In many ways Peyton Place is one of the most important social novels of the 1950s. Although naive in its approach, the novel is one of the most insightful examinations of social mores of the mid-1950s, especially sexual mores, that was published during the decade.

One of the reasons for the book's success is its uncanny accuracy when addressing issues such as the place of women, the importance of work, the social stratification of society, and the hypocrisy which exists between public and private behavior. More than such social chroniclers as John O'Hara and J. P. Marquand, Metalious touched on truths that Americans were afraid or ashamed to admit. It was this element of disclosure which earned Peyton Place its reputation and made of its author a social and literary embarrassment.

Metalious was not only concerned about depicting the various strata of small town life...