Britain (55 BC) to the beginning of the First World War (1914). It was started in 1937 and finally published 1956–58, delayed several times by war and his work on other texts. The volumes have been abridged into a single-volume, concise edition.

Highways in Hiding is a science fiction novel by author George O. Smith. It was published in 1956 by Gnome Press in an edition of 4,000 copies. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine Imagination in 1955. An abridged version was published by Avon Books in 1957 under the title Space Plague.

Harry the Dirty Dog is a children's book written by Gene Zion and illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham. Originally published in black and white in 1956, it was reprinted in 2002 with splashes of color added by the original artist. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association named the book one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children."

The Future of Socialism by Anthony Crosland, published in 1956, is regarded as one of the most influential books in post-war British Labour Party thinking and the seminal work of the 'revisionist' school of Labour politics.

Factor T is a book first published in 1956 written by the Polish writer, philosopher, filmmaker, composer and poet Stefan Themerson. It was originally written as a letter to Bertrand Russell.

The Faber Book of Modern American Verse was a poetry anthology edited by W. H. Auden, and published in London in 1956 by Faber and Faber. Auden had moved from the UK to the United States in 1939, and had been directly involved in the American poetry scene, particularly through his time spent on the Yale Younger Poets.

First published in 1956, The Drunken Forest is an account of a six-month trip Gerald Durrell made with his wife Jacquie to South America (Argentina and Paraguay) in 1954.

Le dictateur et le champignon, written and drawn by Franquin, is the seventh album of the Spirou et Fantasio series. After serial publication in Spirou magazine, the story was released as a hardcover album in 1956.

Defeat into Victory is an account of the retaking of Burma by Allied forces during the Second World War by the British Field Marshal William Slim and published in the UK by Cassell in 1956. It was published in the United States as Defeat into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945 by David McKay of New York in 1961.

Commentaries on Living: From the notebooks of J. Krishnamurti is a series of books by Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986). It consists of 3 volumes, originally published in 1956, 1958 and 1960.

The Circus of Dr. Lao and Other Improbable Stories was an anthology of fantasy stories edited by Ray Bradbury and published in 1956. Many of the stories had originally appeared in various magazines including The New Yorker, Charm, Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine, Harper's, and Unknown.

The Calculus Affair (French: L'Affaire Tournesol) is the eighteenth volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The story was initially serialised weekly in Belgium's Tintin magazine from December 1954 to February 1956 before being published in a collected volume by Casterman in 1956. The narrative follows the attempts of the young reporter Tintin, his dog Snowy, and his friend Captain Haddock to rescue Professor Calculus, a scientist who has developed a machine capable of destroying objects with sound waves, after the latter is the subject of kidnapping attempts from the competing European countries of Borduria and Syldavia.

The Black March (ISBN 0-553-20125-5) is an autobiography of a SS man published by Bantam Books. The book is a collection of key entries in the journal of Peter Neumann, a boy inducted from the Hitler Youth into the Schutzstaffel.

A Bibliographical Guide to the Law of the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man is a bibliography of law. It was published by the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies of the University of London. The first edition was edited by Frederick Henry Lawson and H K Drake. It was published in 1956. It is "most comprehensive" and of "high merit and painstaking efficiency". The second edition was edited by A G Chloros and published in 1973. It is "useful".

The Best Science Fiction Stories and Novels: 1956 is a 1956 anthology of science fiction short stories edited by T. E. Dikty. The stories had originally appeared in 1955 and 1956 in the magazines Startling Stories, Astounding, Galaxy Science Fiction, Imaginative Tales, Fantastic Universe, Fantasy and Science Fiction and If.

The Baptist Hymnal is the primary book of hymns and songs used for Christian worship in churches affiliated with the United States denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention.

At The Forks of the Grand is a detailed history of the town of Paris, Ontario, Canada. Volume I (published in 1956) covers the historical period of 1793-1920. Volume II is a collection of anecdotes covering people and events from 1840 to 1939.

The Art of Loving is a 1956 book by psychanalyst and social philosopher Erich Fromm, which was published as part of the "World Perspectives Series" edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen. In this work, Fromm recapitulated and complemented the theoretical principles of human nature found in Fromm's Escape from Freedom and Man for Himself – principles which were revisited in many of his other major works.

The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality is a book written by Austrian School economist and libertarian thinker Ludwig von Mises. It is an investigation into the psychological roots of the anti-capitalistic stance that is widespread in the general populations of the capitalist world. Von Mises suggests various reasons for this mentality, primarily his claim that free competition in the market economy allows for no excuses of one's failures.

The Anguish Languish, an ersatz language constructed from English language words, was created by Howard L. Chace, who collected his stories and poems in the book Anguish Languish (Prentice-Hall, 1956). It is not really a language but rather a homophonic transformation created as a work of humor. Example: "Mural: Yonder nor sorghum stenches shut ladle gulls stopper torque wet strainers." This means: Moral: Under no circumstances should little girls stop to talk with strangers.

1975 in Prophecy! is a digest-sized booklet warning of a then-upcoming nuclear war and subsequent enslavement of mankind, leading to the return of Jesus Christ as a benign dictator. It was written by Herbert W. Armstrong and illustrated by Basil Wolverton of Mad magazine fame, and published in 1956 by the Worldwide Church of God (WCG).

Andersonville is a novel by MacKinlay Kantor concerning the Confederate prisoner of war camp, Andersonville prison, during the American Civil War (1861–1865). The novel was originally published in 1955, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction the following year.

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch is a novel by Jean Lee Latham that was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1956.

Nobel Prize in Literature 1925

Mio, My Son is a children's book by Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren. It was first published in 1954 in Sweden, with the Swedish title Mio, min Mio. The writing is stylised and the story strongly reminiscent of traditional fairy tales and folklore. It received a German Youth Literature Prize (Deutschen Jugendbuchpreis) in 1956. The book is 258 pages long.

The Happy Lion (ISBN 0-375-82759-5) is a 1954 children's picture book by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin. In the book, the Happy Lion lives in a small zoo in France. When he escapes, he is surprised that people are now scared of him.

The Third Eye is a book published by Secker & Warburg in November 1956. It was originally claimed that the book was written by a Tibetan monk named Tuesday Lobsang Rampa.

'The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster' is a 9,000 word essay by Norman Mailer that recorded a number of young white people between the 1920 and 1950s who liked jazz and swing music, and who were so dis-enthralled with what they saw as a conformist culture, that they adopted black culture as their own. The essay was first published in the Summer 1957 issue of Dissent, before being published separately by City Lights. It later appeared in Advertisements for Myself in 1959.

Mysterium Coniunctionis, subtitled An Inquiry into the Separation and Synthesis of Psychic Opposites in Alchemy, is Volume 14 in The Collected Works of C. G. Jung, published by Princeton University Press in the United States and by Routledge & Kegan Paul in the United Kingdom. Completed in his 81st year, it is Carl Jung's last major work on the synthesis of opposites in alchemy and psychology.

My Family and Other Animals is an autobiographical work by naturalist Gerald Durrell, telling of the part of his childhood he spent on the Greek island of Corfu between 1935 and 1939. It describes the life of the Durrell family on the island in a humorous manner, and also richly discusses the fauna of the island. It is the first and most famous of Durrell's Corfu trilogy, together with Birds, Beasts, and Relatives, and The Garden of the Gods.

Aniara (Swedish: Aniara : en revy om människan i tid och rum) is a poem of science fiction written by the Swedish Nobel laureate Harry Martinson in 1956. It was published on 13 October 1956. The title comes from ancient Greek ἀνιαρός, "sad, despairing", plus special resonances that the sound "a" had for Martinson.

Howl and Other Poems is a collection of poetry by Allen Ginsberg published November 1, 1956. It contains Ginsberg's most famous poem, "Howl", which is considered to be one of the principal works of the Beat Generation as well as "A Supermarket in California", "Transcription of Organ Music", "Sunflower Sutra", "America", "In the Baggage Room at Greyhound", and some of his earlier works. For printing the collection, the publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti, another well-known poet, was arrested and charged with obscenity. On October 3, 1957, Judge Clayton W. Horn found Ferlinghetti not guilty of the obscenity charge, and 5,000 more copies of the text were printed to meet the public demand, which had risen in response to the publicity surrounding the trial. "Howl and Other Poems" contains two of the most well-known poems from the Beat Generation, "Howl" and "A Supermarket in California", which have been reprinted in other collections, including the Norton Anthology of American Literature.

Chicken Soup with Barley is a 1956 play by British playwright Arnold Wesker. It is the first of a trilogy and was first performed on stage in 1958 at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, where Wesker's two other plays of that trilogy—Roots and I'm Talking About Jerusalem—also premiered. The play is split into three acts, each with two scenes.

Rokumeikan is a four-act costume drama by the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. It was commissioned by the Bungakuza group for its 20th anniversary, and its first run was from 27 November to 9 December 1956 at the Daiichi Seimei Hall, with Haruko Sugimura playing Asako and Nobuo Nakamura playing Kageyama. The text was published in the December 1956 issue of Bungakukai.

A View from the Bridge is a play by American playwright Arthur Miller, first staged on September 29, 1955 as a one-act verse drama with A Memory of Two Mondays at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway. The play was unsuccessful and Miller subsequently revised the play to contain two acts; this version is the one with which audiences are most familiar today. The two-act version premièred in the New Watergate theatre club in London's West End under the direction of Peter Brook on October 11, 1956.

Siwan is a play written in the Welsh language by Saunders Lewis, first produced in 1956. The first English language translation of the play (sometimes known by the alternative title The King of England’s Daughter) appeared in 1960.

The Visit (German: Der Besuch der alten Dame) is a 1956 tragicomic play by Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt.

The Tale of the Heike (平家物語, Heike Monogatari?) is an epic account compiled long prior 1330 of the struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180-1185). Heike (平家) refers to the Taira (平) clan; "hei" being an alternate reading of the first kanji (character) of Taira. Note that in the title of the Genpei War, "hei" is in this combination read as "pei" and the "gen" (源) is the first kanji used in the Minamoto (also known as Genji) clan's name. The Tale of Heike is often likened to a Japanese Iliad.

The Wizard of Linn is a science fiction novel written by A. E. van Vogt and a sequel to Empire of the Atom. The novel was originally serialized in the science fiction magazine Astounding Science Fiction (April - June 1950). It was first published in book form in Germany in 1961 by Terra Sonderband, as Der Zauberer Von Linn.

Eloise is a series of children's books written in the 1950s by Kay Thompson (1909–1998) and illustrated by Hilary Knight (b. 1926). Thompson and Knight followed up Eloise (1955) with four sequels.

Boon Island is a barren piece of land located in the Gulf of Maine 6 miles (10 km) off the town of York on the Maine coast. The island is approximately 300 by 700 feet (90 by 210 m) in size, and is the site of Boon Island Light, the tallest lighthouse in New England.

Misty of Chincoteague is a children's novel written by Marguerite Henry, illustrated by Wesley Dennis, and published by Rand McNally in 1947. Set in the island town of Chincoteague, Virginia, the book tells the story of the Beebe family and their efforts to raise a filly born to a wild horse. It was one of the runners-up for the annual Newbery Medal, now called Newbery Honor Books. The 1961 film Misty was based on the book.

The Roots of Heaven (French: Les Racines du ciel) is a 1956 novel by the French writer Romain Gary. It received the Prix Goncourt. John Huston directed a 1958 Hollywood film with the same title based on the novel.

The Fall (French: La Chute) is a philosophical novel written by Albert Camus. First published in 1956, it is his last complete work of fiction. Set in Amsterdam, The Fall consists of a series of dramatic monologues by the self-proclaimed "judge-penitent", Jean-Baptiste Clamence, as he reflects upon his life to a stranger. In what amounts to a confession, Clamence tells of his success as a wealthy Parisian defense lawyer who was highly respected by his colleagues; his crisis, and his ultimate "fall" from grace, was meant to invoke, in secular terms, The Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. The Fall explores themes of innocence, imprisonment, non-existence, and truth. In a eulogy to Albert Camus, existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre described the novel as "perhaps the most beautiful and the least understood" of Camus' books.

Giovanni's Room is a 1956 novel by James Baldwin. The book focuses on the events in the life of an American man living in Paris and his feelings and frustrations with his relationships with other men in his life, particularly an Italian bartender named Giovanni whom he meets at a Parisian gay bar.

Question and Answer is a science fiction novel by Poul Anderson that originally appeared in the June and July 1954 issues of Astounding Science Fiction. It was reprinted in 1956 as part of Ace Double D-199 under the title Planet of No Return, and again as a stand-alone Ace novel in February 1978 under the original title.

That Uncertain Feeling is a comic novel by Kingsley Amis, first published in 1955.

Scientific American (informally abbreviated SciAm) is an American popular science magazine. It has a long history of presenting scientific information on a monthly basis to the general educated public, with careful attention to the clarity of its text and the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein, have contributed articles in the past 170 years. It is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States.

The Ladder was the first nationally distributed lesbian publication in the United States. It was published monthly from 1956 to 1970, and once every other month in 1971 and 1972. It was the primary publication and method of communication for the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian organization in the US. It was supported by ONE, Inc. and the Mattachine Society, with whom the DOB retained friendly relations. The name of the magazine was derived from the artwork on its first cover, simple line drawings showing figures moving towards a ladder that disappeared into the clouds.

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation. Its franchise successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968.

www.express.co.uk

Royal Court Theatre London

Richard III is a 1955 British Technicolor film adaptation of William Shakespeare's historical play of the same name, also incorporating elements from his Henry VI, Part 3. It was directed and produced by Laurence Olivier, who also played the lead role. The cast includes many noted Shakespearean actors, including a quartet of acting knights. The film depicts Richard plotting and conspiring to grasp the throne from his brother King Edward IV, played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke. In the process, many are killed and betrayed, with Richard's evil leading to his own downfall. The prologue of the film states that history without its legends would be "a dry matter indeed", implicitly admitting to the artistic licence that Shakespeare applied to the events of the time.

Long Day's Journey into Night is a drama in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1941–42 but only published in 1956. The play is widely considered to be his masterwork and magnum opus. O'Neill posthumously received the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work. Long Day's Journey into Night is often regarded to be one of the finest American plays of the 20th century.

The Wreck of the Mary Deare is a 1956 novel written by British author Hammond Innes, which was later adapted as a film starring Gary Cooper released in 1959 by MGM. It tells the story of a very old ship described as "A deathtrap of rattling rivets", which is found adrift at sea by salvageer John Sands. Sands boards it hoping to claim it for salvage, but finds the first officer, Gideon Patch, still aboard and trying to run the ship on his own. Patch convinces Sands to help him beach the ship, even though it will void his salvage claim. When they return to London, Patch is brought before a board of inquiry to determine what happened. It soon becomes apparent that the ship owners were planning to wreck the Mary Deare all along and have Patch as the fall guy. This is a story that is very well written, and full of suspense, emotion and excitement. The book is MUCH better than the movie turned out to be. . Well worth buying and reading.

The World Jones Made is a 1956 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick examining notions of precognition, humanity, and politics. It was first published by Ace Books as one half of Ace Double D-150, bound dos-à-dos with Agent of the Unknown by Margaret St. Clair.

The Willing Flesh (German: Das Geduldige Fleisch, 1955) (English translation released 1956) is a novel by Willi Heinrich, chronicling the Eastern Front combat experiences of a depleted infantry platoon during the 1943 German retreat from the Taman Peninsula in the Caucasian coast of Russia.

Wildfire at Midnight is a novel by Mary Stewart, first published in 1956. Stewart herself described the book as "an attempt at something different, the classic closed-room detective story with restricted action, a biggish cast, and a closely circular plot".

A Walk on the Wild Side is a 1956 novel by Nelson Algren, most often quoted as the source for Algren's "three rules of life": "Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own."

Volcano Adventure is a 1956 children's book by the Canadian-born American author Willard Price featuring his "Adventure" series characters, Hal and Roger Hunt. It depicts a journey to several of the world's most dangerous volcanoes. The story involves the brothers meeting a volcanologist and deals with volcanology, perhaps one of the more scientific of Price's novels.

Train To Pakistan is a historical novel by Khushwant Singh, published in 1956. It recounts the Partition of India in August 1947. Instead of depicting the Partition in terms of only the political events surrounding it, Singh digs into a deep local focus, providing a human dimension which brings to the event a sense of reality, horror, and believability.

The Towers of Trebizond is a novel by Rose Macaulay (1881–1958). Published in 1956, it was the last of her novels, and the most successful. It was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction in the year of its publication.

To Live Forever is a science fiction novel by Jack Vance, first published in 1956. In the Vance Integral Edition, it was retitled Clarges.

Time for the Stars is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published by Scribner's in 1956 as one of the Heinlein juveniles. The basic plot line is derived from a 1911 thought experiment in special relativity, commonly called the twin paradox, proposed by French physicist Paul Langevin.

Time for a Tiger is part one of Anthony Burgess's Malayan Trilogy The Long Day Wanes, "the first panel of a triptych" set in the twilight of British rule of the peninsula.

Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold is a 1956 novel by C. S. Lewis. It is a retelling of Cupid and Psyche, based on its telling in a chapter of The Golden Ass of Apuleius. This story had haunted Lewis all his life, because he realized that some of the main characters' actions were illogical. As a consequence, his retelling of the story is characterized by a highly developed character, the narrator, with the reader being drawn into her reasoning and her emotions. This was his last novel, and he considered it his most mature, written in conjunction with his wife, Joy Davidman.

A Thing of Beauty is a novel by author A. J. Cronin, initially published in 1956, with the alternate title of Crusader's Tomb. It tells the story of Stephen Desmonde, an English painter who struggles for recognition in a conventional world, sacrificing everything for his passion for art. The title is a reference to John Keats' 1818 poem, Endymion, which begins with "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever."

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (金閣寺, Kinkaku-ji?) is a novel by the Japanese author Yukio Mishima. It was published in 1956 and translated into English by Ivan Morris in 1959.

Tales of a Long Night (German: Hamlet oder Die lange Nacht nimmt ein Ende) (1956) is the last novel of German author Alfred Döblin. Set in England immediately after the Second World War, the novel narrates the story of Edward Allison, an English soldier who had been badly wounded during the war. Back among his family, Edward must deal with his war trauma, long buried family conflicts, and his destabilized sense of self. The novel treats such themes as the search for the self, guilt and responsibility, the struggle between the sexes, war and violence, and religion, among others.

Sword Stained with Royal Blood is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It was first serialised in the Hong Kong newspaper Hong Kong Commercial Daily between 1 January 1956 and 31 December 1956. The book has three editions. Some characters from the novel play minor roles or are simply mentioned by name in The Deer and the Cauldron, another of Jin Yong's works.

Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet is the second in the series of Mushroom Planet books by Eleanor Cameron, and was published in 1956, two years after the original.

The Stars My Destination is a science fiction novel by Alfred Bester. Originally serialized in Galaxy magazine in four parts beginning with the October 1956 issue, it first appeared in book form in the United Kingdom as Tiger! Tiger! – after William Blake's poem "The Tyger", the first verse of which is printed as the first page of the novel – and the book remains widely known under that title in markets where this edition was circulated. A working title for the novel was Hell's My Destination, and it was also associated with the name The Burning Spear.

Spring Silkworms (Chun Can) is a novella by the Chinese author Mao Dun about the experience of Chinese villagers engaging in sericulture.

Sprig Muslin is a Regency romance novel by Georgette Heyer. The story is set in 1813.

The Song of the Red Ruby (Sangen om den røde rubin, 1956) is a Norwegian novel written by Agnar Mykle. It's a story of the young Ask Burlefot's personal ride through shame and letdowns that eventually leads to a closer and deeper understanding of himself. It was controversial in Norway at the time of publication and ended in court - as the so-called Mykle Case. This controversy was due to the explicit sexual descriptions in the adventures of the potent main character. The Song of the Red Ruby can also be viewed in connection with Lasso round the moon (novel, 1954), Tyven, tyven skal du hete (novel, 1951) and Rubicon (novel, 1965) as they all have a young man as the protagonist.

Slave Ship is a 1956 short science fiction novel by Frederik Pohl, originally serialized in Galaxy. The scene is a world in the throes of a low-intensity global war, which appears to be an amplified representation of the Vietnam War, in which the U.S. was just beginning to be involved. The plot involves telepathy, speaking to animals, and, in the last few pages, an invasion by extraterrestrials.

January 2015

Silver Canyon is a novel written by Louis L'Amour set in south-central Utah Territory in 1881. It was originally published in a shorter version, named Riders of the Dawn, in the magazine Giant Western in June 1951. It then was published in hardback in 1956 by Avalon Books and in paperback by Bantam Books in 1957.

The Shrinking Man is a novel by Richard Matheson published in 1956. It has been adapted into a motion picture twice, called The Incredible Shrinking Man in 1957, and The Incredible Shrinking Woman in 1981, both by Universal Pictures. Another adaptation of the story has been proposed, which has been pushed back several times from 2001 to the current day. The novel was retitled The Incredible Shrinking Man in later editions. In 2012 it was included (under the original title) in the Library of America two-volume boxed set American Science Fiction: Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s, edited by Gary K. Wolfe.

Shining Harvest is an Australian novel by E. V. Timms. It was the ninth in his Great South Land Saga of novels.

The Shield Ring is a historical novel for children written by Rosemary Sutcliff and published in 1956. It is the last in a sequence of novels, chronologically started with The Eagle of the Ninth, loosely tracing a family of the Roman Empire, then Britain, and finally Norse-Britain, who inherit an emerald seal ring bearing the insignia of a dolphin.

Sheepdog Glory is a novel written by Roy Saunders in 1956. It is a biography of Toss, a border collie herding dog owned by Saunders. The novel chronicles Toss's development from a puppy to a winner of the annual sheepdog trials. It is set in the framework of a Welsh shepherd's calendar, and follows the mixed fortunes of the hill shepherd's daily life.

The Settlers (Swedish: Nybyggarna) is a novel by Vilhelm Moberg from 1956. It is the third and the longest part of the series The Emigrants.

Seize the Day, first published in 1956, is considered (by, for example, prominent critic James Wood) one of the great works of 20th century literature. Seize the Day was Saul Bellow's fourth novel. It was written in the 1950s, a formative period in the creation of the middle class in the United States.

The Roots of Heaven (French: Les Racines du ciel) is a 1956 novel by the French writer Romain Gary. It received the Prix Goncourt. John Huston directed a 1958 Hollywood film with the same title based on the novel.

The Room on the Roof is a novel written by Ruskin Bond. It was Bond's first literary venture. The novel revolves around Rusty, an orphaned sixteen-year-old Anglo-Indian boy living in Dehradun. Due to his guardian, Mr. Harrison's strict ways, he runs away from his home to live with his Indian friends. Bond wrote the novel when he was seventeen and won the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957.

The Return of Tharn is a fantasy novel by Howard Browne. It was first published in book form in 1956 by The Grandon Company in an edition of 500 copies, of which 350 were bound. The novel was originally serialized in three parts in the magazine Amazing Stories beginning in October, 1948. The book is a sequel to Browne's Warrior of the Dawn (1943).

Ragazzi di vita (Italian pronunciation: ; English: literally boys of life, idiomatically hustlers) is a novel by Italian author, poet and intellectual Pier Paolo Pasolini. It was published in 1956.

The Power is a 1956 science fiction novel by Frank M. Robinson. Its protagonist, a researcher named Tanner, discovers evidence of a person with psychic abilities among his coworkers. As he tries to uncover the superhuman, his existence is erased and his associates murdered, until he faces a showdown with an apparently undefeatable opponent.

Plague Ship is a science fiction novel by author Andrew North (pseudonym of Alice Mary Norton, also known as Andre Norton). It was published in 1956 by Gnome Press in an edition of 5,000 copies. The book is the second volume of the author's Solar Queen series.

Pincher Martin: The Two Deaths of Christopher Martin (often referred to simply as Pincher Martin), is a novel by British writer William Golding, first published in 1956. It is Golding's third novel, directly following The Inheritors, which in turn came after his magnum opus and debut Lord of the Flies.

Peyton Place is a 1956 novel by Grace Metalious. It sold 60,000 copies within the first ten days of its release and remained on the New York Times best seller list for 59 weeks. It was adapted as both a 1957 film and a 1964–69 television series.

Petelinji zajtrk is a novel by Slovenian author Feri Lainšček. It was first published in 1999.

The Pawns of Null-A is a 1956 science fiction novel by A. E. van Vogt originally published as a four-part serial in Astounding Stories from October 1948 to January 1949 (this leads to the mistaken idea that the book was published in 1948 due to the copyright notice). It incorporates concepts from the General semantics of Alfred Korzybski and refers to non-Aristotelian logic. It was published in the UK under the name The Players of Null-A.

Patrick Butler for the Defence, first published in 1956, is a detective story by John Dickson Carr which features Carr's series detective Patrick Butler (who appeared in only two novels). This novel is a mystery of the type known as a whodunnit.

Palace Walk (Arabic title بين القصرين) is a novel by Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, and the first installment of Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy. Originally published in 1956 with the title Bayn al-qasrayn (lit. Between the Two Palaces), the book was translated into English in 1990. The setting of the novel is Cairo during and just after World War I.

Old Yeller is a 1956 children's novel written by Fred Gipson and illustrated by Carl Burger, which received a retroactive Newbery Honor in 1969. The title is taken from the name of the yellow dog who is the center of the book's story. In 1957 Walt Disney released a film adaptation starring Tommy Kirk, Fess Parker, Dorothy McGuire, Kevin Corcoran, Jeff York, and Beverly Washburn.

The Nun's Story is a 1956 novel by Kathryn Hulme. The book was a Book of the Month selection and reached #1 on the New York Times best-seller list.

Not by Bread Alone (Russian: "Не хлебом единым") is a 1956 novel by the Soviet author Vladimir Dudintsev. The novel, published in installments in the journal Novy Mir, was a sensation in the USSR. The tale of an engineer who is opposed by bureaucrats in seeking to implement his invention came to be a literary symbol of the Khrushchev Thaw.

No Man Friday (also known in the United States as First on Mars) is a British science fiction novel by Rex Gordon (Stanley Bennett Hough) published in 1956. The reference in the original title is to Robinson Crusoe, and the story can be described as a science fiction robinsonade set on Mars. The similarity is made explicit by the first edition cover.

Never the Same Again is a 1956 Bildungsroman by Jerry Tschappat, written under the name Gerald Tesch.

Nedjma is a novel by Kateb Yacine published in 1956. It tells the story of four young men (Mustapha, Lakhdar, Rachid, Mourad) who fall in love with Nedjma, daughter of an Algerian and a French woman, during the French colonization of Algeria. It is set in the east of Algeria, with most of the action taking place in the region around Constantine and Annaba (referred to by its French name, Bône, in the text).

The Naked Sun is an English language science fiction novel, the second in Isaac Asimov's Robot series. Like its famous predecessor, The Caves of Steel, this is a whodunit story. The book was first published in 1957 after being serialized in Astounding Science Fiction and Fact between October and December 1956.

The Mystery of the Missing Man, published 1956, is the thirteenth novel in the "Five Find-Outers" written by Enid Blyton.

The Mugger is a (1956) novel by Ed McBain, the second in his 87th Precinct series. It was adapted for a film of the same name in 1958. In 2002 the author wrote an introduction to this and to his earlier novel Cop Hater when both were published in an omnibus edition.

Mrtvo morje is a novel by Slovenian author Beno Zupančič. It was first published in 1956.

Miracles on Maple Hill is a 1956 novel by Virginia Sorensen that won the 1957 Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature.

Might as Well Be Dead is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1956. The story was also collected in the omnibus volume Three Aces (Viking 1971).

The Man Who Japed is a science fiction novel written by Philip K. Dick, first published in 1956. Although one of Dick's lesser-known novels, it features several of the ideas and themes that recur throughout his later works. The "jape" or practical jokes of the novel begin with a statue's unconventional decapitation.

Maigret's Failure (French: Un échec de Maigret) is a detective novel by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon featuring his famous creation Jules Maigret.

Mad River is a western novel by Donald Hamilton.

Lucy Crown is a novel by Irwin Shaw first published in 1956. It is about a wife and mother—the eponymous character—who, in the summer of 1937, begins an affair with a young man whom the Crowns have hired as a companion for their fragile son Tony.

Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury is the fourth novel in the Lucky Starr series, six juvenile science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov that originally appeared under the pseudonym Paul French. The novel was first published by Doubleday & Company in March 1956. Since 1972, reprints have included a foreword by Asimov explaining that advancing knowledge of conditions on Mercury have rendered some of the novel's descriptions of that world inaccurate.

Luca's Secret (Italian: Il Segreto di Luca) is a 1956 romance novel by Ignazio Silone. The romance is set in Marsica, Abruzzo.

Lost in the Barrens is a children's novel by Farley Mowat, first published in 1956. Some editions used the title Two Against the North.

The Lonely Londoners is a 1956 novel by Trinidadian author Samuel Selvon. Its publication marked the first literary work focusing on poor, working-class blacks in the beat writer tradition following the enactment of the British Nationality Act 1948.

Like One of the Family is a novel by Alice Childress. It was originally published in 1956 by Independence Publishers in Brooklyn, New York. It was re-published by Beacon Press in Boston in 1986. Each chapter, 62 in all, is told from the perspective of Mildred, a domestic worker in New York City, to her friend Marge, also a domestic worker. The chapters originally appeared with the title "Conversation from Life" in the black Marxist newspaper Freedom (founded by Paul Robeson), and later were published in the Baltimore Afro-American. Literary scholar Trudier Harris notes that, in creating Mildred, "Childress may have been influenced by Langston Hughes's Jesse B. Simple... a gregarious, beer-loving, bar-hopping Harlemite who shared his adventures in the white world and his homely philosophies."

A Legacy is a semi-autobiographical novel by Sybille Bedford first published in 1956. It depicts a fictionalized version of the marriage of her parents and the troublesome relations of their two families. Their familial tumults and tragedies are set in the newly unified Germany. The book explores Prussian militarism in the years approaching the First World War.

The Last of the Wine is Mary Renault's first novel set in ancient Greece, the setting that would become her most important arena. The novel was published in 1956 and is the second of her works to feature male homosexuality as a major theme. It was a bestseller within the gay community. The book is a portrait of Athens at the close of the Golden Age and the end of the Peloponnesian War with Sparta, and includes Socrates as a character.

The Last Hurrah is a 1956 novel written by Edwin O'Connor. It is considered the most popular of O’Connor's works, partly because of a significant 1958 movie adaptation starring Spencer Tracy. The novel was immediately a bestseller in the United States for 20 weeks, and was also on lists for bestseller of that year. The Last Hurrah won the 1955 Atlantic Prize Novel award, and was highlighted by the Book-of-the-Month Club and Reader's Digest. The Last Hurrah received very positive critical reviews, including an "ecstatic" one from the New York Times Book Review.

The Last Battle is a high fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by The Bodley Head in 1956. It was the seventh and final novel in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956). Like the others it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes and her work has been retained in many later editions.

The Key (Kagi, 鍵), is a novel written by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki in 1956. The story was translated into English by Howard Hibbett and published by Vintage International Books.

Imperial Woman is a novel by Pearl S. Buck first published in 1956.

The Image (or in French "L'Image") is a classic 1956 sadomasochistic erotic novel, written by Catherine Robbe-Grillet and published under the pseudonym of Jean de Berg by éditions de Minuit in 1956.

The Hunters is James Salter's debut novel and a tale of USAF fighter pilots during the Korean War, first published in 1956. The novel was the basis for a 1958 film by the same name starring Robert Mitchum and Robert Wagner with a very different storyline.

The Hundred and One Dalmatians, or the Great Dog Robbery is a 1956 children's novel by Dodie Smith about the robbery of the titular family of 101 Dalmatian dogs. A sequel, The Starlight Barking, continues from the end of the first novel.

Houseboy is a novel in the form of a diary written by Ferdinand Oyono, first published in 1956 by in French as Une vie de boy (Paris: René Julliard) and translated into English in 1966 by John Reed for Heinemann's African Writers Series.

The House of Sixty Fathers is a children's novel by Meindert DeJong first published in 1956. Illustrations were provided by Maurice Sendak. The novel was based on the author's own experiences as a military flier in China during the second world war.

The Hidden Window Mystery is the thirty-fourth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1956 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Harriet Stratemeyer Adams.

Harry Black (1956) is a novel by David Walker. It was adapted into a film of the same name. It was published by Collins of London.

The Golden Ocean is a historical novel written by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1956. It tells the story of a novice midshipman, Peter Palafox, who joins George Anson's voyage around the world beginning in 1740. The story is written much in the language and spelling of the mid 18th century. Palafox is a Protestant Irish boy from the west coast of Ireland, schooled by his father, a churchman, and eager to join the Royal Navy. He learns naval discipline and how to determine his ship's position at sea as part of a large berth of midshipmen on HMS Centurion. His friend Sean O'Mara joins with him, considered his servant initially by officers and put among the seamen, rising in rank as he shows his abilities, to bosun's mate.

Girl in May is a 1956 novel by Scottish writer Bruce Marshall.

Further Adventures of the Family from One End Street is an English children's book by Eve Garnett which was first published by Heinemann in 1956. It is the first of two sequels to Garnett's Carnegie Prize-winning book, The Family from One End Street, which was published by Muller in 1937.

French Leave is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 20 January 1956 by Herbert Jenkins, London and in the United States on 28 September 1959 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York.

Freddy and Simon the Dictator (1956) is the 24th book in the generally humorous children's series Freddy the Pig written by American author Walter R. Brooks and illustrated by Kurt Wiese. It tells how animals in New York State rebel against humans, destroying property and taking control of farms. At the same time, Freddy’s friend Mr. Camphor is pressured into running for governor. The situations collide when animals take over Camphor’s estate, imprisoning the political figures there.

Forbidden Area is a 1956 Cold War thriller novel by Pat Frank. Its plot involves Soviet sleeper agents intended to sabotage the U.S. war effort, who have been trained by classical conditioning to have an American "cover identity" that they can remember as well as their own. Rod Serling adapted it for the debut episode of the American television anthology series Playhouse 90, directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Charlton Heston, Diana Lynn, Vincent Price, Victor Jory and Charles Bickford.

The Floating Opera is a novel by American writer John Barth, first published in 1956 and significantly revised in 1967. Barth's first published work, the existentialist and nihilist story is a first-person account of a day protagonist Todd Andrews contemplated suicide.

The Flight from the Enchanter is a novel written by Iris Murdoch and published in 1956.

Five on a Secret Trail is the fifteenth novel in the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1956.

Fifteen is a juvenile fiction novel written by Beverly Cleary. It was first published in 1956. It chronicles the perspective of a teenage girl entering her first romantic relationship. The book captures the innocent spirit of life in the 1950s, both through the playfully light storyline and the casual references to convertibles, sweaters, "meeting boys", and soda shops. Regardless, the book remains in print today because its overall theme of difficult adolescent feelings still connects with young readers.

The Field of Vision is a 1956 novel by Wright Morris, written in the style of high modernism. It won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction in 1957.

The Fall (French: La Chute) is a philosophical novel written by Albert Camus. First published in 1956, it is his last complete work of fiction. Set in Amsterdam, The Fall consists of a series of dramatic monologues by the self-proclaimed "judge-penitent", Jean-Baptiste Clamence, as he reflects upon his life to a stranger. In what amounts to a confession, Clamence tells of his success as a wealthy Parisian defense lawyer who was highly respected by his colleagues; his crisis, and his ultimate "fall" from grace, was meant to invoke, in secular terms, The Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. The Fall explores themes of innocence, imprisonment, non-existence, and truth. In a eulogy to Albert Camus, existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre described the novel as "perhaps the most beautiful and the least understood" of Camus' books.

Every Eye is a 1956 novel by the British author Isobel English. The novel describes the life of a girl who eventually marries a younger man and travels with him to the Spanish island of Ibiza. It is written in both the present and past tense, alternating between the two as Hatty describes her immediate experiences and, as a result, is prompted to revisit memories of her past.

The Etruscan is a novel by Mika Waltari, published in 1956, telling of the adventures of a young man, Turms, which begins approximately in 480 BC. It tells of the spiritual development of Turms, as he adventures from Greece to Sicily, then to Rome and then finally to Tuscany, where he learns of his immortality and his duties to the future. There are many actual historical events in this book, but how Turms gets involved in them is fictitious.

An Episode of Sparrows is a novel written in 1955 by Rumer Godden. It has been re-issued by The New York Review Children's Collection.

Envoy Extraordinary is a 1956 novella by William Golding, published along with Clonk Clonk and The Scorpion God in the collection The Scorpion God.

The Dragon in the Sea (1956), also known as Under Pressure from its serialization, is a novel by Frank Herbert. It was first serialized in Astounding magazine from 1955 to 1956, then reworked and published as a book in 1956. (A 1961 2nd printing of the Avon paperback, catalog # G-1092, was titled 21st Century Sub with the original title in parentheses.) It is usually classified as a psychological novel.

Double Star is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, first serialized in Astounding Science Fiction (February, March, April 1956) and published in hardcover the same year. It received the 1956 Hugo Award for Best Novel (his first).

Don't Go Near the Water is a 1956 novel by William Brinkley. The book parodies aspects of the wartime United States Navy, particularly Navy public relations, in which Brinkley served, propaganda, war correspondents, civilian contempt for the regular military, and Naval Intelligence.

Diamonds Are Forever is the fourth novel by the English author Ian Fleming to feature his fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond. Fleming wrote the story at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica, inspired by a Sunday Times article on diamond smuggling. The book was first published by Jonathan Cape in the United Kingdom on 26 March 1956.

Grande Sertão: Veredas (Portuguese for "Great Backlands: Paths"; English translation: The Devil to Pay in the Backlands) is a novel published in 1956 by the Brazilian writer João Guimarães Rosa.

The Death of Grass (published in the United States as No Blade of Grass) is a 1956 post-apocalyptic science fiction novel written by the English author Samuel Youd under the pen name John Christopher. It was the first in a series of post-apocalyptic novels written by him, and the plot concerns a virus that kills off all forms of grass.

Death in Cyprus (published in 1956) is an M. M. Kaye mystery novel. The story, set on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, focuses on 21-year-old Amanda Derington who, against her strict uncle Oswin's wishes, decides to have a holiday on the beautiful island. However, whilst on a boat to the island, she witnesses the murder of one of the passengers. But the longer she spends on Cyprus, the more she gets the feeling that she was the intended victim.

Death in Berlin (published in 1985) is a mystery novel by M. M. Kaye. The story, set in post World War II Berlin, focuses on Miranda Brand who goes on a one month vacation to Berlin. Brigadier Brindley relates to Miranda Brand, a story of a fortune in lost diamonds, transforming the vacation into an ominous situation. The book then illustrates the perilious situations encountered by Miranda Brand following a murder in a train in Berlin.

Dead Man's Folly is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in October 1956 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 5 November of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.95 and the UK edition at twelve shillings and sixpence (12/6). It features Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver.

Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint is the first novel in the Danny Dunn series of juvenile science fiction/adventure books written by Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams. The book was first published in 1956 and originally illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats.

A Dangerous Game is a 1956 novel by the Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Its original German title is Die Panne, which means "The breakdown". It is known as Traps in the United States. It tells the story of a traveller who, when his car breaks down, is invited for dinner by a former judge, after which nightmarish developments follow. The work was initially written as a radio play, but was adapted into prose almost immediately. It won the 1956 Blind War Veterans’ Prize for best radio play and the literary award of the newspaper Tribune de Lausanne.

The Cup of Fury is a 1956 novel by Upton Sinclair.

The Crossroads of Time is a science-fiction novel written by Andre Norton and first published in 1956 by Ace Books as one of their double novels. The story takes its protagonist through several versions of Earth as it might have been if history had gone a little differently. The book has been translated into Spanish, Italian, and German.

Cop Hater (1956) is the first 87th Precinct police procedural novel by Ed McBain. The murder of three detectives in quick succession in the 87th Precinct leads Detective Steve Carella on a search that takes him into the city's underworld and ultimately to a .45 automatic aimed straight at his head.

The City and the Stars is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke, published in 1956. This novel is a complete rewrite of his earlier novella, Against the Fall of Night, which was Clarke's first novel, and was published in Startling Stories magazine in 1948, after John W. Campbell, Jr. had rejected it, according to Clarke himself.

Chuva Braba (Portuguese meaning Strong Rain) is a novel published in 1956 by Cape Verdean author Manuel Lopes. The book was awarded the Fernão Mendes Pinto award.

Chocolates for Breakfast is a 1956 American novel written by Pamela Moore. Originally published in 1956 when Moore was eighteen years old, the novel gained notoriety from readers and critics for its frank depiction of teenage sexuality, and its discussion of the taboo topics of homosexuality and gender roles. The plot focuses on fifteen-year-old Courtney Farrell and her destructive upbringing between her father, a wealthy Manhattan publisher, and her mother, a faltering Hollywood actress.

Chemmeen (Malayalam: ചെമ്മീൻ, cemmīn , lit. prawn) is a Malayalam novel written by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai in 1956. Chemmeen tells the story of the relationship between Karuthamma, the daughter of a Hindu fisherman, and Pareekutti, the son of a Muslim fish wholesaler. The theme of the novel is a myth among the fishermen communities along the coastal Kerala State in the Southern India. The myth is about chastity. If the married fisher woman was infidel when her husband was in the sea, the Sea Goddess (Kadalamma literally means Mother Sea) would consume him. It is to perpetuate this myth that Thakazhi wrote this beautiful novel. It was adapted into a film of same name, which won critical acclaim and commercial success.

A Certain Smile (known in French as Un certain sourire), written in a two-month period then published in 1956, is Françoise Sagan's second book. It tells of a student's love affair with a middle-aged man.

The Cairo Trilogy (Arabic: الثلاثية‎ (The Trilogy) or ثلاثية القاهرة (The Cairo Trilogy)) is a trilogy of novels written by the Egyptian novelist and Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz, and one of the prime works of his literary career that the Nobel committee cited as justification for his being awarded the prize.

The Burden is a novel written by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by Heinemann on 12 November 1956. Initially not published in the US, it was later issued as a paperback by Dell Publishing in September 1963. It was the last of six novels Christie wrote under the nom-de-plume Mary Westmacott.

The Brave Cowboy (1956) was Edward Abbey's second published novel (as detailed in James M. Cahalan's biography of Abbey). The first-edition of the book is considered the rarest of Abbey's eight novels. There was only one printing of 5,000 copies and many of them have not survived. One online rare book dealer shows copies of the first U.S. edition start at $4,000 and the highest asking price is $10,000.

Boy in Darkness is a horror novella written by Mervyn Peake. It was first published in 1956 by Eyre & Spottiswoode as part of the anthology Sometime, Never: Three Tales of Imagination (with other stories by William Golding and John Wyndham). A corrupt version of Boy in Darkness was published both in an anthology, The Inner Landscape (1969), and separately in 1976 with an introduction by Peake's widow, Maeve Gilmore. Referring to the corrupt text, she wrote that "although the Boy in Boy in Darkness is assuredly Titus Groan, did not call him so by name"; however, adding the name Titus was one of the specific changes that Peake made between writing and publishing his novella. The correct text has recently become available again in an anthology entitled Boy in Darkness and Other Stories, with a foreword by Joanne Harris and a preface by Peake's son Sebastian, as well as Maeve Gilmore's uncorrected introduction from 1976.

The Black Obelisk (German: Der schwarze Obelisk) is a novel written in 1956 by the German author Erich Maria Remarque. This novel paints a portrait of Germany in the early 1920s, a period marked by hyperinflation and rising nationalism.

Black Fox of Lorne is a 1956 children's historical novel written and illustrated by Marguerite de Angeli. This Newbery Honor Book is about tenth-century Viking twins who shipwreck on the Scottish coast and seek to avenge the death of their father. They encounter loyal clansmen at war, kindly shepherds, power-hungry lairds, and staunch crofters.

Beyond the Black Stump is a novel by British author Nevil Shute. It was first published in the UK by William Heinemann Ltd in 1956.

Beast in View is a suspense novel and psychological thriller by Margaret Millar that won the Edgar Award in 1956 and was later adapted for an episode of the television series Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1964. It also made the list of The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time that was issued in 1995 by the Mystery Writers of America.

Bang the Drum Slowly is a novel by Mark Harris, first published in 1956 by Knopf. The novel is the second in a series of four novels written by Harris that chronicles the career of baseball player Henry W. Wiggen. Bang the Drum Slowly was a sequel to The Southpaw (1953), with A Ticket for a Seamstitch (1957) and It Looked Like For Ever (1979), completing the tetralogy of baseball novels by Harris.

Badge of Evil is a novel written by Whit Masterson (a pseudonym used by the authors Robert Allison "Bob" Wade and H. Bill Miller) and published in 1956. This novel was the basis for the 1958 movie Touch of Evil, directed by Orson Welles and co-starring Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh.

Assignment: Murder is a thriller novel by Donald Hamilton.

The Ascent of Rum Doodle is a short 1956 novel by W. E. Bowman (1911–1985). It is a parody of the non-fictional chronicles of mountaineering expeditions (notably H. W. Tilman's account of the ascent of Nanda Devi and Maurice Herzog's book Annapurna chronicling the first ascent of Annapurna in Nepal) that were popular during the 1950s, as many of the world's highest peaks were climbed for the first time. A new edition was released in 2001 with an introduction by the contemporary humorist Bill Bryson. It has been critically well received. Though a parody, it has become one of the most famous and celebrated books of mountaineering literature.

Anglo-Saxon Attitudes is a satirical novel by Angus Wilson, published in 1956. It was Wilson's most popular book, and many consider it his best work.

Angélique, the Marquise of the Angels (French: Angélique, Marquise des Anges) is a 1956 novel by Anne Golon & Serge Golon, the first novel in Angélique series. Inspired by the life of Suzanne de Rougé du Plessis-Bellière, known as the Marquise du Plessis-Bellière.

And the Rain My Drink is a 1956 novel by Chinese-Flemish writer Han Suyin. Set against a backdrop of the Malayan Emergency of the late 1940s and 1950s, it describes the methods used by the British colonial authorities and by the left-wing rebels, and how individual lives were affected.

The Amazing Vacation is a children's fantasy novel written in 1956 by Dan Wickenden. It is very rare, with fewer than 50 copies available in libraries. It is fondly remembered by children of the era, and has been cited by authors as one of the formative books of their childhood.

A Wreath for Udomo is a 1956 novel by South African novelist Peter Abrahams. The novel follows a London-educated black African, Michael Udomo, who returns to Africa to become a revolutionary leader in the fictional country of Panafrica and is eventually martyred The novel explores a revolutionary politic, exploring the diversity of actors and political communities needed to overcome colonial oppression.

The Variable Man is a collection of science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick. It was first published by Ace Books in 1957. The stories had originally appeared in the magazines Space Science Fiction, Fantastic Universe and Galaxy Science Fiction

Three Witnesses is a collection of Nero Wolfe mystery novellas by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1956 and itself collected in the omnibus volume Royal Flush (Viking 1965). The book contains three stories that first appeared in The American Magazine:

Tales of Gooseflesh and Laughter is a collection of science fiction short stories by John Wyndham, published in 1956 by Ballantine Books.

The Seeds of Time is a collection of science fiction short stories by John Wyndham, published in 1956 by Michael Joseph. The title is presumably from Macbeth, Act I Scene III.

The Saint Around the World is a collection of short stories by Leslie Charteris, first published in 1956 by The Crime Club in the United States and by Hodder and Stoughton in the United Kingdom in 1957. This book continues the adventures of Simon Templar, alias The Saint, and is the third of three consecutive books that take a "travelogue" approach to the stories, with each taking place in a different exotic locale; Charteris would later return to this theme with The Saint in the Sun.

Reach for Tomorrow (ISBN 0-345-32651-2) is a collection of short stories by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. The stories all originally appeared in a number of different publications.

Interplanetary Hunter is a 1956 collection of science fiction short stories by Arthur K. Barnes. It was first published by Gnome Press in 1956 in an edition of 4,000 copies, and later reissued in paperback by Ace Books in 1972. German editions appeared in 1957, and an Italian edition in 1981. An expanded e-book edition, including all nine stories featuring the title character, appeared in 2009 as The Complete Interplanetary Huntress.

Five Stories is a collection of stories, published in 1956 by the Estate of Willa Cather, after the author's death. Several of these stories had been previously published in other collections.

Final del juego (End of the Game) is a book of eighteen short stories written by Julio Cortázar.

Consider Her Ways is a 1956 science fiction novella by John Wyndham. It was published as part of a 1961 collection with some short stories called Consider Her Ways and Others (where it forms over a third of the book). The title is from Proverbs, Chapter 6, verse 6: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise".

Alternating Currents is a collection of science fiction stories by Frederik Pohl first published by Ballantine Books in 1956 (ISBN #B000BH7ANM)