Elmer Gantry is a 1927 satirical novel written by Sinclair Lewis that presents aspects of the religious activity of the United States in fundamentalist and evangelistic circles and the attitudes of the 1920s public toward it. Reverend Dr. Elmer Gantry, the protagonist, is attracted by drinking, chasing women, and making easy money (although eventually renouncing tobacco and alcohol). In the novel's fictional world, after various forays into smaller fringe churches, Gantry becomes a major moral and political force in the Methodist Church despite his hypocrisy and serial sexual indiscretions.
37-684: Elmer Gantry was published in the United States by Harcourt Trade Publishers in March 1927, dedicated by Lewis to the American journalist and satirist H. L. Mencken . Biographer Mark Schorer states that while researching the book, Lewis attended two or three church services every Sunday while in Kansas City, and that, "He took advantage of every possible tangential experience in the religious community." According to others, Lewis researched
74-409: A catastrophic fire in her tent tabernacle, and so Gantry loses both relationship and position. After the tragedy, he briefly acts as a " New Thought " evangelist, and eventually becomes a Methodist minister. Gantry marries a local parishioner. Although he is unhappy with her sexual frigidity, he remains with her for sake of appearances. Years later, Methodist leaders award him a larger congregation in
111-524: A contemporary setting, which became the film Canaan Land . Harcourt (publisher) Harcourt ( / ˈ h ɑːr k ɔːr t / ) was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. The company was last based in San Diego, California , with editorial/sales/marketing/rights offices in New York City and Orlando, Florida , and
148-717: A definitive agreement to sell its Harcourt U.S. Schools Education business, including Harcourt Trade Publishers, to Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group. The merger was completed and the Harcourt name ceased being used separately in 2008. Harcourt Religion was sold to Our Sunday Visitor in 2009. Houghton Mifflin Company acquired Harcourt in 2007, combining the Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt names to form Houghton Mifflin Harcourt . Harcourt Trade Publishers published
185-469: A professional test company. In 1997, Harcourt General acquired National Education and Steck-Vaughn. In 1998, Harcourt General acquired Morgan Kaufmann Publishers . In 1999, Harcourt General divested its retail division and shortened the publishing division name to Harcourt, Inc. In 2001, the Anglo-Dutch publishing company Reed Elsevier acquired Harcourt, Inc. Harcourt Trade Publishers
222-456: A stock trade with Cypress Gardens . Jim Monaghan sold Circus World for stock to Harcourt Brace Jovanovich on Tuesday, May 10, 1986, at 3:50 a.m. HBJ had a new idea for the park, and closed the park at opening time that day to rebuild it into Boardwalk and Baseball . HBJ Park Group opened SeaWorld San Antonio in 1988. After an eight-year stint at Macmillan Publishing Company, Peter, William's son, joined Harcourt in 1980. In 1984, Peter
259-466: A wide range of books under a variety of imprints, including Harvest Books, Gulliver Books, Silver Whistle, Red Wagon Books, Harcourt Young Classics, Green Light Readers, Voyager Books/Libros Viajeros, Harcourt Paperbacks, Odyssey Classics, and Magic Carpet Books. Harcourt's adult books division was one of the most historic of the American literary publishers. Its backlist included Sinclair Lewis , Virginia Woolf , T. S. Eliot , Robert Penn Warren 's All
296-483: Is nearly beaten to death by Gantry loyalists who are angered by perceived " atheistic " divergences from Christian teachings. Gantry's career comes close to a major scandal when one of his affairs turns out to involve a husband and wife blackmail team. Gantry is helped in avoiding potential downfall by a close friend, and via political alliance with a powerful lawyer and private detective agency. A thoroughly repentant Gantry swears to abstain from his sinful proclivities. As
333-456: Is thrown out of the seminary before completing his bachelor of divinity because he is too drunk to appear at a church where he is supposed to preach. After several years as a traveling salesman of farm equipment, Gantry becomes a confidante of Sharon Falconer, a popular evangelist and motivational speaker who has her own traveling "road church". Gantry becomes her lover, but she and scores of individuals attending one of her meetings are killed in
370-1057: The Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group based in Stuttgart , and it operated as a subsidiary publishing under its original name, Henry Holt and Company . Harcourt Achieve, Professional and Trade – publishers of supplemental and alternative core educational materials for pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 schools materials for adult education, school libraries and teacher professional development; and adult and children's trade books. Includes Harcourt Achieve, Greenwood/Heinemann , Global Library, Classroom Connect, Rigby, Steck-Vaughn, Harcourt Religion Publishers and Harcourt Trade Publishers. Harcourt Assessment - develops tests and resources for educational, psychological, speech, and occupational therapy assessment, as well as human resource selection and hiring ( talent assessment ). Tests include WISC , WAIS , WPPSI , Raven's Progressive Matrices and Versant . Harcourt Education International – publisher for
407-413: The 1921 to 1960 name "Harcourt, Brace & Company" to its publishing division as Harcourt Brace (no comma). At the end of the year it divested its cinema division. In 1994, Harcourt General acquired the religious imprint Brown-ROA from William C. Brown Company, a division of Times Mirror Company . It was renamed Harcourt Religion in 1999. In 1995, Harcourt General acquired Assessment Systems, Inc.,
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#1732790184727444-400: The 1998 play by Richard Rossi , that playwright was cast in the lead role of Elmer Gantry in a film remake of the 1960 Academy Award-winning film of the same name , slated to be directed by Amin Q. Chaudhri. Chaudhri sought investors for an initial $ 20 million budget, but as of this date, a remake has never been made. Rossi then began writing his own story of an Elmer Gantry-ish evangelist in
481-509: The King's Men , and Alice Walker 's The Color Purple . Harcourt also published high-quality literature in translation by acquiring European writers such as Günter Grass (Germany) and Umberto Eco (Italy). Harcourt Children's Books published books for children of all ages, including interactive books for toddlers, picture books for young children, science fiction and fantasy novels for preteen and teens, as well as historical fiction. The house
518-629: The Metropolitan Achievement Test (1932) and the Otis Mental Ability Test (1936). Alfred Harcourt and Donald Brace were friends at Columbia College of Columbia University in New York, from which they both graduated in 1904. The two worked for Henry Holt and Company before founding their own publishing company in 1919, Harcourt, Brace & Howe , along with editor Will David Howe . After Howe left
555-558: The UK primary, secondary and vocational (further education) markets as well as English-medium schools worldwide. Also covers the Australasian primary, secondary and further education sectors. Its imprints include Heinemann , Rigby, Ginn, Payne-Gallway and Raintree. HBJ Publications – business magazine and school supplies supplier that grew from sixteen magazines in the 1970s to more than one hundred by 1987. Executives from Harcourt bought
592-601: The Zenith Athletic Club), and that the Elmer Gantry character appears as a minor character in two later, lesser-known Lewis novels, The Man Who Knew Coolidge and Gideon Planish . The novel tells the story of the young, womanizing college athlete, Elmer Gantry, who abandons an early ambition to become a lawyer. After college, he attends a Baptist seminary, and is ordained as a minister. He successfully hides sexual involvements that are prohibited, but
629-1009: The book closes, Gantry notices a younger woman during a closing sermon scene. Sinclair's Elmer Gantry was a commercial success, and was the best-selling work of fiction in America for 1927 (according to Publishers Weekly ). However, on its publication, it created a public furor—it was banned in Boston and in other cities, and denounced from pulpits across the United States. Contemporary Sinclair Lewis biographer Mark Schorer notes that one cleric suggested Lewis be imprisoned for five years; others note that evangelist Billy Sunday threatened to beat him up and called him "Satan's cohort", and Lewis reportedly received an invitation to his own lynching. Lewis biographer Schorer notes, "The forces of social good and enlightenment as presented in Elmer Gantry are not strong enough to offer any real resistance to
666-717: The career of the radio evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson , who founded the Pentecostal Christian denomination known as the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in 1927. Lewis reportedly finished the book while mending a broken leg on Jackfish Island in Rainy Lake, Minnesota . Experts have noted that George Babbitt , the namesake of one of Lewis' better-known novels, appears in Elmer Gantry (briefly, during an encounter at
703-434: The city of Zenith. With his career and power at their peak, Gantry manipulates local, state and national political figures, resulting in police raids against bootleggers and bar patrons. Gantry's corruption and power hunger contribute to the downfall, physical injury, and even death of key people around him, including a former associate, Frank Shallard, a sincere minister who questions the moral purpose of his church. Shallard
740-484: The company diversified into non-publishing businesses such as insurance and business consulting. It also bought several theme parks—including SeaWorld , which it acquired in 1976 for $ 46 million. Harcourt also published mass-market paperback books with Pyramid Books , which it bought out in 1974 and renamed Jove Books. It sold this section to the Putnam Berkley Group in 1979. In 1985, HBJ merged in
777-534: The company in 1921, the partners changed the name to Harcourt, Brace & Company. They published the works of a number of writers who became internationally renowned, including Walter Lippmann , Sinclair Lewis , Virginia Woolf , T. S. Eliot , James Thurber , George Orwell , Valentine Davies and Robert Penn Warren . Firms acquired by Harcourt, Brace include Brewer, Warren and Putnam; and Reynal & Hitchcock . Harcourt, Brace & World only existed between 1960 and 1970. The name Harcourt, Brace & World
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#1732790184727814-403: The company, replacing Ralph D. Caulo, who left after the theme park sale. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich was acquired in 1991 for more than $ 1.5 billion by General Cinema Corporation , a diversified company that operated a national chain of movie theaters, and retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman . In 1993 General Cinema Corporation renamed itself Harcourt General and restored
851-499: The conservative Stidger, and on his second visit to Kansas City, Lewis chose Birkhead as his guide. Other Kansas City ministers Lewis interviewed included Burris Jenkins, Earl Blackman, I. M. Hargett, Bert Fiske, and Robert Nelson Horatio Spencer, who was rector of Grace and Holy Trinity Church (now the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri ). The character of Sharon Falconer was reportedly based on events in
888-408: The division in 1987 for $ 334 million. Publishers Weekly list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1920s This is a list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1920s , as determined by Publishers Weekly . The list features the most popular novels of each year from 1920 through 1929 . The standards set for inclusion in the lists – which, for example, led to
925-615: The following divisions: Elsevier (science and medical), LexisNexis (legal), Harcourt Education (education), and Reed Business (business). On February 15, 2007, Reed Elsevier announced its intention to sell its education arm, Harcourt Education, of which Harcourt Trade Publishers was a part. According to Reed Chief Executive Crispin Davis, "This is essentially a strategic decision that we want to focus more sharply on our three existing businesses ... with better growth rates." On July 17, 2007, Reed Elsevier announced that it had entered into
962-558: The forces of social evil and banality." Schorer concludes, in view of Lewis' research, that the novel satirically represents the religious activity of America in evangelistic circles and the attitudes of the 1920s toward it. As of November 2007, there have been five adaptations of the novel: Shortly after the publication of Elmer Gantry , H. G. Wells published a widely syndicated newspaper article titled "The New American People", in which he largely bases his observations of American culture on Lewis's novels, including Elmer Gantry . After
999-523: The largest middle and secondary school discipline. Holt also publishes in science, mathematics, social studies, and world languages. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich acquired the educational arm of Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Saunders , and the Dryden Press in 1985 from CBS , and it retained the Holt, Rinehart and Winston name. CBS also sold in 1985 the other arm of the company, the retail publishing arm, to
1036-507: The name intact on all of its books under that name as part of HMH. In 2007 the U.S. Schools Education and Trade Publishing parts of Harcourt Education were sold by Reed Elsevier to Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group . Harcourt Assessment and Harcourt Education International were acquired by Pearson , the international education and information company, in January 2008. The first-created component of what would eventually become Harcourt
1073-518: The novel by observing the work of various preachers in Kansas City in his so-called "Sunday School" meetings on Wednesdays. There, he first worked with William L. "Big Bill" Stidger, pastor of the Linwood Boulevard Methodist Episcopal Church . Stidger introduced Lewis to many other clergymen, thus Lewis engaged with Unitarian pastor L. M. Birkhead (an agnostic ). Lewis preferred the liberal Birkhead to
1110-479: The position of Harcourt Brace because World Book was an established elementary textbook publisher and test publisher. In 1968, Harcourt, Brace & World entered the trade magazine business by acquiring Ojibway Press. In 1969, Harcourt acquired Academic Press . In 1970, the company was known as Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (HBJ), with William Jovanovich as chairman. That same year, the company acquired The Psychological Corporation . Under Jovanovich's leadership,
1147-894: Was a member of the Reed Elsevier Group plc (NYSE: RUK and ENL), a publisher and information provider operating in four global industry sectors: science and medical, legal, education, and business. As part of the deal, Reed Elsevier sold Harcourt's higher education division, and the NETglobal (formerly National Education Training), Assessment Systems, Inc (ASI), and Drake Beam Morin businesses to Thomson Corporation . Several parts of Harcourt (Academic Press, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, and Saunders) were transferred to Elsevier and several parts of Elsevier (including Greenwood Publishing Group ) were transferred to Harcourt Education. In 2004, Harcourt acquired Saxon Publishers, publishers of Saxon math materials. Reed Elsevier then comprised
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1184-514: Was best known for the intelligence tests he developed for the U.S. Army. Millions of World War I draftees took Otis tests . World Book Company became the first publisher of group-administered tests measuring mental ability when it published Otis's Group Intelligence Scale in 1918. Otis became a World Book employee in 1921. By 1960, World Book had a portfolio of educational tests, including the Stanford Achievement Test (1923),
1221-505: Was known at different stages in its history as Harcourt Brace, & Co. and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich . From 1919 to 1982, it was based in New York City. Houghton Mifflin acquired Harcourt in 2007. It incorporated the Harcourt name to form Houghton Mifflin Harcourt . As of 2012, all Harcourt books that have been re-released are under the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt name. The Harcourt Children's Books division left
1258-594: Was named head of the company's $ 400 million college textbook and professional division. In 1987, days after a failed attempted takeover of HBJ, British publisher Robert Maxwell sued to stop the company from carrying out a $ 3 billion recapitalization plan. Eventually, the company divested its trade magazines to the buyout firm Kidder, Peabody & Co. in 1987. The company divested its theme park division in 1989 to Busch Entertainment for $ 1.1 billion, when they expected $ 1.5 billion, to meet its large debt. In December 1989, Peter Jovanovich became chief executive officer of
1295-633: Was the World Book Company (unrelated to the Chicago -based World Book, Inc. publisher of reference works), which opened its first office in Manila in 1905 and published English-language educational materials for schools in the Philippines . The company later moved to New York City, where it became a test publisher. Much of the company's success was based on the work of Arthur S. Otis . He
1332-406: Was the original publisher of such classics as Mary Poppins , The Borrowers , and Half Magic . Harcourt School Publishers – U.S. elementary (pre-K–6) publisher with particular strength in the four major subject areas of science, reading, math and social studies. Holt, Rinehart and Winston – U.S. secondary (grades 6–12) publisher with a leading position in literature and language arts,
1369-458: Was used on books that were copyrighted as early as 1931, if not before. By 1960, Harcourt Brace led the market in high school textbook publishing, but had little presence in the elementary school market. That year, William Jovanovich , who had become president of the company in 1954, took the company public and merged Harcourt Brace & Company with World Book Company to create Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. This strategic action improved
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