Thomas Berger Books In Order

Publication Order of Little Big Man Books

Publication Order of Reinhart Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Thomas Berger was a literary, mystery, and thriller fiction author best known for his novel “Little Big Man.” The work was later on adapted into a movie of the same name by Arthur Penn.

During his life, he wrote novels in several genres that included crime fiction, utopian novels, hard-boiled detective mysteries, mythology-based works, survival adventures, and science fiction among many others.

Berger had a reputation for using humor and many reviewers called him a comic novelist or satirist. However, Berger often used to reject this classification preferring to call himself a literary fiction author.

Thomas Berger published “Crazy in Berlin,” his debut novel in 1958, and kicked on from there to become a critically acclaimed author.

For his achievements, he was granted the Hinda Rosenthal and Richard Award, got a 1962 Dial fellowship, and made the shortlist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1984.

Despite his awards Many of his ardent admirers believe he was severely underappreciated given his achievements, probing intelligence, versatility, and talent.

The author Thomas Louis Berger was born in 1924 in Cincinnati Ohio, but spent much of his life living in Lockland a nearby suburb. In 1943, he quit college and became an enlisted man in the United States Army.

He would then serve in the European theater and was stationed in Berlin with the Occupation Forces after the defeat of the Nazis.

Berger made use of his experiences in the war and after it to write many of the plots and settings of “Crazy in Berlin” his debut work.

When he went back to the United States, he resumed his studies at the University of Cincinnati, from where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1948.
Thomas Berger enrolled at Columbia University for his master’s degree but never graduated as he quit to join the New School for Social Research, where he enrolled in a writing workshop.

At the college, he met Jeanne Redpath, the artist who would later become his wife. During this time, he earned a living working at the New York Times Index as a staffer and then at the Rand School of Social Science as a librarian.

The author would then work at Popular Science Monthly as a copy editor and for a time was a freelance editor for different publications.

Thomas Berger eventually became a professional author when he finally published his blockbuster work “Little Big Man.” Nonetheless, he still published the occasional non-fiction article, play, and story even though he had a preference for novels.

He produced several critically acclaimed works over the years that won and were nominated for some very prestigious awards.

In 1974 the University of Kansas made him a writer in residence and soon after Southampton College made him a Distinguished Visiting Professor. In the early 80s, he was a professor at the University of California Davis and Yale University.

He lived in New York from 1948 and spent about a dozen years in a house that overlooked the Hudson River. Thereafter he lived in all manner of places from Long Island, Malibu, and London in the United Kingdom.

After producing so many critically acclaimed works, Berger died aged 89 in 2014.

“Crazy in Berlin” by Thomas Berger is the story of Carlo Reinhart, a twenty-one-year-old soldier that is working in Berlin as part of the American Occupation forces.

Reinhart is struggling with the timeless question of how a very developed and civilized country such as Germany could be taken over by a regime of murder and hate.

As an American of German descent, the lovable oaf can not find any easy answers, and sometimes it does seem that there are no answers.

It does not help that the many people who try to pass themselves off as ordinary Germans are former counter-espionage and espionage agents.

Many of these present a false front and have hidden agendas except for Reinhart, who only becomes cunning and deceptive when it serves his purpose.
Maybe his problem is that he is approaching his world from a perspective of absolutes. Sometimes it pays to pretend to be a crazy man when it suits your purposes.

Thomas Berger’s novel “Reinhart in Love” opens with Reinhart back in the United States, following the end of World War II.

He is back in the US to find a country lacking honesty and morality. The government asked Americans to aid the war effort by economizing houses, cars, and meat which were in short supply.

Housing and jobs are also scarce and the country is on the brink of a recession. His family and friends do not seem to value education as everyone would rather be making money.

Reinhart finds American business, government, and consumer culture corrupt. But he too is forced to sacrifice his honesty as he constantly has to struggle for the car he drives and the clothes he wears.

While all he desires is a legitimate life, he is helpless against the tide of corruption. His foil is Claude Humbold his childhood nemesis, who becomes something of a father figure to him.

As he gets into the community’s life Claude recedes into the background but over time they seem to merge into one. It does seem that Humbold is the epitome of success in the new American consciousness.

“Vital Parts” By Thomas Louis Berger is a brilliant novel that follows on from the first two novels by the critically acclaimed author.

It is set at a time when people are struggling to come to terms with the civil rights movement, and the androgynous, anti-establishment, and youth-oriented movements of the 1960s.

Reinhart gets involved in a scheme that if successful would make it possible to cryonically preserve the bodies of recently dead people. The bodies will be preserved until scientists can find a cure for illnesses that are currently fatal and with no cure.

Berger showcases his literary fiction prowess as he pens occasional poetry and English prose with precision to make for some interesting characters and amusing situations.

Berger’s story embodies what we would deem to be abstract conflicts such as female vs. male, age vs. youth, appearance vs. truth, and life urge vs. death wish.