The 1960s saw in the US a blossoming of books — monographs and textbooks both — many written by luminaries of academic chemistry. The decade saw conjunction of audacious new publishers and academic stars willing to write books. There was a plethora of novel topics to introduce students to, such as: mechanistic studies - NMR - conformational analysis and stereochemistry - chemical dynamics - molecular orbital theory - inorganic biochemistry - electrocyclic reactions - etc. Thus undergraduate and graduate studies learned reliably of the most recent accomplishments in research laboratories.  Did such books help to open new fields of investigation? Was there something like a uniform format and style? Why were books such a choice means of science communication and popularization? What kind of economics were involved in their production and distribution?  And what were some of the factors for such a productive, collective achievement? The post-Sputnik meteoric rise of the research university; the sheer size of the United States, with a small number of elite universities and a very large number of undergraduate colleges and Homestead institutions; presence of Jewish scientists, including recent immigrants, with a cultural tradition of affection and respect for books; paperback publishing; the Xerox photocopier; campus bookstores; the American tradition of do-it-yourself and how-to manuals. The talk will draw on my recollections and from the titles on my bookshelves. I’ll mention also, time allowing, my personal experience of teaching at Princeton and of publishing, jointly with Peter J. Stang, Organic Spectroscopy (New York : Harper and Row, 1971).<br/> <br/>

Chemistry books during the sixties: Renaissance-like flowering

2019 Fall National Meeting

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