On October 22, 1952, Houghton Miflin published the two-volume, 1,731-page novel “Sironia, Texas,” the longest ever written in the English language.

The author was a well-to-do Waco businessman named Madison Cooper, who worked on the book in secret for 11 years.  “Sironia, Texas” stayed on the New York Times best-seller list for almost three months before fading into literary obscurity.  Today it is a prized collector’s item.