Books by Pearl S. Buck
Born: 0/26/1892Pearl S. Buck Biography & Notes
Pearl S. Buck (birth name Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker) (June 26, 1892 - March 6, 1973) was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, with her novel The Good Earth, in 1932.
Born in Hillsboro, West Virginia to Caroline (Stulting) and Absalom Sydenstricker, Buck and her southern Presbyterian missionaries parents went to Zhejiang, China in 1895. She was brought up there and first knew the Chinese language and customs, especially from Mr. Kong, and then was taught English by her mother and her teacher. She was encouraged to write at an early age.
By 1910, she left for America and went to Randolph-Macon Women's College, where she would earn her degree in 1914. She then returned to China, and married an agricultural economist, John Lossing Buck, on May 13, 1917. In 1921, she and John had a daughter with phenylketonuria, Carol. The small family then moved to Nanjing, where Pearl taught English literature at University of Nanking. In 1925, adopted Janice (later surnamed Walsh) and subsequently 8 more adoptees. In 1926, she left China and returned to the United States for a short time in order to earn her Master of Arts degree from Cornell University.
Buck began her writing career in 1930 with her first publication of East Wind:West Wind. In 1931 she wrote her best known novel, The Good Earth, which is considered to be one of the best of her many works. The story of the farmer Wang Lung's life brought her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1932. Her career would keep flourishing, and she won the William Dean Howells Medal in 1935.
Pearl was forced to flee China in 1934 due to political tensions. She returned to the United States, and obtained a divorce from her husband. She then married Richard J. Walsh, president of the John Day Publishing Company, on June 11, 1935, and adopt six other children. In 1938 she won the Nobel Prize for Literature, after writing biographies of her parents, The Exile, and The Fighting Angel.
In her lifetime, Pearl S. Buck would write over 100 works of literature, her most known being The Good Earth. She wrote novels, short stories, fiction, and children's stories. Many of her life experiences are related to or in her books. She wanted to prove to her readers that universality of mankind can exist if they accept it. She dealt with many topics including women, emotions (in general), Asians, immigration, adoption, and conflicts that many people go through in life. In 1949, she established Welcome House Inc., the first adoption agency dedicated to the placement of bi-racial children, particulary Amerasians.
Pearl S. Buck died on March 6, 1973 in Danby, Vermont and was interred in Green Hills Farm, Perkasie, Pennsylvania.
Born in Hillsboro, West Virginia to Caroline (Stulting) and Absalom Sydenstricker, Buck and her southern Presbyterian missionaries parents went to Zhejiang, China in 1895. She was brought up there and first knew the Chinese language and customs, especially from Mr. Kong, and then was taught English by her mother and her teacher. She was encouraged to write at an early age.
By 1910, she left for America and went to Randolph-Macon Women's College, where she would earn her degree in 1914. She then returned to China, and married an agricultural economist, John Lossing Buck, on May 13, 1917. In 1921, she and John had a daughter with phenylketonuria, Carol. The small family then moved to Nanjing, where Pearl taught English literature at University of Nanking. In 1925, adopted Janice (later surnamed Walsh) and subsequently 8 more adoptees. In 1926, she left China and returned to the United States for a short time in order to earn her Master of Arts degree from Cornell University.
Buck began her writing career in 1930 with her first publication of East Wind:West Wind. In 1931 she wrote her best known novel, The Good Earth, which is considered to be one of the best of her many works. The story of the farmer Wang Lung's life brought her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1932. Her career would keep flourishing, and she won the William Dean Howells Medal in 1935.
Pearl was forced to flee China in 1934 due to political tensions. She returned to the United States, and obtained a divorce from her husband. She then married Richard J. Walsh, president of the John Day Publishing Company, on June 11, 1935, and adopt six other children. In 1938 she won the Nobel Prize for Literature, after writing biographies of her parents, The Exile, and The Fighting Angel.
In her lifetime, Pearl S. Buck would write over 100 works of literature, her most known being The Good Earth. She wrote novels, short stories, fiction, and children's stories. Many of her life experiences are related to or in her books. She wanted to prove to her readers that universality of mankind can exist if they accept it. She dealt with many topics including women, emotions (in general), Asians, immigration, adoption, and conflicts that many people go through in life. In 1949, she established Welcome House Inc., the first adoption agency dedicated to the placement of bi-racial children, particulary Amerasians.
Pearl S. Buck died on March 6, 1973 in Danby, Vermont and was interred in Green Hills Farm, Perkasie, Pennsylvania.
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All Men Are Brothers-Shui Huchuan by ( 1968)
A band of men become robbers when they are forced to flee the decadent Sung Dynasty.
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All under Heaven A Novel by Pearl S. Buck ( 1973) |
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American Unity and Asia by Pearl S. Buck ( 1972) |
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Argument Argument by Pearl S. Buck ( 2007) |
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The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck ( 1973) Kino lives on a farm on the side of a mountain in Japan. His friend, Jiya, lives in a fishing village below. Everyone, including Kino and Jiya, has heard of the big wave. No one suspects it will wipe out the whole village and Jiya's family, too. As Jiya struggles to overcome his sorrow, he understands it is in the presence of danger that one learns to be brave, and to appreciate how wonderful life can be. The famous story of a Japanese boy who must face life after escaping the tidal wave destruction of his family and village. |
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The Child Who Never Grew by Pearl S. Buck ( 1992) |
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Chinese Story Teller by Pearl S. Buck ( 1971)
Colorful illustrations accompany descriptive narration to provide young children with an amusing Chinese tale explaining why cats and dogs are not fond of each other.
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Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck ( 2002) Rob wants to get his father something special for Christmas this year -- something that shows how much he really loves him. But it's Christmas Eve, and he doesn't have much money to spend. What could he possibly get? Suddenly, Rob thinks of the best gift of all... Author of nearly a hundred books for children and adults, and winner of both the Pulitzer and Nobel prizes, Pearl S. Buck has captured the spirit of Christmas in this elegant, heartwarming story about a boy's gift of love. Originally published in 1955, this classic story is now being issued, for the first time ever, as a picture book with glorious full-color art by acclaimed artist Mark Buehner. A welcome addition to everyone's holiday collection, this timeless treasure will bring the true meaning of Christmas to the entire family for generations to come. |
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Christmas Ghost by Pearl S. Buck ( 1960) |
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Death in the Castle by Pearl S. Buck ( 1976) |
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Death in the Castle A Novel by Pearl S. Buck ( 1988) |
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Dragon Seed, by Pearl S. Buck ( 2007)
A memoir by Pearl Buck of the people she met during her China years.
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East Wind West Wind by Pearl S. Buck ( 1993)
Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winner Pearl S. Buck's first published novel (1930), EAST WIND, WEST WIND tells, through a first person monologue, the story of Kwei-lan, a young Chinese girl married to an older, Western-educated doctor. Kwei-lan describes simply and straightforwardly the events of her life--the quotidian tasks that make up her routine, as well as the tumultuous moments when her life has taken radical new directions. Kwei-lan tells her story to as Western woman she calls "Sister," who has been interpreted as a stand-in for Buck, and she often reflects on how her attitudes about Westerners and their ideas and traditions have evolved.
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East and West Stories by Pearl S. Buck ( 1975) |
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The Enemy by Pearl S. Buck ( 1986)
During World War II, Dr. Sadao Hoki, a Japanese surgeon, discovers an escaped American prisoner of war who needs an operation to survive.
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A Field of Rice by Pearl S. Buck ( 1995)
An officer of the new Chinese communist regime forces rice farmers to use "modern" farming methods with disastrous results.
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Fighting Angel by Pearl S. Buck ( 1993) |
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Fourteen Stories by Pearl S. Buck ( 1976) |
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A Gift for the Children by Pearl S. Buck ( 1973) |
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God's Men by Pearl S. Buck ( 1978) |
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The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck ( 2001)
Pearl Buck (1892-1973) wrote THE GOOD EARTH in three months, based on her observations of Chinese life and culture while she lived in China as the daughter of American missionaries. In the novel, Buck tells the story of a simple, traditional small-farmer, Wang Lung, whose highest priority is the land he farms himself with his wife, O-lan. Throughout, Wang Lung's family is contrasted to the wealthy and decadent Huangs, whose tie to the precious land has long been cut: they hire outsiders to do their farming and devote themselves to luxury. As the years go by, Wang Lung prospers as the corrupt Huangs decline--but by novel's end, he has become more like them, and his own children fall into the traps that wealth sets: leisure, opium, and a lack of respect for the good earth. Through Wang Lung and his family, Buck depicts the changes that were taking place in Chinese culture in the early 20th century. One interesting element of the novel is her attitude toward missionaries which, despite her background, is highly critical of their detachment from the people they are there to serve. Another is the description of foot-binding, a torturous practice indulged in mainly by the wealthy. Buck understands its origins and its importance to the Chinese, but it is clear that when O-lan, herself risen from poverty and therefore with unbound feet, decides to bind the feet of her daughter, the family has truly succumbed to the debased values of the wealthy. THE GOOD EARTH won the Pulitzer Prize when it was published, and Buck received the Nobel Prize in 1938, largely on the strength of this powerful novel.
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Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck ( 2007)
Pearl Buck (1892-1973) wrote THE GOOD EARTH in three months, based on her observations of Chinese life and culture while she lived in China as the daughter of American missionaries. In the novel, Buck tells the story of a simple, traditional small-farmer, Wang Lung, whose highest priority is the land he farms himself with his wife, O-lan. Throughout, Wang Lung's family is contrasted to the wealthy and decadent Huangs, whose tie to the precious land has long been cut: they hire outsiders to do their farming and devote themselves to luxury. As the years go by, Wang Lung prospers as the corrupt Huangs decline--but by novel's end, he has become more like them, and his own children fall into the traps that wealth sets: leisure, opium, and a lack of respect for the good earth. Through Wang Lung and his family, Buck depicts the changes that were taking place in Chinese culture in the early 20th century. One interesting element of the novel is her attitude toward missionaries which, despite her background, is highly critical of their detachment from the people they are there to serve. Another is the description of foot-binding, a torturous practice indulged in mainly by the wealthy. Buck understands its origins and its importance to the Chinese, but it is clear that when O-lan, herself risen from poverty and therefore with unbound feet, decides to bind the feet of her daughter, the family has truly succumbed to the debased values of the wealthy. THE GOOD EARTH won the Pulitzer Prize when it was published, and Buck received the Nobel Prize in 1938, largely on the strength of this powerful novel.
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The House of Earth by Pearl S. Buck ( 1995)
The first one-volume collection of the author's Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning tales follows one Chinese family's struggle to survive during a century of rapid and radical change. IP.
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Joy of Children by Pearl S. Buck ( 1974) |
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The Kennedy Women A Personal Appraisal by Pearl S. Buck ( 1970) |
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Kinfolk by Pearl S. Buck ( 1996) |
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LA Buena Tierra by Pearl S. Buck ( 2002) |
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La Madre/ The Mother by Pearl S. Buck ( 2009) |
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La buena tierra/ The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck ( 2006) |
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Letter from Peking by Pearl S. Buck ( 1992) |
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Little Red by Pearl S. Buck ( 1987)
In China during World War II, a young boy makes a daring rescue attempt to free his father, a captured prisoner of the Japanese army.
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The Lovers and Other Stories by Pearl S. Buck ( 1977) |
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Man Who Changed China The Story of Sun Yat-Sen by Pearl S. Buck ( 1963)
A biographical portrait of the revolutionary, Sun Yat-sen, who led the uprising against the Manchus and was elected President of the Chinese Republic.
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Mandala A Novel of India by Pearl S. Buck ( 1995)
A novel about the attraction between East and West, as well as a quest in search of the Lama in the Himalayas.
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The Mother by Pearl S. Buck ( 1993) |
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The New Year by Pearl S. Buck ( 2007) |
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Old Demon by Pearl S. Buck ( 1981)
A stubborn old Chinese woman finds that her perpetual foe, the river, can be an ally when her village is invaded by enemy troops.
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El Patriota by Pearl S. Buck ( 1993) |
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A Pearl Buck Reader by Pearl S. Buck ( 1985) |
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Pearl Buck's America by Pearl S. Buck ( 1971) |
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Pearl Buck's the Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck ( 1980) |
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Pearl S. Buck's Book of Christmas by Pearl S. Buck ( 1986)
The many moods and faces of Christmas are portrayed in this collection of short fiction by nineteenth-and early-twentieth-century authors.
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Pearl S. Buck:the Complete Woman Selections from the Writings of Pearl S. Buck by Pearl S. Buck ( 1971) |
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Peony by Pearl S. Buck ( 1978)
A young woman is sold into a rich Chinese-Jewish household and scandalizes tradition by falling in love with the family's only son.
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The People of Japan by Pearl S. Buck ( 1968) |
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Portrait of a Marriage by Pearl S. Buck ( 1996) |
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The Promise by Pearl S. Buck ( 1997) |
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The Rainbow A Novel by Pearl S. Buck ( 1974) |
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Secrets of the Heart Stories by Pearl S. Buck ( 1976)
Pearl Buck is concerned with the joys and pains of love in her novella Wonderful Woman and the stories Here and Now, Morning in the Park, The Woman in the Waves, and Secrets of the Heart.
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Sons by Pearl S. Buck ( 1992)
Second in the trilogy that began with The Good Earth, Buck's classic and starkly real tale of sons rising against their honored fathers tells of the bitter struggle to the death between the old and the new in China. Revolutions sweep the vast nation, leaving destruction and death in their wake, yet also promising emancipation to China's oppressed millions who are groping for a way to survive in a modern age.
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Stories of Faith for Christmas by Norman Vincent Peale, Pearl S. Buck, Billy Graham, Richard H. Schneider, Richard Crenna ( 2008) |
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The Story Bible by Pearl S. Buck ( 1984) |
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Tell the People Talks With James Yen About the Mass Educational Movement by Pearl S. Buck ( 1959) |
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Three Daughters of Madame Liang by Pearl S. Buck ( 1969)
When a restaurant proprietress in communist China sends her daughters to be educated in America, they begin to question their mother's nationalistic fervor.
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Viento Del Este, Viento Del Oeste/ East Wind, West Wind by Pearl S. Buck ( 2005) |
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What America Means to Me by Pearl S. Buck ( 1973) |
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Woman Who Was Changed and Other Stories by Pearl S. Buck ( 1979)
Six short stories and one novella center on one basic thematic concern: the outsider who, uncomfortable in the role society has imposed upon him, struggles to define his own existence.
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Words of Love by Pearl S. Buck ( 1974) |
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