Steely's Top 10

[Steelhead]

Henry Adams--Chapters of Erie (esp., the Great Gold Conspiracy, which
establsihes the background for so much of what is going on Under the Rose
in the Crying of Lot 49)

Peter Matthiessen--The Snow Leopard (the best travel book, and one of the
best books, ever written)

George Eliot--Daniel Deronda (Eliot out psychs even the Russians in this one)

William Faulkner--Go Down, Moses (Faulkner's strange jewel)

Salman Rushdie--Satanic Verses (Yes, writing words is still dangerous)

Ishmael Reed--Mumbo Jumbo (Give the Man prizes, give him money, get him out
of the class room...he really can't teach!)

Robert Jay Lifton--The Nazi Doctors (The only psychology book since Laing
that's worth a damn)

Thomas Pynchon--V. (There'd been nothing like it before, nothing since)

Ida Tarbell--The History of the Standard Oil Company (The best work of
investigative journalism ever produced)

Herman Melville--The Confidence Man (Just read the papers, man)

Steely