Seven Days in May (novel)

For the 1964 film based on the novel, see Seven Days in May.

Seven Days in May is an American political thriller novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II, first published in hardcover by Harper & Row in 1962.^[1]

Seven Days in May

Cover of first edition
Author	Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II
Language	English
Publisher	Harper & Row
Publication date	1962
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	342 pp.

The plot concerns an attempted military coup in the United States.

Reception

The book was a great success and was number one on The New York Times bestseller list for the weeks of November 18, 1962;^[2] December 2–9, 1962;^[2] and March 3, 1963.^[3] (The weeks of December 16 to February 24 were not listed because of the 1962–63 New York City newspaper strike.)

Awards

The novel was nominated for the 1989 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award.^[1]

Adaptations

The novel has twice been adapted for the screen, as Seven Days in May (1964), starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, and Fredric March; and as The Enemy Within (1994), starring Forest Whitaker, Sam Waterston, and Jason Robards.

It also inspired the Soviet television miniseries The Conspiracy (1971) and The Last Argument of Kings [ru] (1983).

See also

• Mount Weather, which was mentioned in the novel
• Patriot Freeway, which was formerly the 'War road' (the dirt road mentioned at the beginning of the novel)