All That Is

After fighting as a young naval officer off Okinawa, Philip Bowman comes home, studies at Harvard and finds work as an editor at a small, respected New York publishing house. Publishing in those years is still largely a private business of small houses scattered across America and Europe, run through dinners, deals and conversations in famous apartments that last late into the night. Bowman thrives in this world, but lasting love keeps escaping him. James Salter's novel follows a life unfolding through the decades after the Second World War, shaped by love and ambition. It became a New York Times best seller.

It was on the list of summer favorites Barack Obama released in 2015.