Author Gayle Feldman joins Holley to discuss Nothing Random: Bennett Cerf and the Publishing House He Built and the life of the Random House cofounder who helped shape twentieth century American culture. Together, they explore Cerf’s rise in publishing, his relationships with writers including Truman Capote, Gertrude Stein, Ayn Rand, and Dr. Seuss, and his role in the landmark Ulysses censorship case that expanded free expression in America. The conversation also looks at Cerf’s friendships with cultural figures like Frank Sinatra and the broader world of books, Broadway, Hollywood, television, and politics that he moved through during the height of the American Century. Gayle Feldman Biography Gayle Feldman has written for Publishers Weekly for over forty years. Since 1999, she has served as the U.S. correspondent for The Bookseller, where she analyzes the American book industry for U.K. readers. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Times of London, The Nation, and other publications. She is the author of the memoir You Don’t Have to Be Your Mother (W.W. Norton) and Best and Worst of Times: The Changing Business of Trade Books, developed through a Columbia Journalism School fellowship. Her latest work, Nothing Random: Bennett Cerf and the Publishing House He Built, was supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar award and represents more than twenty-three years of research. Feldman lives in New York City. About Nothing Random: Bennett Cerf and the Publishing House He Built This is the story of legendary publisher Bennett Cerf and the Random House he created: an epic cast of characters, a lasting cultural legacy, and a seemingly charmed life at the height of the American Century. By midcentury, everyone knew Bennett Cerf as the witty and beloved panelist on What’s My Line?, a television presence welcomed into homes across the country each week. What they did not see was the ambitious, driven young man of the 1920s who had vowed to become a great publisher and, within a decade, had done just that. By then, he had signed Eugene O’Neill, Gertrude Stein, and William Faulkner, and had fought the landmark censorship case that secured Americans the freedom to read James Joyce’s Ulysses. With his best friend and lifelong business partner Donald Klopfer, along with fellow Jewish publishing pioneers such as the Knopfs and Simon and Schuster, Cerf helped remake the book business—reshaping both what was published and how it reached readers. In 1925, he and Klopfer acquired the Modern Library and transformed it into a cornerstone of American literary culture before founding Random House, which would go on to publish Truman Capote, Ralph Ellison, Ayn Rand, Dr. Seuss, Toni Morrison, and many more. Even before television, Cerf was a bestselling author and columnist as well as a publisher; television only amplified his reach. A gifted networker long before the term existed, he moved fluidly across books, Broadway, Hollywood, television, and politics. A committed democratizer of culture, he published widely—across “high” and “low”—and from the 1920s through the 1960s built an extraordinary circle of friends and collaborators along the way. For four decades, Gayle Feldman has reported on publishing for Publishers Weekly, The New York Times, The Bookseller, and others. Drawing on more than 200 interviews and extensive archival research, she brings Bennett Cerf vividly back to life, immersing readers in his world and offering a long-overdue portrait of a true American original. Connect with Gayle: Website Nothing Random: Hardcover | Ebook | Penguin Random House Connect with Holley: Buy Me A Coffee | Website | LinkedIn Newsletter: Stay Connected with Holley
