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 conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initi ...

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

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. (Tarcher was notably married to ventriloquist

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

, and his sister was novelist Judith Krantz). 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, actress, author, musician, and visual artist, best known for her eccentric stage persona, self-deprecating humor, wild hair and clothes, and ...

, Johnny Carson,

Zsa Zsa Gabor Zsa Zsa Gabor (, ; born Sári Gábor ; February 6, 1917 – December 18, 2016) was a Hungarian-American socialite and actress. Her sisters were actresses Eva and Magda Gabor. Gabor competed in the 1933 Miss Hungary pageant, where she ...

Buddy Hackett Buddy Hackett (born Leonard Hacker; August 31, 1924 – June 30, 2003) was an American actor, comedian and singer. His best remembered roles include Marcellus Washburn in ''The Music Man'' (1962), Benjy Benjamin in ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Wo ...

, and

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

, but changed direction after a retreat at the

Esalen Institute The Esalen Institute, commonly called Esalen, is a non-profit American retreat center and intentional community in Big Sur, California, which focuses on humanistic alternative education. The institute played a key role in the Human Poten ...

, 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 spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...

spiritutality. They include ''Joy’s Way'' by W. Brugh Joy; "

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Betty Edwards (born 1926 in San Francisco, California) 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 ...

" by

Betty Edwards Betty Edwards (born 1926 in San Francisco, California) 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 U ...

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

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

SS sergeant

Heinrich Harrer Heinrich Harrer (; 6 July 1912 – 7 January 2006) was an Austrian mountaineer, sportsman, geographer, ''Oberscharführer'' in the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS), and author. He was a member of the four-man climbing team that made the first ascent of th ...

Seven Years in Tibet ''Seven Years in Tibet: My Life Before, During and After'' (1952; german: Sieben Jahre in Tibet. Mein Leben am Hofe des Dalai Lama; 1954 in English) is an autobiographical travel book written by Austrian mountaineer and Nazi SS sergeant Heinrich ...

(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 Michael, Mick, or Mike Murphy may refer to: Artists and entertainers * Michael Murphy (actor) (born 1938), American actor * Mike Murphy (musician) (1946–2006), American drummer for the Bee Gees and Chicago * Michael Bryan Murphy, lead singer ...

, 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 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 chronic condition, long-term neurodegeneration, degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disea ...

. 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.'' 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 th ...

Michael Muhammad Knight Michael Muhammad Knight (born 1977) is an American novelist, essayist, and journalist. His writings are popular among American Muslim youth. The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' described him as "one of the most necessary and, paradoxically enough, ...

Wallace D. Wattles Wallace Delois Wattles (; 1860 – 7 February 1911) was an American New Thought writer. He remains personally somewhat obscure, but his writing has been widely quoted and remains in print in the New Thought and self-help movements. Wattles' b ...

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

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

Robin Norwood Robin Norwood (born July 27, 1945) is the author of the international best-selling book, '' Women Who Love Too Much'' as well as ''Letters from Women Who Love Too Much, Daily Meditations for Women Who Love Too Much'' (illustrated by Richard Torregr ...

Stephen Mansfield Stephen Lee Mansfield (born 1958) is an American author who writes about history, modern culture, religion and men's issues. His books have appeared on the New York Times best-seller list. Life and career Mansfield was born in Columbus, Georgia, ...

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

Jim Knipfel Jim Knipfel (pronounced Kah-nipfel; born June 2, 1965) is an American novelist, autobiographer, and journalist. A native of Wisconsin, Knipfel, who suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, is the author of three memoirs, ''Slackjaw'', ''Quitting the ...

References

Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Publishing companies established in 1973 1973 establishments in California {{US-publishing-company-stub