Paperback Books Turned the Publishing World Upside Down

Half a century before e-books turned publishing upside down, a different format threatened to destroy the industry. Here's a little perspective: In 1939, gas cost 10 cents a gallon at the pump. A movie ticket set you back 20 cents. John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, the year's bestselling hardcover book, was $2.75. For a nation suffering 20 percent unemployment, books were an impossible expense. But in just one day, Robert de Graff changed that. On June 19, 1939, the tall, dynamic entrepreneur took out a bold, full-page