1960s Novels
*The following list consists of novels written in the 1960s, by year, that have culturally
or politically relevant themes. These novels were chosen because each is unique in some
way: stylistically, thematically, historically, etc. I do not guarantee that each of these
works is still in print (many are). I also do not guarantee that each of these works is a
masterpiece. Some are on the list because they were popular with readers and captured
the zeitgeist of the time.
This is not an exhaustive list. If you know of something I missed, please let me know and
I’ll add it to the list. I hope this list is useful to you as you plan your courses for the
spring semester (Beth Huber, Department of English, Western Carolina University).
1960
Kazantzakis, Nikos
Kerouac, Jack
Kerouac, Jack
Lee, Harper
Miller, Walter.
The Last Temptation of Christ
Book of Dreams
Lonesome Traveler
To Kill a Mockingbird
A Canticle for Leibowitz.
1961
Brammer, Billy Lee
Dahl, Roald
Heller, Joseph
Salinger, J.D.
Wallant, Edward Lewis
Yates, Richard
The Gay Place (politics)
James and the Giant Peach
Catch 22
Franny and Zooey
The Pawnbroker
Revolutionary Road
1962
Baldwin, James
Burdick, Eugene
and Harvey Wheeler
Burgess, Anthony
Deighton, Len
Kerouac, Jack
Kesey, Ken
Lessing, Doris
Another Country
Fail Safe
Clockwork Orange
The IPCRESS File
Big Sur
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
The Golden Notebook
1963
Boulle, Pierre
le Carre, John
Planet of the Apes
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
McCarthy, Mary
Plath, Sylvia
Vonnegut, Kurt
The Group (the inspiration for Sex and the City)
The Bell Jar
Cat’s Cradle
1964
Dahl, Roald
Grau, Shirley Ann
Wallace, Irving
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Keepers of the House
The Man
1965
Ball, John
Brown, Claude
Frayn, Michael
Herbert, Frank
Jones, LeRoi
Kaufman, Bel
Williams, John
In the Heat of the Night
Manchild in the Promised Land
The Tin Men
Dune
The System of Dante’s Hell
Up the Down Staircase
Stoner (not about drugs)
1966
Farina, Richard
Hempstone, Smith
Jones, Dennis Feltham
Kern, Alfred
Keyes, Daniel
Manus, Willard
Portis, Charles
Pynchon, Thomas
Been Down So Long it Looks Like Up to Me
A Tract of Time (Vietnam)
Colossus
Made in USA
Flowers for Algernon
Mott the Hoople (not the band)
Norwood
The Crying of Lot 49
1967
Anderson, Chester
Brautigan, Richard
Hinton, S.E.
Mailer, Norman
Styron, William
Uris, Lean
The Butterfly Kid
Trout Fishing in America
The Outsiders
Why Are We in Vietnam?
The Confessions of Nat Turner
Topaz
1968
Biggers, W. Watts
Clark, Arthur C.
Crichton, Michael
The Man Inside
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Case of Need
Dick, Philip K.
Disch, Thomas
and John Sladek
Disch, Thomas
Goldsmith, Barbara
Updike, John
Vidal, Gore
Warhol, Andy
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Black Alice
Camp Concentration
La Dolce Viva
Couples
Myra Breckenridge
a; A Novel
1969
Angelou, Maya
Atwood, Margaret
Gysin, Brion
Newsday Journalists
Roth, Philip
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The Edible Woman
The Process
Naked Came the Stranger (famous hoax novel)
Portnoy’s Complaint (banned)