TarcherPerigee is a book publisher and imprint of

Penguin Group Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media company, media Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a Mergers and acquisitions, mer ...

focused primarily on mind, body and spiritualism titles, founded in 1973 by Jeremy P. Tarcher in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. (Tarcher was married to ventriloquist

Shari Lewis Shari Lewis (born Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz; January 17, 1933 – August 2, 1998) was a Peabody awards, Peabody-winning American Ventriloquism, ventriloquist, puppeteer, children's entertainer, television show host, dancer, singer, actress, author, a ...

, and his sister was novelist Judith Krantz).

History

Tarcher began his career in publishing in the early 1960s, putting together packaged book deals for celebrities such as

Phyllis Diller Phyllis Ada Diller (née Driver; July 17, 1917 – August 20, 2012) was an American stand-up comedian, Actor, actress, author, musician, and visual artist, best known for her Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric stage persona, Self-deprecation, se ...

Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, and writer best known as the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson is a cultural phenomenon and w ...

Zsa Zsa Gabor Zsa Zsa Gabor ( , ; born Sári Gábor ; February 6, 1917 – December 18, 2016) was a Hungarian Americans, Hungarian-American socialite and actress. Her sisters were socialites and actresses Eva Gabor and Magda Gabor. Gabor competed in the ...

Buddy Hackett Buddy Hackett (born Leonard Hacker; August 31, 1924 – June 30, 2003) was an American comedian and comic actor. Known for his raunchy material, heavy appearance, and thick New York accent, his best remembered roles include Marcellus Washburn in ...

, and

Joan Rivers Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedienne, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona that w ...

, but changed direction after a retreat at the

Esalen Institute The Esalen Institute, commonly called Esalen, is a non-profit American Retreat (spiritual), retreat center and intentional community in Big Sur, California, which focuses on humanism, humanistic alternative education. The institute played a ke ...

, an early center of the

human potential movement The Human Potential Movement (HPM) arose out of the counterculture of the 1960s and formed around the concept of an extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people. The movement takes as its premise the be ...

located in Big Sur, California. Receiving no interest from the New York publishing establishment in publishing books on these subjects, he began his own publishing venture, and went on to publish bestselling books from many previously-unknown authors working on health, psychology, philosophy, and

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

spiritutality. They include ''Joy's Way'' by W. Brugh Joy; " Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by

Betty Edwards Betty Edwards (born April 19, 1926) is an American art teacher and author best known for her 1979 book ''Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain'' (, in its 4th edition). She taught and did research at the California State University, Long Bea ...

;'' Bikram's Beginning Yoga Class'' by hot yoga guru Bikram Choudhury; the English translation of Austrian mountaineer and

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

SS sergeant

Heinrich Harrer Heinrich Harrer (; 6 July 1912 – 7 January 2006) was an Austrian mountaineer, explorer, writer, sportsman, geographer, and briefly SS sergeant. He was a member of the four-man climbing team that made the first ascent of the North Face of the ...

's Seven Years in Tibet (originally published in German in the 1940s); and The Aquarian Conspiracy by Marilyn Ferguson. He "discovered" many of these authors through his ongoing relationship with Michael Murphy, the co-founder of Esalen Institute, who also published several books with Tarcher and served on the board of Esalen for years. Over the years, the company expanded to include

nonfiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to present topics objectively ...

books of all types. Putnam purchased the company in 1991, and the offices were moved to New York. Tarcher remained head of the company until early 1996, when Joel Fotinos was named publisher. The firm merged with sister imprint Perigee to form TarcherPerigee in 2015. Tarcher died in Los Angeles in 2015 from complications of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

. He was 83. TarcherPerigee publications cover a broad spectrum of topics in the areas of wellness, self-improvement, spirituality, esoterica, occultism, creativity, social consciousness, prosperity, and more. Recent bestsellers include '' 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl'', '' Ultramarathon Man'', ''The Dumbest Generation'', '' The Wonder of Boys'', ''Energy Medicine'', ''The Power of Kindness'', and ''Think & Grow Rich.''

Authors

In the field of 'success literature' TarcherPerigee publishes authors such as

Napoleon Hill Oliver Napoleon Hill (October 26, 1883 – November 8, 1970) was an American self-help author. He is best known for his book ''Think and Grow Rich'' (1937), which is among the best-selling self-help books of all time. Hill's works insisted tha ...

, Michael Muhammad Knight, Wallace D. Wattles,

Dale Carnegie Dale Carnegie ( ; spelled Carnagey until c. 1922; November 24, 1888 – November 1, 1955) was an American writer and teacher of courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills. Born into ...

, and James Allen. Among the imprint's authors in the field of mind, body, and spiritualism are Robin Norwood, Stephen Mansfield,

, Marilyn Ferguson (author of ''The Aquarian Conspiracy''), Bikram Choudhury, and Jim Knipfel.

References

{{Authority control Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Publishing companies established in 1973 1973 establishments in California