Life Magazine Popular Books
Life Magazine Biography & Facts
Life is an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, a monthly from 1978 until 2000, and an online supplement since 2008. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, Life was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest magazine known for the quality of its photography, and was one of the nation's most popular magazines, regularly reaching one-quarter of the population. Life was published independently for its first 53 years until 1936 as a general-interest and light entertainment magazine, heavy on illustrations, jokes, and social commentary. It featured some of the most important writers, editors, illustrators and cartoonists of its time, including Charles Dana Gibson, Norman Rockwell, and others. In 1918, Gibson became the magazine's editor following the death of John Ames Mitchell, its owner and editor. During its later years, the magazine offered brief capsule reviews, similar to those in The New Yorker, of plays and movies running in New York City, but with the innovative touch of a colored typographic bullet resembling a traffic light, appended to each review: green for a positive review, red for a negative one, and amber for mixed notices. In 1936, Time publisher Henry Luce bought Life solely for its title, and greatly redesigned the publication. LIFE (stylized in all caps) became the first all-photographic American news magazine, and it dominated the market for several decades, with a circulation peaking at over 13.5 million copies a week. The magazine's role in the history of photojournalism is considered its most important contribution to publishing. Its prestige attracted the memoirs of President Harry S. Truman, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and General Douglas MacArthur, all serialized in its pages. After 2000, Time Inc. continued to use the Life brand for special and commemorative issues. Life returned to regularly scheduled issues as a weekly newspaper supplement from 2004 to 2007. The website life.com, originally one of the channels on Time Inc.'s Pathfinder service, was for a time in the late 2000s managed as a joint venture with Getty Images under the name See Your World, LLC. On January 30, 2012, the Life.com URL became a photo channel on Time.com. History 19th century Life was founded on January 4, 1883, in a New York City artist's studio at 1155 Broadway, as a partnership between John Ames Mitchell and Andrew Miller. Mitchell held a 75% interest in the magazine with the remaining 25% held by Miller. Both men retained their holdings until their deaths. Miller served as secretary-treasurer of the magazine and managed the business side of the operation. Mitchell, a 37-year-old illustrator who used a $10,000 inheritance to invest in the weekly magazine, served as its publisher. He also created the first Life name-plate with cupids as mascots and later on, drew its masthead of a knight leveling his lance at the posterior of a fleeing devil. Then he took advantage of a new printing process using zinc-coated plates, which improved the reproduction of his illustrations and artwork. This edge helped because Life faced stiff competition from the best-selling humor magazines Judge and Puck, which were already established and successful. Edward Sandford Martin was brought on as Life's first literary editor; the recent Harvard University graduate was a founder of the Harvard Lampoon. The motto of the first issue of Life was: "While there's Life, there's hope." The new magazine set forth its principles and policies to its readers: We wish to have some fun in this paper...We shall try to domesticate as much as possible of the casual cheerfulness that is drifting about in an unfriendly world...We shall have something to say about religion, about politics, fashion, society, literature, the stage, the stock exchange, and the police station, and we will speak out what is in our mind as fairly, as truthfully, and as decently as we know how. The magazine was a success and soon attracted the industry's leading contributors, of which the most important was Charles Dana Gibson. Three years after the magazine was founded, the Massachusetts native first sold Life a drawing for $4: a dog outside his kennel howling at the Moon. Encouraged by a publisher, also an artist, Gibson was joined at Life by illustrators Palmer Cox, creator of the Brownie, A. B. Frost, Oliver Herford, and E. W. Kemble. Life's literary roster included John Kendrick Bangs, James Whitcomb Riley, and Brander Matthews. 20th century Mitchell was accused of anti-Semitism at a time of high rates of immigration to New York of Eastern European Jews. When the magazine blamed the theatrical team of Klaw & Erlanger for Chicago's Iroquois Theater Fire in 1903, many people complained. Life's drama critic, James Stetson Metcalfe, was barred from the 47 Manhattan theatres controlled by the Theatrical Syndicate. Life published caricatures of Jews with large noses. Several individuals would publish their first major works in Life. In 1908 Robert Ripley published his first cartoon in Life, 20 years before his Believe It or Not! fame. Norman Rockwell's first cover for Life magazine, Tain't You, was published May 10, 1917. His paintings were featured on Life's cover 28 times between 1917 and 1924. Rea Irvin, the first art director of The New Yorker and creator of the character "Eustace Tilley", began his career by drawing covers for Life. This version of Life took sides in politics and international affairs, and published pro-American editorials. After Germany attacked Belgium in 1914, Mitchell and Gibson undertook a campaign to push the U.S. into the war. Gibson drew the Kaiser as a bloody madman, insulting Uncle Sam, sneering at crippled soldiers, and shooting Red Cross nurses. Following Mitchell's death in 1918, Gibson bought the magazine for $1 million, but the end of World War I had brought on social change. Life's brand of humor was outdated, as readers wanted more daring and risque works, and Life struggled to compete. A little more than three years after purchasing Life, Gibson quit and turned the decaying property over to publisher Clair Maxwell and treasurer Henry Richter. Gibson retired and relocated to Maine, where he painted and lost interest in the magazine. In 1920, Gibson selected former Vanity Fair staffer Robert E. Sherwood as editor. A WWI veteran and member of the Algonquin Round Table, Sherwood tried to inject sophisticated humor onto the pages. Life published Ivy League jokes, cartoons, flapper sayings and all-burlesque issues. Beginning in 1920, Life undertook a crusade against Prohibition. It also tapped the humorous writings of Frank Sullivan, Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, Franklin Pierce Adams and Corey Ford. Among the illustrators and cartoonists were Ralph Barton, Percy Crosby, Don Herold, Ellison Hoover, H. T. Webster, Art Young and John Held, Jr. Life had 250,000 readers in 1920, but as the Jazz Age rolled into the Great Depressi.... Discover the Life Magazine popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Life Magazine books.
Best Seller Life Magazine Books of 2024
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Marlena
Julie BuntinA National Book Critics Circle Leonard Prize FinalistLonglisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel PrizeNamed a Best Book of the Year by Vogue, BuzzFeed, The Washington Post, E...
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The Botanical Magazine Vol. 7
William CurtisThe book is The Botanical Magazine. It has included a many volumes and described the Botanical Flower Garden Displayed which began in 1787. The longest running botanical it is wide...
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The Botanical Magazine, Vol. 3
William CurtisThe book is The Botanical Magazine. It has included a many volumes and described the Botanical Flower Garden Displayed which began in 1787. The longest running botanical it is wide...
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The Path Made Clear
Oprah WinfreyEveryone has a purpose. And, according to Oprah Winfrey, “Your real job in life is to figure out as soon as possible what that is, who you are meant to be, and begin to honor your ...
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When Life Gives You Lululemons
Lauren Weisberger“The Devil Wears Prada’s Emily Charlton gets the spinoff she deserves” (Cosmopolitan) in the monthslong New York Times bestseller from Lauren Weisberger in which three women team u...
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The T.D. Jakes Relationship Bible
T.D. JakesFrom Genesis to Revelation, it is clear that the Holy Bible is, in the words of Bishop T.D. Jakes, “The Greatest Love Story Ever Told.” It is not a book about religion, but relatio...
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The Botanical Magazine, Vol. 4
William CurtisThe Botanical Magazine; or FlowerGarden Displayed, is an illustrated publication which began in 1787. The longest running botanical magazine, it is widely referred to by the subseq...
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Last Night at Chateau Marmont
Lauren WeisbergerFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Devil Wears Prada, a compulsively readable novel about a woman whose struggling singersongwriter husband is catapulted to fame, dr...
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Bonhoeffer
Eric MetaxasWho better to face the greatest evil of the 20th century than a humble man of faith?As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent, and attempted to exter...
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The Botanical Magazine Vol. 8
William CurtisThe book is The Botanical Magazine. It has included a many volumes and described the Botanical Flower Garden Displayed which began in 1787. The longest running botanical it is wide...
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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
V. E. SchwabNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERUSA TODAY BESTSELLER NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLERTHE WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLERRecommended by Entertainment Weekly, Real Simple, NPR, Slate, and Oprah Magazin...
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Jesus Calling Book Club Discussion Guide for Men
Sarah YoungExperience peace in the presence of the Savior who is closer than you can imagine with the Jesus Calling® Discussion Guide for Men.The Jesus Calling Discussion Guide for Men is a 5...
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What I Know For Sure
Oprah WinfreyThe inspirational wisdom Oprah Winfrey shares in her monthly O., The Oprah Magazine column updated, curated, and collected for the first time in a beautiful keepsake book. As a cr...
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Growing Up Duggar
Jill DuggarIn a delightful and personal look at life in a large family, the four eldest daughters talk about their faith, their dreams for the future, and what it’s like growing up a Duggar. ...
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ROAR
Stacy T. Sims, PhD & Selene Yeager“Dr. Sims realizes that female athletes are different than male athletes and you can’t set your race schedule around your monthly cycle. ROAR will help every athlete understand wh...
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The Botanical Magazine, Vol. 6
William CurtisThe book is The Botanical Magazine. It has included a many volumes and described the Botanical Flower Garden Displayed which began in 1787. The longest running botanical it is wide...
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Revenge Wears Prada
Lauren WeisbergerWith brandnew scenes, The New York Times bestseller and sequel you’ve been waiting forthe sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Devil Wears Prada!Almost a decade has pass...
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The Botanical Magazine, Vol. 5
William CurtisThe Botanical Magazine; or FlowerGarden Displayed, is an illustrated publication which began in 1787. The longest running botanical magazine, it is widely referred to by the subseq...
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The Organic Heart
Breeana PoolerAt the age of 26, Breeana’s husband, Jason, was suddenly and unexpectedly diagnosed with severe heart failure. Following his diagnosis, she set out to regain his healthwhich she su...
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The Ninth Hour
Alice McDermottA magnificent new novel from one of America’s finest writersa powerfully affecting story spanning the twentieth century of a widow and her daughter and the nuns who serve their Iri...
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Killing Lions
John Eldredge & Samuel EldredgeThe Challenge Before You Is a Bold One: To Accept the Wild, Daring Adventure of Becoming a ManWe want to be selfsufficient. Find our own direction as we pursue our dreams. Know it ...
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Enough Already
Valerie BertinelliBeloved actress, Food Network personality, and New York Times bestselling author Valerie Bertinelli reflects on life at sixty and beyond.Behind the curtain of her happy o...
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The Soul of an Octopus
Sy MontgomeryFinalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction New York Times Bestseller A Huffington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of the Year One of the Best Books of the Month on Goodrea...
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Notorious RBG
Irin Carmon & Shana KnizhnikNew York Times BestsellerFeatured in the critically acclaimed documentary RBG"It was beyond my wildest imagination that I would one day become the 'Notorious RBG." Ruth ...
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After the Kiss
Lauren LayneLauren Layne kicks off her Sex, Love & Stiletto series with a delightful short novel! In After the Kiss, the star columnist of Stiletto magazine will do anything for a story. A...
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Finding Your Way in a Wild New World
Martha BeckAuthor of Oprah’s Book Club PickThe Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self“The best known life coach in America” (Psychology Today) and bestselling author of Finding ...
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The American Rosae Crucis
Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, Helen B. Johnston, James Arthur, T. Richard Prater & H. Spencer LewisPartial Contents: The Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis; Secret of the Sphinx; Mrs. May BankStacey; Is Theology Teaching Christianity; Occult Science of Ancient Egypt; Nature...
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Find Me
André AcimanA New York Times BestsellerIn this spellbinding exploration of the varieties of love, the author of the worldwide bestseller Call Me by Your Name revisits its complex and beguiling...
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How to Be a Person in the World
Heather HavrileskyNew York Times Bestseller From the "best advice columnist of her generation” (Esquire) comes a hilarious, frank, and witty collection of allnew responses, plus a few greatest hits...
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Swapping Lives
Jane GreenThe New York Times bestselling author of Falling and Sister Stardust presents a charming transatlantic take on trading places... Being director of Poise! magazine affords Vi...
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Jesus Calling Book Club Discussion Guide for Women
Sarah YoungExperience peace in the presence of the Savior who is closer than you can imagine with the Jesus Calling® Discussion Guide for Women.The Jesus Calling Discussion Guide for Women is...
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They Both Die at the End
Adam SilveraAdam Silvera reminds us that there’s no life without death and no love without loss in this devastating yet uplifting story about two people whose lives change over the course of o...
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How to Murder Your Life
Cat MarnellFrom the New York Times bestselling author and former beauty editor Cat Marnell, a “vivid, maddening, heartbreaking, very funny, chaotic” (The New York Times) memoir of prescriptio...
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The Soul of an Octopus
Sy MontgomeryFinalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction New York Times Bestseller A Huffington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of the Year One of the Best Books of the Month on Goodrea...
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Goodbye, Vitamin
Rachel KhongNamed a Best Book of the Year by NPR, O, The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, Huffington Post, Nylon, Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, Booklist, and The Inde...
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A Fierce Radiance
Lauren Belfer“An engrossing and ambitious novel that vividly portrays a critical time in American history.” Booklist (starred review) “Enthralling. A Fierce Radiance shines with fascinating de...
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Jesus Calling Book Club Discussion Guide for Grief
Sarah YoungExperience peace in the presence of the Savior who is closer than you can imagine with the Jesus Calling® Discussion Guide for Grief.
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Sticky Fingers
Joe HaganNATIONAL BESTSELLER A New York Times Top 10 Book of the Year A delicious romp through the heyday of rock and roll and a revealing portrait of Jann Wenner, the man at ...
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Park Avenue Summer
Renée Rosen“‘Mad Men meets The Devil Wears Prada,’ which might as well be saying ‘put me in your cart immediately.’”PopSugar It’s 1965 and Cosmopolitan magazine’s brazen new edito...
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My Friend Anna
Rachel DeLoache WilliamsNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF TIME’S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEARSex and the City meets Bad Blood and Catch Me if You Can in the astonishing true story of Anna Delvey, a young co...
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Everyone Worth Knowing
Lauren WeisbergerFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Devil Wears Prada comes an irresistible novel about what happens when a girl on the fringe enters the realm of New York's chic, pa...